There’s more to olive oil than meets the eye, and Charles Romoff wants to spread the word.
Romoff and his partner Betty Farber are the owners of the Great Neck Plaza boutique Oil Licious, which bottles 48 varieties of extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar in-house and sells them to curious foodies and gift-givers across the peninsula.
There’s a lot to learn in the Grace Avenue shop, with its metal tubs of oil suspended over stained wood furniture and dispensing a diverse array of extra virgins – plain, gourmet and flavor infused, in mild, moderate and robust flavor profiles.
“No two are the same. They’re all different,” said Romoff. “It’s almost like a fine bottle of wine.”
The store, which opened in September, encourages sampling. Romoff said allowing customers to experiment with varieties like wild mushroom and sage or tuscan herb olive oils is important part of how the business is run.
“When you come in here, you’re tasting,” Romoff said. “It’s really our mission that when somebody comes in here, they’re satisfied.”
In addition to oils and vinegars, Oil Licious stocks other specialty foods, including bruschetta toast, tapenade spreads and sea salts with names like Spanish Rosemary and Himalayan Pink.
Romoff also encourages what he calls “pairings” – mixtures of oils and vinegars that take advantage of complementary flavors.
One such pairing, a sweet, acidic mixture of basil olive oil and peach balsalmic vinegar, was the creation of a customer – a habit Romoff said he encourages.
“This particular pairing was created by a dentist from Little Neck,” he said.
The idea for the store came to Romoff after he visited other specialty oil shops on Long Island and saw a niche to be filled in Great Neck.
“I walked in and I said, ‘what a great business,’” Romoff said.
Romoff, a Northeastern University graduate and Dix Hills resident, owned a bagel shop before opening Oilicious. Farber, his co-partner, lives in West Islip.
Romoff said Great Neck has a health-conscious population and upscale sensibility that made it a natural fit for his business.
And as Romoff and Farber conclude their first holiday season in business, they are pleased and surprised by the reception Oil Licious has received.
“We didn’t know what to expect,” said Romoff. “The word is somehow on the street that we exist and we have a nice product.”
Romoff said the oil is shipped wholesale from a distributor in California, and is bottled by hand at the store.
And according to Romoff, the personal service and health benefits of extra virgin olive oil separate his store from an ordinary supermarket.
“This is not a supermarket product,” he said. “This is a unique item.”
