You’ll know you’ve made it to Elevated Olive [ downtown Steamboat on 7th and Lincoln Ave ] when you nudge the door open and the softest bell jingles to welcome you as well as the sweetest scent that is unique only to the Elevated Olive. Talk about a one stop shop where you can find gifts for yourself, gifts for your child's teacher, gifts for your in-laws, gifts for yourself...wait, did we mention that one that already?! When in Rome...errr, Steamboat! #treatyourself
Elevated Olive is unofficially split into 3 sections that flow together perfectly. You can shop the first section which is made up of kitchen essentials + gift items + cookbooks + a local section of honey, tea, hot sauce, coconut macaroons and so much more. The second section of the store welcomes you to try over 50 delicacies of balsamic vinegar and olive oil varied between dark + white + wine vinegars and extra virgin + speciality + infused olive oils. We’ll get into this in a minute, but trust us when we say you don’t want to skim over this section. The third, final and oh-so-delicious section houses a wine selection that is unique to Elevated Olive in addition to some local Colorado wines, Colorado spirits and a variety of Colorado/Steamboat beer.
what we love in section 1
If you let us, we’d stock the entire, and we mean entire Mariposa kitchen, with gems from the Elevated Olive home goods section. Each time we visit June + Carol we spend a good amount of time quite literally ooo’ing and ahh’ing over their kitchen/home products. They've got an amazing eye for quality + beautiful pieces that would shine in any home.
what we love in section 2
It might be more productive to title this section we love everything in section 2 as we truly love everything in this middle, most decadent and interactive part of Elevated Olive. Let the tantalizing descriptors be your guide as you navigate down the rows, fusti after fusti, before settling on one [ or a dozen ] different olive oils + vinegars to sample. If you don't have time to try all 50+ combined olive oil + balsamics, we will guide you to a few our very favorites. Fig, lavender, and maple are our three favorite dark balsamic vinegars while the jalapeno and lemongrass mint are the white vinegars that have our heart with the serrano honey wine vinegar being the real show stopper! As far as olive oils go, our Mariposa kitchen is never without Biancolilla EVOO [ Their EVOO section changes seasonally ] or a bottle of chipotle infused olive oil [ hello chipotle smashed potatoes! ], with the garlic olive oil and rosemary infused olive oil being our other very favorites. Now when we really want to treat ourselves, we splurge on the specialty truffle olive oil and that is always money well spent.
Pro tip: When tasting, be sure to sip straight from the plastic cups provided and use the bread as a palate cleanser in between tastings!
what we love in section 3
Celebrate by making it to the third and final section of Elevated Olive by treating yourself to a bottle of wine or even some champagne! Carol + June take great care in ordering wines that aren't otherwise available in Steamboat Springs so you know that each bottle is thoughtfully selected and has earned placement on Elevated Olive's shelf. With a variety of options and price points, we know you will find a bottle of wine at Elevated Olive regardless of the occasion. They have your back in more areas than just wine + bubbly as they have a wide variety of locally brewed beer, local whiskey and vodka along with some finer spirits.
Just when you think it can't get any better...you realize it absolutely can because from 3p-5p every Saturday, Elevated Olive hosts a free wine tasting! Four wines are selected to sample and Carol + June are happy to chat about the wines while recommending best food pairings to go along with them! It's a win/win for your taste buds and your dinner.
What typically happens to us is as we are checking out, we start browsing their pasta selection, realize we don't have a dinner planned for that evening! Not to fear, we just grab a bag of basil + garlic fettuccine pasta along with a jar of sun-dried tomato sauce, with some asiago d’ allevo cheese and bam! we've got dinner. Just like that, our trip to Elevated Olive has quickly turned into the easiest most delicious decision we've made that day.
We've just hit the tip of the iceberg with what goodness Elevated Olive has to offer. Be sure to add it to your Steamboat itinerary and report back with your favorites!
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