FIRST LOOK AT FIG & OLIVE
Fig & Olive is a Mediterraneanflavored restaurant in the former Saks Fifth Avenue space of the Galleria that sports a menu inspired by the coastal regions of France, Spain and Italy.
Designed to suggest the good life of the Cote d’Azur, the room is drenched in light, with olive trees on the patio, unstudied décor dotted with sleek runway strips of fresh rosemary and olive oil (bottles, steel tank dispensers) at every turn.
Olive oil plays a key role in the menu that begins with signature crostini: mushroom and artichoke; burrata, tomato and pesto; manchego, fig and marcona almonds; and prosciutto with ricotta and fig.
Shared plates and appetizers include roasted cauliflower with pine nut and garlic emulsion; mushroom croquettes with truffle aioli; sea scallops with sunchoke purée and ossetra caviar; and beef carpaccio with tomato, Parmesan and white truffle oil.
Mains include salmon with sea bass with a romesco sauce; herbs de Provence roasted chicken with tarragon aioli; rosemary lamb chops; seafood paella; and steak frites made with a bone-in rib eye and served with Parmesan truffle fries.
The 145-bottle wine list will be the largest selection in the Fig & Olive portfolio.
There’s also a specialty cocktail menu with drinks such as the Soul Flower (gin, basil, rosemary, honey, lavender bitters and aquafaba), the Southern Affair (bourbon, elderflower liqueur, port and muddled black Mission figs) and the Rossellini (passion fruit vodka, blood orange juice and lime juice).
Fig & Olive, 5115 Westheime, 832-632-6632; figandolive.com. Open 11 a.m.- 11 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, 11 a.m.- midnight Fridays, 10 a.m.-midnight Saturdays and 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Sundays.