The Mighty Olive

The Mighty Olive is a gourmet olive oil and vinegar shop that opened in East Memphis this week. The store offers over 40 different varieties of oil and vinegar, from blood orange extra virgin olive oil to serrano honey vinegar. I stopped in to check it out. The Mighty Olive is an elegant, well-appointed shop, with rows of gleaming stainless steel f... ustis (tanks used for storing the oils and vinegars). Sampling is encouraged, so I tried a few using the plastic cups and bread provided, including the aged pomegranate balsamic vinegar, the onion and cilantro olive oil, and a few combinations of oil and vinegar (I had the staff help me with that). My favorite was the cranberry-pear white balsamic vinegar, which is light and sweet. The idea is that once you find some you like, the staff pours it directly from the fusti into a small, medium, or large bottle and seals it there for you in the shop. The small bottles are 200ml and go for about $10, and the large is the size of a wine bottle and goes for about $24. The shop owners plan to have tastings in the future to show people what combintions of oil and vinegar go well together. The Mighty Olive also has other olive oil related things, including a good selection of fancy chocolates. I tried a dark chocolate truffle that had olive oil and blood orange filling, and that was delectable as it sounds. There are also pastas, sauce mixes, some books and cookware, and a full shelf of lotions and bath products. The shop is in the Laurelwood Collection shopping center, which is on the south side of Poplar, between Perkins and Perkins Extd. (it's the shopping center with the Chili's on one end). It's open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and limited Sunday hours during the holidays. The Mighty Olive is ADA accessible.Read More