Olive Pit, Corning, CA
What does an out of business burger chain in the midwest and an olive retailer in Corning, CA have in common? Burger condiment bars par excellence!
My then fiance and I used to head over to the regional chain Burger Chef on occasion – you could buy a cheap burger and load it up at their condiment bar, turning an inexpensive lunch into a grand feast, adding a lot of fresh chopped vegies.
One might say the same about the burger at the Olive Pit, in Corning, California, a must stop for me when traveling I-5 from the Bay Area to Portland and back.
Your burger (one or two patties) is delivered nude, and you head to the condiment bar to load it up – several varieties of olives, and all the usual burger fixings.
When they say “olive burger” and I’m the patron, they aren’t kidding! I piled three kinds of olives on my double.
It gave me just the right amount of energy to do my shopping on their retail side – every kind of olives you can imagine, stuffed with anything you can imagine- cheeses, nuts, pimentos, packed in different brines, cured in different fashions.
I cure my own olives at home, and I purchase the raw olives from a farm down the road from the Olive Pit. But I can’t even do enough for my own consumption, and they only las a few months after harvest.
So the Olive Pit is there for me to stock up the rest of the year. This trip, I bought more than a dozen jars. I love the stuffed queens, and the sicilians, which are a Lindsay product and come with a spice packet you add before serving.
Olive Pit’s salad style olives can’t be beat. No machine diced pieces here, but huge chunks of green olives, perfectly seasoned, I use them on salads, sandwiches, and especially pizza.
I love you guys. Marry me.