We were originally planning to visit somewhere else for brunch before we started our drive back up to Seattle, but changed our minds after chatting with the person ahead of us in line at JinJu. She highly recommend Cafe Olli, which was apparently featured in the New York Times recently, and which opens relatively late for brunch at 9AM. Since we had just spent an hour and a half in a line, we wanted to avoid another wait and headed over straight afterwards.
Cafe Olli has a brightly lit, welcoming interior with a gorgeous wood fired oven in the center, giving a smoky tinge to the atmosphere. When we arrive at around 9:20, the place was only about a quarter full and we were seated immediately without reservations. By ten, it was pretty full.
Steak & Eggs ($28) - The star of the show is the brisket. It's unfortunately not the best. While a smoky aroma permeates the dish, there are issues. Firstly, the brisket is cut into thick rectangular slabs with the grain. This means that the grain goes with the longer side of the slab, necessitating the diner slice against the grain with the steak knife to create bite sized portions. This is an issue, because the brisket is far overcooked, which makes it want to separate along the muscle fibers. Cutting it is an exercise in futility, as the meat keeps splitting perpendicular to the cut. When I say overcooked I mean it. The meat is tender almost to the point of being mushy and comes apart very easily, but it's dry, almost giving a feeling of desiccating the tongue. By itself, the brisket probably warrants a 2 star rating. Luckily everything else on the plate is nice.
The brisket is topped with crisp pickled red onions and crushed hazelnuts, giving some nice textural contrast and adding complimentary nutty flavors and acidity that works with the vinaigrette. There's a very flavorful romesco sauce filled with tangy notes, a bit of heat, lots of nuttiness and fragrant peppers. This is all on top of a bed of coarse cut grits, cooked until perfection with plenty of cheese. They use a special blend of cheese - there are some funky notes almost like they added blue cheese to the mix.
The dish is served with a side salad of mixed greens in a tangy and salty vinaigrette. The greens are slightly bitter and with the dressing acidity, helps to cut through some of the fattiness of the brisket. The dish comes with two eggs. I usually worry about sunny eggs since some places somehow manage to serve eggs that even leave the whites gooey. The waitress assured us that that eggs are cooked in the wood fired oven and come out with a completely set white - and I can confirm. The yolk remains gooey and only somewhat runny. The yolks are sprinkled with flaky salt, boosting the natural egg flavors. (4/5)
Biscuits & Gravy ($25) - The single egg included in this dish is just as good as with the Steak & Eggs. The sausage gravy is amazing. It's reduced until a ridiculously fatty concentrated umami develops. There's so much flavorful sausage included that it's almost like a ragú rather than a gravy. They add plenty of fresh cracked black pepper, giving a distinct warmth that spreads through the mouth while eating.
Now the issue - the biscuit. I am honestly very skeptical of the biscuit recommendations from Portlanders, considering they hold Pine State Biscuits in high regard. Those biscuits are hard, dry, and dense pucks of sadness, nothing like a proper buttery and flaky one. To their credit, the biscuits that Cafe Olli serves are at least a little better. There are clear markers on the side that indicate they attempt to layer it, and the color of the interior has a slight yellow tinge, indicating the possible usage of a better quality butter. The biscuit is toasted on both the top and bottom, giving a crunchy crust, a pleasing textural contrast against the smooth and tender sausage gravy. The taste is nicely developed, starchy and buttery, not like raw flour or baking soda that I've found plagues a lot of biscuits on the West Coast and in the Midwest.
The problem lies inside the biscuit. Just like Pine State - this one is dense and dry, but at least not hard and crumbly. Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad biscuit, but isn't a good one either. A good biscuit can be eaten on its own. This one requires gravy to be palatable. As with the Steak & Eggs, luckily everything else on this dish is amazing aside from the one flaw. (4/5)
I'd love to revisit Cafe Olli for dinner to try out their wood fired pizzas. For brunch, though, I'd probably pick somewhere else in the future. I'd consider both dishes we ordered to be good overall, but with some very glaring weaknesses.
Note: Cafe Olli charges a 20% "Health and Wellness Fee". They make it abundantly clear. read more