Fig And Olive – For Lunch

Jason Chang is a regular at the Fig and Olive and so the perfect dining partner. He told me to order the truffle mushroom penne, but as usual, I decided I knew better and ended up eating most of his – as well as my own – meal. So it was hardly surprising when it took my stomach the rest of the day, and night, to recover!

The restaurant automatically brings you their specialty Rosemary bread with 3 different types of Olive Oil. The one on the left was my favorite, from Portugal. I love robust flavors and it was the richest with strong hints of pepper. The light, middle one was from North California and probably my least favorite and the one on the right was from Tunisia.

To start with Jason insisted I try a selection of the crostini. You can either order 3 for $10 or 6 for $19.

We ordered the Crushed Tomato with Olive Oil; Proscuitto, Ricotta, Fig, Olive, Walnut; Mushroom, Truffle Artichoke, Parmesan. These were all divine. In fact, I could have just eaten crostinis for lunch. The tomato actually tasted of tomato, for a change, and the textures all worked really well together.

I ordered the Striped Bass Papilliote, mainly because I couldn’t decide what to order and someone at the table next to us was eating it. The best thing about this dish is the preparatory show the server enacts in front of you. The fish is covered with cooking paper which the server tears into with a knife and fork and then rolls back to reveal the steamed striped bass filet and stewed vegetables. I hate dry fish and the texture was perfectly moist, although it was a little too salty and maybe a little too heavy to eat for lunch. It came with zucchini, eggplant, fennel, tomato, thyme, scallion and saffron served with olive oil mashed potato & chives – with a side of Arbequina Olive Oil drizzled over it.

Penne Funghi Tartufo: Cremini and black trumpet mushroom, parmesan, parsley, scallion with white truffle olive oil.

This was reeeeally delicious, full of all the robust flavors you could want from a pasta dish. The only complaint is it was also a bit too salty – but on the other hand I love salt!