The Tasteful Olive opens in Overland Park

​Santa Fe Drive, the main drag of downtown Overland Park, now has two businesses with the word olive in their names: the Olive Branch Art Gallery & Studios at 7915 Santa Fe Drive, which does not sell olive oil, and the two-week-old The Tasteful Olive, which does.

It’s a sunny storefront at 7945 Santa Fe, owned by Jeanne Mackey. She says her mother never cooked with olive oil, but did use the historic liquid — Homer called it “liquid gold” — for curing earaches when Jeanne was a little girl.

Mackey’s business focuses more on the culinary uses of extra-virgin olive oil, although her store does sell olive oil-based shampoos and conditioners, books with olive oil themes (The Healing Powers of Olive Oil is one of the featured paperbacks) and mixes, pan sauces, glazes and crackers. But the real reason to wander through the shop is to learn about and taste her array of oils and balsamic vinegars, including some startlingly fabulous flavors.