Harlingen’s Dos Olivos Market: A portal to the wine valleys and elegant restaurants of the world

HARLINGEN — I am in Italy.

Or perhaps Spain, or France, or Napa Valley.

A visit to Dos Olivos Market at 6710 W. Expressway 83 can take you to any of these places. The dark polished woodgrain of the tables and the wine bottles against a wall and the vines and grasses spilling over the edge of the planting boxes gives me a taste of the elegant and the genteel.

A waiter immediately greets me the moment I enter Dos Olivos.

“Party of one?” he asks. “Table or bar?”

“Table.”

I sit at a table against the wall, and he gives me a menu. It is not an extensive menu, but it is an interesting one, an intriguing and tantalizing menu.

“Iberico Pork Burger. Patatas Bravas, Truffle Mac and Cheese, and Sticky Chipotle Salmon.”

These are enticing dishes with even more intriguing ingredients. I would love to explore these, but I see hummus in the appetizers and that seals half the deal. The other half of the deal is completed by the garlic shrimp.

While I wait for my hummus and my garlic shrimp, I take in all the lights and shadows and the movement of the people. I hear quiet conversations behind me and in front of me two young women calm and smiling take their seat. The young waiter tends to them as quickly as he did to me.

At the next table, two young women and a young man sip their drinks and talk casually. One of the young women has a lovely tattoo in fine detail across her shoulder. Now their meals arrive, plates stacked with fine food.

My meal is here now, first with the hummus and the warm and chewy pita bread, and I dive into it eagerly and it is hard not to consume it quickly because it is so delicious. The garlic shrimp arrives and it is a welcome distraction from the hummus as I can now slow down and move back and forth between the hummus and the garlic shrimp.

More people are entering the restaurant. I sit for awhile and listen to their calm conversation, and I think perhaps the atmosphere at Dos Olivos has an effect on the tones of these conversations. They are not loud and boisterous conversations such as I would hear in sports bars. They are smooth and fun and reflective.

I look at the play of light on the wine in the glistening bottles, the colors of amber and sherry and pale emerald, and I think of Tuscany and France and Spain.

Hours are 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday.

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