When Cheryl Neruda, her husband Greg, and their daughter Tara Bruner decided to take over Eagle’s Olive and Vyne, they picked an opportune time.
“We started a week before they announced the COVID shutdown in 2020,” Neruda said. “It was amazing. One week into the business, and discovered, ‘Oh, maybe we shouldn’t have done that.’ But we’ve never felt it wasn’t worth the journey.”
Olive and Vyne (600 S. Rivershore Lane), a community staple since 2014, was a natural fit for Neruda’s family.
“Both my husband and I were in the corporate world and retired,” Neruda said. “Our daughter was in the military and knew she would be retiring soon when this business became available. We decided this fit all three of us since we love to cook, eat, and drink good wine.”
Neruda handles oils, balsamic, and condiments, while Greg applies his wine sommelier experience, and Tara specializes in wine pairings. Neruda said the business has presented a unique opportunity to learn more about her family.
“It’s just led to an awareness and appreciation of who we really are, as people and as a family,” she said.
She’s also enjoyed being able to trade recipes with the community, as Olive and Vyne pairs recipe cards with products.
“I come from a large family and all of us are good cooks,” Neruda said. “We’ve been taught from the very beginning, ‘The secret of good food is good ingredients.’ We try every recipe several times before it's printed on a recipe card for the public.”
If you’ve never been in the shop before or are a novice cook, facing shelves upon shelves of oils, vinegars, and spices can be intimidating.
“What we'll do is we'll find out what people are wanting to experiment with,” Neruda said. “For example, is it bread dipping? And if so, we have several combinations we can taste to see what's best for their palate. Maybe it's salad dressing. So, then we'll head to another area. Maybe it's meat marinades. Maybe they want to do vegetables, so we've got combinations we can use for that too. Maybe it's the spices; all local and wonderful, unique combinations from Starlight Herb & Spice. So, one thing leads to another.”
And if you go in for oil and vinegar, don’t be surprised if you walk out with a bottle of wine.
“People learn about us by coming in for one or the other,” Neruda said. “Good cooks are usually more knowledgeable about wine or they're more ready to learn about good wine.”
For additional ideas, Olive and Vyne also holds wine tastings, patio tea parties, wine dinners, and (by request) olive oil classes.
“I think our forte is definitely the fact that we love to share with people our love of cooking, good food, and drinking good wine,” Neruda said.
As Neruda and her family help Eagle explore new tastes, the community has been supportive in turn.
“We have some loyal people here in Eagle and the surrounding area who really want to support small business, and we have excellent, quality products, so we've been able to keep the doors open,” Neruda said. “We love it. (The people) are, without a doubt, the reason that we still exist after COVID. The people are so intent on buying local and learning and enjoying life. And we can become a real part of their life that way.”
From the very beginning, ‘The secret of good food is good ingredients.’