Girl & the Fig one of the best in Sonoma
With all the new restaurant openings, I sometimes forget about the tried and true. With that in mind, I checked out the 20-year-old the Girl & the Fig in Sonoma.
Even though it was a Tuesday night, every seat was taken, and just about every table turned over a second time.
That says a lot about how partners Sondra Bernstein and John Toulze run their businesses, which include the Fig Cafe and Winebar in Glen Ellen, the newly opened Rhone Room wine bar in Sonoma, and a food truck, the Fig Rig.
They originally opened the Girl & the Fig in Glen Ellen in 1997, then relocated the restaurant to Sonoma Plaza in the Sonoma Hotel in 2000. From the start they had a very specific idea of offering Frenchinspired food using local products and a wine list made up of only Rhone varietals from California and around the world.
I had forgotten how warm and cozy the interior is, with its antique bar, stained woodwork and shabby chic dining room. While the inside seats 65, the outdoor patio is popular in warmer months and seats 75.
The restaurant shows its age in a few ways. The menu has about three times as many dishes as newer restaurants. Those include seven Petits Plats and Sandwiches — more like lunch main courses — and a dozen starters, including soups and salads.
A few years ago Toulze became obsessed with charcuterie and started his own line called Mano Formate, also on the menu. In the back of the restaurant is a fromagerie, and the menu features 10 or more cheeses.
That’s a lot to keep up with, but as I discovered, the restaurant does a good job.
The French accent is present in the steamed mussels ($15 for ½ pound; $25 a pound) with thin, crisp frites and aioli. The licorice flavor of the French pastis permeates the sauce along with garlic, leeks and herbs. Another starter is asparagus ($12), which carries the aroma of the grill, topped with radish, arugula chile lemon oil and smoked ricotta.
The main courses include a dish rarely seen today: wild flounder meuniere ($29). The sauteed fish sits atop a puree of potatoes and sauteed spinach. Another main course was grilled pork tenderloin ($26) sliced over roasted cabbage, farro, fennel and mildly spicy chile sauce with a hint of sweetness surrounded by lemon caper brown butter.
I was most impressed with dessert, a course that many new restaurants don’t pay enough attention to. Here you can get lavender creme brulee ($8) , an old-fashioned chocolate cake ($20, serves at least two); and what we ordered — a beautifully presented Meyer lemon pudding cake ($9) on swipes of blood orange caramel with a quenelle of whipped cream.
Simply put, the Girl & the Fig is a restaurant that has aged nicely and manages to equally serve the town and tourists.
110 W. Spain St., Sonoma; (707) 938-3634 or www.thegirlandthefig.com. Open continuously for lunch and dinner daily.