We spent some time in Frederick this weekend, wandering around the old city, window shopping, taking in the historical setting. There are many great antique and home goods stores (as well as at least one charming toy store and even a Cuban restaurant), but we didn't do any buying this year.
Our goal, naturally, was food-oriented, a visit to the Lebherz Olive Oil and Vinegar Emporium. We've been hearing and reading about the sketchy origin of most supermarket olive oils, a something you can read lots more about in Tom Mueller's book, Extra Virginity: The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil. NPR did a story about it, and the New York Times has this review.
Lebherz is the real deal. They offer olive oils and vinegars from around the world and if you head into the store, you can taste them until your taste buds give out. They have pure olive oils from several countries as well as infused ones that add herbs or other flavors. Sarah and Ed had discovered the store and we had tasted several of the olive oils at their house.
We descended on Lebherz, and even with the children tasting through those bread samples at an alarming rate, they were very patient and helpful. In the end, we each chose an olive oil and ended up with three varietals, two Spanish ones, Hojiblanca (Chloe) and Arbosana of Tarragona (Gabe), and one Italian Sicilian (me). We also bought two Tunisian olive oils that were infused with other flavors, mushooms and sage (Olivia, who doesn't even like mushrooms) and chipotle (Oscar).
And since we don't get out to Frederick nearly as often as we'd like I was very happy to see that they deliver.
photo credit to Oscar
After our stroll through the city, we had a delicious lunch at Family Meal, the casual restaurant owned by Brian Voltaggio of Top Chef fame. Family Meal, set in a former car dealership, is more casual and more affordable than his signature restaurant, Volt, but the food was excellent nevertheless. My favorites were a corn chowder and a blueberry milkshake, but there wasn't a bad dish on the table.
Black Ankle is only a few miles away so we spent a couple of hours there. There was so much going on with the harvest in full swing. We peeked in on the winemakers, checked out the fattening pigs and new calfs, watched the progress on the new straw bale winery, and sipped wine under the new sailcloth awnings. The kids even broke out some olive oil and bread to nibble on while we adults drank our wine.
All in all, a perfect afternoon.
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