What’s cooking at Fig & Olive?

MILLIE: Karla and I flew back to Los Angeles after five memorable days in San Francisco. My cousin Pol Chavez, who owns a pharmacy in Hollywood, met us at the airport. Like us, Pol loves to eat and is always on the lookout for something good and interesting. He surprised Karla and I by taking us to dinner at Fig & Olive on Melrose Place in West Hollywood, because he had heard so much about it when President Obama came to dine on a visit to Los Angeles.

It was peak hour when we arrived and the place was bustling. We sat at a very impressive, 50-foot wine-tasting bar as we waited for a table. The restaurant, all of 8,000 square feet, is light and airy with a high ceiling, adorned with walls of bottled olive oil, select wines and houses an open kitchen. Its claim to fame is executive chef Pascal Larange, who reportedly honed his skills in Spain and was once a private chef to Julio Iglesias.

KARLA: Fig & Olive is about the passion for the best olive oils mostly from the Riviera and coastal regions of the south of France, Spain and Italy. Naturally, the first thing we were served was three different kinds of olive oil. It was a mini olive oil tasting for us and bread was provided. The olive oils were Spanish with avocado, Greek Macedonian and Spanish manzanilla. Our server advised us to treat it just like wine and start tasting the lightest to the darkest. It is said that the hotter the climate of the region the olives are from, the bolder the taste of the olive oil.

Olive oil is essentially the juice of the olives. The first pressing is what we call extra-virgin olive oil. Since it has been chemically processed the least, it is the one that contains the most anti-oxidants and the most flavor. Some health benefits of olive oil are that they prevent cancer, heart disease and can lower your blood pressure. Olive oils should be stored in a dark cool place or in a colored glass bottle away from drafts, light and heat, and should be in an airtight container.

For our appetizer, we tried crostinis with prosciutto, ricotta and fig, burrata and pesto, and Manchego with fig chutney. Tito Pol also ordered a lobster bisque, which was very flavorful. I’m sure they made a very good stock with the lobster shells. Of course, the first step to serving good soup is to make flavorful soup stock. For his main course, Tito Pol ordered the Chilean sea bass marinated with lemon thyme, carrot, asparagus, celery root puree, heirloom potato, charmoula, mascarpone and harissa olive oil emulsion. Charmoula is a special marinade used for fish and seafood in Algerian, Moroccan and Tunisian cuisine.

Although I also wanted sea bass since I had not had it in a while because it is pricey, I opted for something else. Going through the menu, one that caught my attention was the rosemary lamb chops. It was smoked a la minute with a bouquet of herbs de Provence. When it was served, it was covered with a transparent cloche in glass. Our server lit up the sprigs of rosemary and put it back in the dish and covered it, infusing the whole plate with a tinge of rosemary. The dish was also served with goat cheese and chive gnocchi, roasted honey, thyme eggplant, and rosemary garlic olive oil used for Tuscan-inspired grillades.

MILLIE: I actually would have wanted to try the truffle mushroom croquette with cremini mushroom, parmesan, béchamel sauce and truffle olive oil aioli and the Fig & Olive salad, which was composed of fig, apple, Manchego, gorgonzola dolce, tomato, walnut, olive, romaine, scallion, fig balsamic and Arbequina olive oil, which is said to be one of the most flavorful varieties because of its intense aroma and fruitiness. The low acidity allows for its distinct and delicious taste.

But when my eyes zoomed in on the primavera lobster risotto, I instantly came to a decision. It had bite-size bits of grilled Maine lobster cooked with arborio rice and bits of fresh green asparagus, caramelized baby carrots, cherry tomato, garlic, shallot, baby zucchini, snow peas and Nocellara olive oil. The Nocellara olive oil makes for that memorable and unique mild and buttery taste.

The large, green olives called Nocellara del Belice olives are primarily cultivated and grown in Sicily, which is protected with a designation of origin DOC status in EU countries but the olives are also grown in India, Pakistan and South Africa.

For the perfect ending, since the three of us have a sweet side, we ordered not one but three desserts to try! We could not make up our minds and our waiter wasn’t a big help either as he kept suggesting more desserts and told us they were all his favorites. So Karla ordered the warm chocolate soufflé with candied orange and vanilla ice cream, Pol chose the chocolate pot de crème with crunchy praline financiers and vanilla cream, and I could not resist the crème brulee cheesecake with olive oil crisp and caramelized peaches! I believe we gave the best compliment to the pastry chef, Andrew LeStourgeon, because we cleaned our plates. In the end, we all said, “Forget the calories,” it was all worth it!

We learned that the menu is changed according to season but rest assured the food served is exquisite and one experiences guiltless pleasure.

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Although Fig & Olive has several branches, we went to the one located at 8490 Melrose Place, West Hollywood, CA. For reservations and inquiries, call +121-0360-9100 or visit http://www.figaandolive.com to check out their menu or for more details.

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Send e-mail to milliereyes.foodforthought@gmail.com and karla@swizzlemobilebar.com. Find us on Facebook and read articles you might have missed: Food for Thought by Millie & Karla Reyes.