Nick Hartman got in touch recently — he owns Olive’s, the Soho stalwart coming to Greenwich and Hubert, with his wife, Toni Allocca — and while I can’t really share a peek (the space is still under construction) I can give an exciting preview.

The shop opened 32 years ago as one of the first gourmet to-go spots in Lower Manhattan. They are continuing that service here, but adding something I have never seen before: coffee flights. The 12-seat bar will also offer beer flights in the afternoon out of 12 taps with hard-to-source brews, along with taps for their homemade beverages: their lemon soda, “Lemonesso,” iced tea and lemonade.

Nick said he hopes to be open late fall, before the new year. “I am praying,” he said.

A quick Q&A, with more TK when they are closer to ready:

How did you two start Olive’s?
My wife started Olive’s — I met Toni as a customer. She started it in 1992 and we met shortly after that. She knew my order. Finally one time she brought a cookie out and said we should do something. After five dates we knew.

What were you doing at the time?
I was in action sports. I was a partner in a skate shop — we had a Blades franchise then added snowboards and skateboards. Then I started a company that manufactured urethane wheels. When we got together, I sold that and moved on to food industry.

What makes Olive’s so popular?
I’m a big believer in skin in the game. If it’s not good enough for my wife and I, it’s not good enough for our customers. We make everything fresh every day — the menu is different every day. Our soup guy comes in at 3 in the morning to make the two soups of the day. We make our salad dressing from scratch, every day. We cure our own vanilla in aged rum. But of course we get our bread from Grandaisy. [The offerings one day last week included grilled flank steak with grilled onions and watercress; the side was roasted beats with orange sections.]

Why did you leave Brookfield?
We did our 10 years at Brookfield when a lot of folks [other restaurants at Hudson Eats] didn’t make it. But we walked by this space and we said, why are we in a mall? This building has the coffee roasters sign on top, and the view of the river. This is much more us.

Can I take a picture of the plans?
Not yet! I do everything myself, and while I do drawings, I won’t build anything permanent unless I mock it up. All plans look good on paper, but you have to try it to know if it works. This will be a lot like the Olive’s in Soho, but the big difference here is the seating.

Why coffee flights?
There’s an entire coffee experience that’s not out there yet. All of the New York City coffee experience is on a 80-84 rating level. And because of that everyone is marketing against each other. It’s all still better than the coffee that we grew up on. But there are coffees in the 90+ rating level that are too expensive to brew in mass. But if I give you nine different tastings, you can see what you like and don’t like, and you can taste the difference.

Coffee is the drug of New York mornings. We believe coffee is on a much higher level that has to be introduced in a different way. Listen, I can talk to you about coffee till I’m blue in the face if you want… [I did not want, but no doubt others will!]

And we are doing the same thing with beer. The idea is, what if you don’t know what you want from a beer? And how do you learn? That’s why we are doing flight systems — you will be able to have a conversation with the staff. The 12 taps will rotate seasonally. One line will be always dedicated to Other Half Brewing Company, out of Brooklyn. That will be a permanent tap line.

Are you going to keep expanding?
No, we don’t want to get bigger. When you know the fabric of your product, you do this out of the love of what you do. And you can make a living. You won’t make a heap of money — the rents are through the roof, the number of departments that monitor restaurants are through the roof, the fines are through the roof. If you are not passionate, it’s not worth it. We always say to each other, when do we want to stop doing this? and we say, when we don’t love cooking and coming in every day.

Did you really paint that fire hydrant?
Yes, and the street sign poles. I stripped down the steel on the hydrant and matched the city color scheme. I did it all myself. This is my corner. I am going to spend more time here than any place else for the next decade.