Out to Lunch with Payton- Ash & Olive

Dear foodies,

In my last column, I visited a local landmark for the Center of the Universe, The Caboose Market and Café. This week, we’re chugging along to the other side of the rail tracks to a new Town favorite, Ash & Olive.

A brief historyGregg and Jessica Brooks have always had a passion for food and shared a dream of opening their own restaurant.

Gregg Brooks is a musician who gained a lot of experience working in restaurants in the Richmond Restaurant Group for 20 years while he toured with his well-known local cover band, Three Sheets to the Wind.

Jessica Brooks works in communications and her knowledge of wine had her recognized with a Level 2 Award in Wines from the Wine & Spirit Education Trust.

While in the area for work, Brooks had shared his and Jessica’s vision for their restaurant with Chris Stem, owner of Ashland Meat Company. As they were catching up at The Depot, the former local coffee shop and event venue, Brooks said that Stem had offered up the space to the Brooks family as an opportunity to bring their concept to life.

“We kept coming back down [to Ashland] to watch the people, watch the families, and it sold us on it,” said Brooks. “We loved the Town, and wanted to turn this space here in particular into something that we envisioned being a great community spot, where families can come to dinners and to be a place to come celebrate, and the only reason we did it was because of this exact spot in the Town of Ashland.”

Ash & Olive was finally able to open its doors in November of 2024, bringing a fresh take on Mediterranean style cuisine.

“I want to make this area a destination spot,” said Brooks. “I hope that we can be able to help grow the downtown area and get more people from out of town to come into Ashland, spend some time and also put some money back into the community here too.”

My experience

I was graciously greeted by Gregg when I came into Ash & Olive for this week’s lunch adventure.

The restaurant’s atmosphere was casual but with a classy twist. The dining space has an indoor-outdoor concept with floor to ceiling glass doors, which carried in a lot of natural light, which I really enjoyed. It also includes a lounge area, with an almost living roomlike design that adds warmth to the space.

“We want to make a place that somebody walks in and, we’ve got this lounge space, and we want to use it,” said Brooks. “I want a space where a group of ladies can come in and order some small plates and wine, and I want guys to be able to come in and grab some cocktails.”

The brick walls of the restaurant still display and sell the local art that was put up by the Depot. Brooks said that they are continuing to keep this space for local artists to display and sell their work.

This mix of dining and lounge design made it feel to me that they have nicely executed this concept of casual upscale dining.

The menu was inspired by the Brooks’ honeymoon venture through Europe, as well as their own dishes they love to cook at home together. The food is heavily Mediterranean inspired, with a lot of Italian and French focus. Their menu consists of charcuterie classics with some unique takes, small plates, pizzas, sandwiches, salads and their specialty “Panuozzo” sandwiches.

All meats and most cheeses are imported from Spain and Italy and is then cut in house. However, they have begun hand pulling their own mozzarella cheese for an even fresher and in-house flavor. The restaurant does not have a fryer or range hood.

“Everything we do is fresh except for French fries,” said Brooks. “We get those frozen and cook them in the convection oven, while everything else is fired in our brick oven.”

Although this limits some dish options for Ash + Olive, Brooks views this limitation also as an advantage in the way that it ensures a level of freshness.

The review

Whipped Feta- The whipped feta was made with feta cheese, Greek yogurt and lemon that made for a softer cheese dip with a pleasant tang. It’s topped with honey, that serves as a great balance to the sharpness of the feta and yogurt, as well as toasted pistachios for a nutty crunch. The dip is also served with beautifully toasted crostini.

Truffle Farro Bowl- The Farro Grain Bowl was recommended by Brooks as one of the less highlighted dishes, but one of his personal favorites. This bowl is made with a farro base, truffle oil, broccolini, scallions, peanuts and balsamic reduction. Customers have the choice of adding a protein, and Brooks recommends pairing shrimp with this dish. This bowl was extremely fresh with the perfect amount of truffle oil. The broccolini was well cooked, with a delightful crunch, and the shrimps were huge and well-seasoned while maintaining their freshness.

Prosciutto Mozzarella Panuozzo Sandwich- This is not an exaggeration… This was the best sandwich I’ve ever had. This sandwich is made with their pizza dough, with a hearty portion of fresh cut Italian prosciutto, house made mozzarella, fresh tomato, arugula and olive oil and is served with a simple dressed salad. This was the perfect balance of flavors and left me speechless. This is my number one recommended item thus far in my lunch journey.

Tiramisu- The tiramisu was light and not too sweet with the perfect coffee flavor, and was the perfect sweet treat to top off the meal.

Overall, I would absolutely recommend checking out this newer Ashland culinary landmark. As we move into patio season, definitely take advantage of their space to explore their diverse blend of Mediterranean flavors and take in the views of downtown.

Tips encouraged.As you should do at the end of any lunch, I want to leave my readers with a “tip”. However, these will be for cooking rather than monetary, from the local chefs in their own community.

Chef Daniel Nutty has French culinary training, and even spent time expanding his craft in Italy.

TIP: “When boiling water for something like blanching, make sure your water is ‘as salty as the sea’ to allow for the food to cook at a hotter temperature,” said Chef Nutty.

I’m excited to continue this journey of connecting more with The Local readers’ community during my lunch hour. Eat well, tip well.