New “Olive Bar” in Walnut Creek: Are there enough fancy olive oil lovers around to sustain this business?

I stopped in the other day at We Olive, the new shop on North Main Street that sells products made from olives, including an extensive selection of artisan olive oils that you can taste at their bar.

It’s a pretty shop, and that polished wood bar is long and lined with all varieties--or, as you say in WineSpeak, varietals?--of olive oils. These olive oils have been made in California and are part of a proud tradition that goes back to Spanish settlers, say the We Olive folks. These oils come flavored with different flavors and aromas--rosemary, lemon, and tangerine. The friendly employee behind the bar said that the Pasolivo tangerine blend—at $16 for 200 ml--is great to use in brownies.

The shop also sells olives that are stuffed with blue cheese and almonds, or graced with hints of orange and fennel or bay leaf and garlic. And, the shop sells tapenades, pesto, balsamic vinegars, cookbooks, and even olive-based skin-care and bath products.

Back to olive oils: We Olive says it has brought together the more than 200 producers across California.

At We Olive, you spend $34.50 for a sleek blue bottle of extra virgin, 100-percent estate grown, 100-percent organic Olivas de Oro Mission Blue, made in Paso Robles. This product is a “mild, unfiltered oil with a fruity olive aroma, with some herbaceous tones.”

As I write this, I’m getting hungry, and craving one of those blue-cheese stuffed olives, or a hunk of baguette that I can dip in olive oil from that $34.50 bottle.

At the same time, I’m wondering how well this store will do. We Olive is a franchise, originating from Paso Robles, the heart of the Central Coast’s Wine Country. This Walnut Creek location, at 1364 North Main Street, is We Olive’s seventh store. The company, according to its website, has plans to expand its franchise to up to 400 stores nationwide.

When a co-worker and I first heard about the opening of this olive bar, we were skeptical. You mean, like a wine bar? Both of us said, sure, we like to go to restaurants that serve hunks of delicious fresh bread, which you dip into small bowls of exquisite olive oil. We also really like noshing on fancy olives. But would we actually go into a shop and taste different olive oils?

I don't know.

However, I am tempted to go back to buy its We Olive brand of olive oil in bulk—for $1 per ounce. That’s the kind of oil I might use in a special vinaigrette for a salad, or for dipping bread.

I’d love to hear from people in the community who are more discerning about flavors and cooking than me, who are delighted that such a shop has come to our community.

Still, I wonder if, in this economy, whether people are going to want to spend money on specialty olive oils. Even in the way they would spend on the best coffee or the best wine.