Olio Crudo Bar’s Epicurean Epiphanies
New Victoria Street Concept Serving Sushi-Like Plates, Awesome Octopus, Lamb Belly, Lambrusco, and More
From boiled octopus that melts in your mouth to ginger-spiked fatty tuna, urchin- and caviar-dosed halibut, luxuriously rich lamb belly, and Italian wines you’ve never seen (cannonau!), there are epicurean epiphanies being served right now on West Victoria Street.
The latest in the Morello family’s mini-village of Italian restaurants that they started building in 1999 a half-block off State Street with the white table-clothed Olio e Limone, Olio Crudo Bar occupies the meticulously remodeled, rather tight space that, for the past 18 years, housed The Herbal Spirit. That former tenant was a somewhat mysterious store selling all sorts of earthly wonders, and with so much excitement coming out of the Crudo kitchen, there’s clearly some magic left in the building.
Of course, for Elaine and Alberto Morello, it’s much simpler than that. “It’s the kind of food we crave eating late at night,” said Elaine during my recent visit, explaining that the formula for Crudo is the same that’s brought them great success at Olio e Limone and the adjacent Olio Pizzeria. “We just keep putting out favorite things and making it available for guests,” she said. “It’s not rocket science.”
