Cannot believe it has taken me so long to get here! (Oleana)

For years I’ve heard great things about Oleana in Cambridge’s Inman Square area from friends, food sites, top restaurant lists, etc. My cousin even worked at the farm that supplies Oleana with their wonderful vegetables, Sienna Farms. Because of that, I got the inside scoop of how great they are to be involved with from start to finish of the process.

So knowing I would already be in Cambridge on Monday night, my friend, Alexis, and I planned to meet up for a long-awaited reunion at Oleana since she lives right in Inman Square and it was on my way home. On top of that, both of us had been eager to try this restaurant for what feels like ages.

The experience was all we had hoped for and more.The exterior of the restaurant is unassuming and very easy to miss at night since there isn’t any clear signage, but thank goodness for my Google Maps on my iPhone! Upon arrival, they offered to take my coat as the interior of the restaurant is small and the tables are quite close together. It was a struggle getting into the booth portion of our table as we were close to the neighboring table.

We sat down and ordered a bottle of red wine, a Grenache/Syrah blend, that was great! Alexis is a vegetarian and they are well-known for their vegetable tasting menu, so that was a no-brainer. Our waitress, who was wonderfully personable and obviously enjoyed her job, described the three specials for the evening. I was staring at her wide-eyed as she described each element of the dishes – two of which would make up two-thirds of my meal.

We were given bread with olive oil to dip it in and Alexis’ first course accompanied the bread as it was the perfect spread for the bread. It was called what I think is “Chaka” which is a strained yogurt that was combined with a pepper oil and a little bit of mint (and I think a little bit of lemon as well, but that wasn’t on the menu description). The yogurt was the perfect consistency. It was refreshing and the pepper oil gave it a little kick at the end of the bite. They should have that be part of the bread offering, it was unique, light and enjoyable.

The second course of the tasting came and it was Spinach Falafel with tahini, yogurt, beets & crinkled cress. The presentation was beautiful on the plate and the waiter that dropped it off suggested that the best way to eat it was to fold the “bread” it laid on top of around the falafel and eat like a sandwich. I didn’t try the dish, but Alexis, who is a big fan of falafel, gave it a raving review.

At the arrival of her third course, I received my first course. Not sure if it was planned that way, but it was slightly awkward for us to know how to plan our eating because Alexis was waiting for me to get food before finishing her second course. The confusion could have easily been resolved if our waitress explained their plan of attack in serving our multiple courses for the evening.

To tell you the truth, once the food was in front of my I didn’t care one bit about the odd timing of its arrival. My first course was one of the specials. It was a flatbread with homemade ricotta, marinated mushrooms and covered in slices of prosciutto. Oh my goodness did this rock my world. As the new judge of The Next Iron Chef – Super Chefs referred to it, I had a foodgasm.

The mushrooms were hidden to the eye, but they were by far the star of the dish. Their texture and flavor was impeccable, it made me feel comforted, happy and spoiled all at once. My only complaint had to do with the dish it was served in – a bowl! I was fumbling around like a ravenous animal with no thumbs trying to slice my flatbread so I would be able to experience the heaven of the dish as much and as quickly as possible and my flatbread kept slipping around the rounded bottom of the bowl. I felt like a dog getting tricked by the fake throw of a tennis ball to only find out my owner still has it in their hand when I go run to find it. Man thinking back, that was one of the best dishes I’ve had in a while! Too bad it’s a special, I wish it was a mainstay on the menu so I could go back there whenever I needed a little food love in my life.

Alexis’s third course was black-eyed peas with a butternut squash puree. I tasted it and it was good, but I was so engrossed in my flatbread that I don’t have much else to say other than it was a beautiful combination of color and texture, and the flavor was nice. Course four for her was a fall carrot gyro & celery root slaw with sesame seeds & walnut. I didn’t try this either except to identify that the puree underneath was celery root which was perfection!

My second course was another special, a crab stuffed parsnip dolma accompanied by avocado slices and a radish pomegranate salad. It was completely different from my first course, but it was extremely tasty as well. I would never think to put pomegranate and radish together, but they were a fresh, crispy counterpoint to the creamy crab and avocado. The parsnip was a great vessel for the crab because it was cooked to a point where it was still hard enough to be a firm container for the crab, but when you cut through it with your fork, it had a flaky almost fish like consistency that went really well with the crab both in appearance and in mouth feel.

Then came my Sultan’s delight! The Sultan’s Delight is tamarind glazed, fall-apart-at-the-touch-of-a-fork-beef & smokey eggplant purée with pine nuts. I was so full from the first two dishes, but nothing could hold me back from enjoying this little piece of paradise. Alexis’ final savory course was a pumpkin flavored dish that I completely overlooked because, as I mentioned earlier, I was seduced by the spread in front of me. I did manage to get an image of it and it looks amazing with those pumpkin seeds on top and a beautiful orange sauce.

After all of this we were so full we felt like we were going to burst, but we HAD to have dessert. The tasting menu came with a dessert so we opted to share that. It was a hibiscus poached pear & hibiscus sorbet with white chocolate crémeux. It was simple, the pear was hard to cut without it slipping all around the plate, but once we got a piece it was good. Neither of us like white chocolate so we gave it a shot, it was a bit minty, but we were so full and wanted to save the minimal space in our stomachs for the sorbet and the pear. The sorbet was different than any sorbet I’ve had in the past, but I liked it. I do love experiencing flavors that I’ve never experienced before.

Though we were on the verge of passing out because we were so full, we left slowly with big smiles on our faces, very happy that we had the experience of eating at Oleana finally!

If you’ve been let me know how your experience was or if you go in the future let me know what you think! I’d love recommendations for plates to try next time I go, which will be soon hopefully…