Established 1997 (1997) Head chef John Toulze Dress code Casual | Current owner(s) Sondra Bernstein Food type French cuisine Street address 110 W. Spain Street | |
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The girl & the fig is a restaurant in Sonoma, California in the United States. It was opened in Glen Ellen, California by Sondra Bernstein in 1997. In 2001, the restaurant relocated to downtown Sonoma.
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History
The girl & the fig was opened in 1997 by Sondra Bernstein in Glen Ellen, California. John Toulze left working at Viansa Winery to help Bernstein open the restaurant. He worked as a sous chef and a manager. Around 1999 he became Executive Chef and he remains in that position today. Toulze is also a business partner and director of operations for the restaurant. In 2001, the restaurant relocated to its current location in downtown Sonoma; the bottom floor of the The Sonoma Hotel. bar comprises a waiting area, a small gift shop, and a large antique wooden bar. There is a dining room that extends into an outdoor patio. In 2004, Bernstein published the girl & the fig cookbook. The restaurant also has its own line of food and food-related products called "FIG FOOD" that it sells at the restaurant. In 2006, the restaurant was the focus of a Fortune Small Business makeover. It is one of the many restaurant and food businesses that Bernstein owns, who is estimated to make approximately $10 million a year, as of 2012, from her businesses. In 2012, the restaurant was visited by Ben Flajnik and his date during season 16 of The Bachelor. That same year, Lady Gaga visited the restaurant.
Cuisine
The restaurant serves lunch, dinner and brunch on Sunday. Travel and Leisure has called the restaurants food French cuisine and also American food. Michelin Guide has called it Californian cuisine. Cocktails on the menu are French inspired with fresh ingredients, including figs. Many of the vegetables and fruits served in the restaurant are from the restaurant's own garden located in Sonoma, which is organic and biodynamic. 95% of fresh food served is locally grown. One of the house cocktails is the Fig Royale which consists of sparkling wine and syrup made of fig. An additional cocktail on the menu is a Lavender mojito. The wine list is exclusively Rhône wine made in California. The restaurant makes its own charcuterie. Brunch dishes include french toast stuffed with blue cheese and poached egg with duck confit. Lunch and dinner entrees include beef carbonade, black cod, trout and beet salads, hamburgers, and flounder with meunière sauce. Its signature dish is a fig and arugula salad. The restaurant also sells artisan cheese plates, including cheese by Laura Chenel. Desserts include a creme brulee made with lavender.
Reception
The girl & the fig was named one of the top ten best restaurants in the United States for Thanksgiving meals in 2009 by Bon Appétit. Michael Bauer, from the San Francisco Chronicle described the girl & the fig as having "excellent rustic meat courses and salads," but acknowledged that "other dishes can be inconsistent." Travel writers Peg Melnik and Tim Fish also cited that "the food and service are maddeningly inconsistent," but the environment is "breezy" and the wine prices were "fairly priced." The restaurant has been reviewed on Check, Please!.