Mediaboss Marketing

Manuel Romero, whose inspired Spanish cuisine at Ibiza in New Haven drew a loyal following and four-star reviews, thought he would "take a break" from demanding duties of a chef when the restaurant closed last March.

Romero, who worked in New York City before moving to New Haven to take over Ibiza's kitchen in 2001, says he needed time "to think about my future" but wanted to remain in the Elm City.

"Honestly, I love New Haven," he says. "I though t it was going to take a while [to decide the future], but we got an offer to take over the [Ibiza] space."

The chef, a native of Spain, and his business partner, Maria Gonzalez, who was a familiar face in Ibiza's dining room, opened Olea (pronounced (OH-lay-a) at the end of August.

"We gave the dining room a facelift without going too crazy," Romero says. "We wanted to give the dining room a different look because the menu would be different, too."

The dcor in warm wood tones, white, black and gray is sleek and sophisticated yet welcoming. The dining room's distinctive curved walls, once adorned with murals, remain in place. In the bar, a gold mesh curtain covers the bowed wall, which mimics the shape of the granite countertop, while the wine collection is open for view through another curved glass wall.

The restaurant's name is derived from the Oleaceae family of flowering plants, which includes the Olea or the olive tree.

"The name relates to the food because the tree grows throughout the Mediterranean and North Africa," Romero says, "and our menu now is more fusion, more Mediterranean" than the Spanish menu he cooked for Ibiza.

While Romero enjoyed cooking Spanish dishes during his reign at Ibiza, the chance to cull ideas from any different cuisines suits his self-described "foodie" image.

"I love every kind of cuisine," he says, adding that he is looking ahead rather than cooking in the past. "All of the recipes on Olea's menu are new. Some people ask me for dishes that were on the menu [at Ibiza]. What happened before was before. This is a new concept. I think people are happy with the new menu."

View post:
Former Ibiza Chef Opens Sleek Olea In New Haven