Gaetano S.
Yelp
This is a small, quaint, restaurant located just outside of Place Rosetti in the heart of Old Town, Nice. We stumbled upon this place casually walking back from Castle Hill and feel very lucky to have found it that day.
Apparently there is one day a year where 2000 restaurants and 2000 chefs partake in honoring French cuisine by putting out a tasting menu with French food only (Goût de France 2017). Top chefs like Alain Ducasse are included in the list of chefs that participate in the event. Somehow, we were able to get a reservation on this day.
The place was loaded with locals and they all were nice enough to engage in conversation with me when I walked in earlier that day to make the reservation. Each of them swore this restaurant was the best in all of Nice. I really couldn't disagree.
I don't even know what to call the appetizers, except that they reminded me of baby empañadas stuff with duck. Very good. There was a pork entrée that I wasn't as big of a fan of, but still good.
The final entrée was lamb. As big fans of lamb, Talia and I both agree this was the best lamb we've ever had (yes, that includes Manhattan's Halal Guys). The side dish was basically a few potato chips inflated into eatable balloons. I don't know how they did it, but it was cool and tasted good too. The lamb sat on a bed of asparagus which was cooked PERFECTLY. Seriously, if this dish was meant to honor French cuisine than the French should be very proud.
There were two Spanish guitar players who were walking around to each table playing and singing songs which was very fun and created a cool atmosphere.
Finally, I told the waiter that my wife and I were recently married. The chef personally came out of the kitchen to let me play our wedding song throughout the restaurant via his Spotify account! Despite slightly embarrassing Talia, we got up and danced to our song in the front of the kitchen as the staff watched on and made us feel like this was normal lol.
All in all, Olive & Artichaut was a great restaurant and great experience. Staff was super friendly, food was close to perfect, atmosphere was exactly what you'd expect from a small, family owned restaurant in the heart of the historic old town of Nice.