At 110, the Watch Hill Institution Charms with Candy-Pink Walls and Colorful Cocktails
My first visit to the Olympia Tea Room was nearly 20 years ago on my first real grown-up date, the kind where romance felt possible and ordering a martini felt impossibly sophisticated. The candy-pink walls struck me immediately, a hue somewhere between watermelon sorbet and seaside sunset. Sitting in the corner booth overlooking Watch Hill Harbor, golden light spilling through the dining room, I watched a waitress glide past, eye level with a melon-colored martini on her tray, setting off a domino effect of heads turning in her wake.
That glowing glass was Manager and Sommelier Georgia Felber Jones’s iconic cantaloupe martini, still as good today as it was 20 years ago. Its recipe remains a closely guarded secret, a gilded lure for the curious, as there is no actual cantaloupe in the drink aside from the garnish. Georgia explains, “It takes real doctoring to get the color and flavor just right, so guests will just have to come in and experience the drink for themselves.”
Upon careful sipping, I suspect a healthy pour of watermelon liqueur, along with fresh-squeezed lime and orange juice to ballast the stiff vodka base. Though it’s my job to give away the recipe, here I find myself agreeing with Georgia: Some things are better left to the professional bartenders.
Olympia Tea Room has been open for 110 years, never fancy or self-important, just effortlessly good. Twinkling chandeliers illuminate the room, while a classic checkerboard floor anchors the space below and a wry neon “Temperance” sign glows above it all like a wink. The room is playful, a little ironic, and completely unforgettable, but it is Marcia Felber’s paintings that truly cast the spell. Whimsical folk-art oil paintings fill the walls like a private mythology unfolding across the room. In one, a wide-grinning, toothy cat clutches a fish in its paws. In another, an austere banquet table is set with plated cupcakes, a celebration that feels slightly off-kilter, like a party remembered from a dream.
I recently had dinner with Georgia and her mother Marcia Felber at the restaurant. Pointing down at our table, Georgia reminisced, “This exact table was my kitchen table growing up. I did homework right here, ate dinner, talked to the regulars … I grew up in this restaurant.” Now owners Marcia and Jack (Felber) are passing the torch to their daughter Georgia, her husband, Eric, and their two boys. “This restaurant is in my blood,” Georgia says.
Then, there’s the cucumber margarita, crisp and precise, lifted by silver tequila, fresh lime juice and Wild Moon Cucumber Liqueur out of Hartford, Connecticut. Ribbons of cucumber and a spiced Tajín rim bring brightness, heat and a garden freshness that feels tailor-made for summer evenings by the harbor. Cucumber cocktails can easily turn watery or one-dimensional, but this one stays vivid and structured from the first sip. The Tajín and kosher salt rim adds a slow chili heat and salt-bright lift, sharpening the citrus and pulling you back for another taste.
Some places simply become part of summer itself. Olympia lingers that way, glowing in memory long after the last martini catches the light.
Willa Van Nostrand is an award-winning mixologist, beverage consultant, artist and owner of Little Bitte Artisanal Cocktails and World’s Fair Gallery. Visit her at LittleBitte.com.
Photography credit AngelTucker.com
