Olive & Sinclair Chocolate
Well, it’s been about a year since Olive & Sinclair started it’s chocolate-making venture in Music City. We figured the post-holiday season was the right time to stop by, check in, and see if we could snag some chocolate samples under the disguise of writing a foodies article. Yep. It worked. Along with about forty lucky yuppies, Olive & Sinclair opened its doors to the local blogging community and shared its story.
The good people at Olive & Sinclair were first noticed by the Foodies team inside Davis Cookware and Cutlery in Hillsboro Village. Now, in case you haven’t noticed the knife-wielding pedestrians walking in and out of this store, you’re not alone. Actually, I lived here for years and had no idea of its existence. Much like J.K. Rowling’s mysterious buildings that appear out of nowhere, this storefront remains hidden in the bustle of the village strip, and hides just as much magic within. The owners delight in conversation and good-natured banter between the family. Anyway, one of the Sinclair team happened to be inside the store that day, and chatted up the friendly folks enough that we said hello. Out came an invitation to stop by, which never materialized due to weak-follow-up on our end, but luckily a friendly organization was hosting a special event at Olive & Sinclair, and we got to head inside.
The next siting was as a spectator at the wonderful Iron Chef competition held at the Country Music Hall of Fame. As we peered over chefs pureeing, chopping, stripping, stirring, squeezing, and dicing purple sweet potatoes – we noticed that same member of the Sinclair team had arrived to view the festivities. So, when we saw that Sinclair had been mentioned in Southern Living Magazine – we felt horrified that a national magazine had showed us up. Our turn needed to come. We had to talk to these Sinclair folks and see what they do.
So off we went, thrice delayed due to our shockingly un-Nashville icy winter, to see how things were done at Olive & Sinclair. The facility rests near the Village Pub in East Nashville, deeeep in the back side of East Nashville, where the artisan choclatiers spin their webs from bean to bar. They order beans fresh from Ghana and the Dominican Republic, favoring the fair trade options of the Dominican Republic, and roast their own beans on site. The de-frocked beans are roasted, combined with brown sugar (the sole added ingredient), pressurized to the micrometer for smoothness, and finalized in a process called tempering that gives chocolate the snap and smoothness that we all love. While the process seems quite complex from the description, and several high-tech machines are required, it all boils down to the simplicity of a fine product.
The funny thing is, Founder/Owner/Maker Scott Witherow appears absolutely astounded that Nashvillians enjoy learning about his craft. A lifetime in professional kitchens has generated a natural reluctance to take the stage; Scott was faced with about 40 eager patrons hoping to hear about his work. Perhaps that is the reason that our blog’s founding mother, Heather of Dr. HBar, could not coax him to talk to a room full of students almost a year ago. His most obvious passion is chocolate, but from the designs and his own descriptions, he adores things that have history, authenticity, and age. Hence, Olive & Sinclair – his family’s names, and his recognition that most olden-time firms or products come in names of two (Johnson & Murphy might be one example). I imagine a Western setting with dirt flowing past men with spurs on their boots as the time frame that Scott might be aiming for.
Despite his reluctance to take the spotlight, Scott knows his stuff, and has already taken the artisan world by storm. Scott happens to be one of the first in the Southeast to take on artisan chocolate. There just isn’t anyone else out there who is doing this right now. And therefore, he knew he had a market.
So what’s the take from the marketplace on Olive & Sinclair? Let’s start with the objective. Gweneth Paltrow, Southern Living Magazine, Food & Wine Magazine, and a host of specific awards have all laid glowing praise at their feet. Locally, Yelp reviews of Sinclair demonstrate a total perfect 5 of 5 rating across all reviews. People have been raving about this stuff, and I had yet to try it – one person I trust actually didn’t favor their initial bars – so I’ve been holding off for a while just to watch the wave grow. It’s growing, and it’s quickly becoming a name for itself after only a year.
To figure out what all the fuss was about, a few months ago, I sucked it up, covered my eyes, hid the receipt deep in the Produce Place bag, and bought four bars: Coffee, Salt&Pepper, 75% (Dark), and Cinnamon Chili. It all cost me about 25 bucks. Salt&Pepper has the most individual recognition, and the proprietors say that it came about by accident – and it worked so well – that after testing and mixing and testing again, they finally found the version they wanted. Both the Coffee and the 75% dark bars are alike in that they are explicitly a higher concentration of cacao. Cinnamon Chili can be used as hot chocolate, and there’s a recipie on the back. On all of my bars, I looked at the ingredients and noticed an oddity: handmade sharpie-black-out markings on the ingredient lists. Not bad, sounds like something I would think up. Why reprint all the labels? Just bring out the sharpie! And what did the guys do when they realized their bars needed something to bind the label? Scotch tape. I like the way they think.
Speaking of the labeling, the graphic design for these things makes me want to hire their designer immediately. The colors change slightly for each version, and it reminds me of old-timey labeling you might find at a general store. The branding is successful in that it leaves an instantaneous mark, and will likely separate its identity from the alternatively over-smooth or elitist designs that make you think of a venetian tower.
But anyway, what do these things taste like? Well, I wasn’t blown away by them all, so I think I’ll be more selective with my purchase next time. The 75% bars had a strong fruit juice flavor which I found intriguing at first, but bothersome after a few samples. Most of the time, with wines for example, the labeling will have some sophisticate pontificating “dry with a hint of blackberries, a full body wine with oak, and an earthy finish” and I’m like – bullshit – I get the wine, and I enjoy it, and I get the dry part – but the rest is a mystery where they’re pulling that from. (Although I’ve been improving lately). But here, thanks to our Olive & Sinclair test, I found a labeling that I could identify. They say that fruit juice is the flavor, and sure enough, it was strong enough that I sat there pondering the taste, and I felt “hey, there’s something like a juice, maybe,” – then – Aha! Fruit juice. Just like they said. So if you’re like me and have always wondered about the strength of your palate – check it out and see if you can tell.
All the bars have their strengths, as Cinnamon Chili can be used as a hot beverage – that was excellent. The coffee wasn’t much different from the plain 75%, but both were enjoyable – and the Salt&Pepper took the cake. That’s the best we tried. For all of their added ingredients, the extras are pushed into the backside of the bars, so you can actually knock off some coffee or salt or pepper if you put some effort into it. That’s unlike other small-batch specialty chocolates we’ve seen. A friend of ours in the chocolate world, Sophia (who is a true expert and we did an entire post on her chocolate tasting parties) sent as a gift two London-based chocolate bars. Rococo Artisan Bar, famed reputation that it enjoys, includes their additives within the bars themselves. So, for example, on their Orange & Geranium artisan bars, you can’t get to the orange flakes without digging in. The effect is noticeable if you place the morsel logo-up and back-side down when you taste it, like most of us do, as the first sensation is salt and pepper, then the chocolate.
On special display tonight was the Smoked Almond bar, which is a part of the specialty Williams-Sonoma collection. I think it was my favorite that I’ve tried. I tend to like all the versions with small samplings, but the Smoked Almond I could down a whole bar. And they’re big, so that’s saying something. Also on the list-of-must-tries is their collaboration with a local brewhouse to make a chocolate-inspired beer. It went over well and is coming back next fall for 2011.
So foodies, enjoy your wintry days, and if you get a free ten-spot give a Nashville artisan a shot for your favorite bean to bar maker. Thanks to all at Olive & Sinclair for letting us tour their facility.
