I consider myself a foodie, but my parents are foodies to the extreme, especially my dad. So when money is no obstacle, you can betchur bottom dollar that I’m going to take advantage.
So what do I do when my parents are in town? I turn to my Zagat’s top 20 list. After a morning full of shows and shopping in midtown, we were ready for a lunch break, and so we found ourselves at Fig & Olive.
As you know, I’m always on board with Mediterranean food, and since I’d been eyeing this place for a time, it seemed like a no brainer restaurant choice. They are known for their olive oil, fresh flavors, and seasonal style of cooking refined foods authentic to the south of France, Spain, and Italy.
My dad and Kyle both ordered FRANCINE’S ROTISSERIE CHICKEN SALAD which was described as free range rotisserie chicken marinated with herbs de Provence, lemon and garlic arugula salad, avocado, tomato, parmesan, 18 year balsamic vinegar – Picholine Olive Oil.
It looked beautiful. Clean, fresh, and flavorful bites. They both seemed to enjoy it.
My mom ordered the ROSEMARY CHICKEN WARM PANINI WITH MEDITERRANEAN FRIES, which had free range rotisserie chicken & mozzarella in a grilled panini, as well as potato wedges with a rosemary, chive, cumin & cilantro mayonnaise, and a salad of scallions & tomatoes on the side.
It looked purrrty, and she did a pretty fab job of finishing it all off.
I was having a hard time deciding what to order for my lunch. There was sooo much on the menu I wanted to try, particularly the various crostinis. My gut was telling me to order the 6 for $18 crostinis, but the freezing weather made soup sound oh-so-tasty. What to do, what to do.
With the waitress’ guidance, I decided on SOUP & CROSTINI combo which paired a chilled Mediterranean soup with a crostini. I chose the BELL PEPPER TOMATO SOUP served with a cannellini bean, basil, and tomato crostini. The soup was a Spanish winter soup puree of tomato and bell pepper, but wasn’t anything special in my opinion.
The cannellini bean crostini was the best part about this dish, but there was only ONE. Yeah, not my style. It was barely two bites. I wanted 8 hundred of them. Good thing we had a bread basket that saved the day. I had two slices of french bread, and one piece of the raisin walnut seed. They were fresh and amazing.
I dipped the french bread into the soup, but to be honest, this soup wasn’t my cup of tea. It tasted like boring tomato soup. Nothing exciting about it. Nary a bell pepper flavor to be found. Boo.
I had a few cups of Earl Grey Tea with my meal. So at least I left lunch feeling warm. Next time I will listen to my inner foodie self when ordering and get what I really crave.
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
YUM. You’re really doing a good job of planning out 2010′s restaurant visits! AND I work right across the street
that restaurant looks like it serves really fresh ingredients!
xo
shelley
http://findinghappinessandhealth.wordpress.com
Wowza on the presentation. You’re right, everything looks really fresh. Sorry about your sopa : ( – Blossom seemed fantasmic though (I guess ya win some, ya lose some)
Merry xmas dearie!
Sorry to hear about your meal but that restaurant sounds fabulous! There have been many times where I just wanted bread and dip and call it a day but then the ‘rational’ side takes over and says it’s not a meal (holy run on sentence). Then, like you, I get mad at myself because it wasn’t what I wanted – stick to your instincts!
amen sister…get what you want! i always end up making a last minute bad decision, then get so mad at myself!
merry christmas, happy holidays and lots of love to you!!!!!
LOVE Mediterranean food
Sorry about the soup disappointment, gahh oh well– live and learn.
I hope you have a very merry, healthy and joyful Christmas darling!
<3
fantastic food there, Miss Vegan Elise with the amazing parents
I awarded you today, you’re a Beautiful Blogger!
Merry Xmas to you and your fam, honey!
xoxo
looks great!!
I love going out to eat with my folks and being able to get an appetizer AND a meal.. *gasp!*
oh god, I’m so broke.
anywayzzzz. Lovely meal, hippie! I am loving all of your restaurant reviews as of late!
At least you tried out a little taste of different things! That crostini looks great though.
ooo, your mama’s plate looked the bestest! Square and rectangular plates any day! And I don’t even know what a crostini is, but it was purty and I’m sooo gonna look it up now!
I just saw that you went here… I love Fig & Olive!! I live right around the corner. Wish I could afford to go more often.