Happy Birthday, Jason!

That pizza there is ours. It's the Margharita Pizza from the Olive Market restaurant (formerly Merchants Deli) in Walla Walla. We intended to go to Sweet Basil Pizzeria for Jason's birthday, but they are, apparently, randomly closed on Mondays. So we opted for the Olive instead. We hadn't been there yet since the switch-over from Merchants, so we chanced it. It's quite an improvement, surprisingly. Merchants was a nice atmosphere, but it was a bit dark and needed some updating. While the new owner kept a lot of the enjoyable atmosphere, he classed it up a bit and brightened the interior with new paint and better lighting. We sat upstairs where you can look down into the kitchen as they prepare food, and this chef was making a fruit, cheese and bread platter. It looked beautiful when he was done, with the apples all fanned out and the cheese placed "just so." We enjoyed watching them in the kitchen while we ate. (The food was delicious, by the way.)