I love figs. Fresh, dried, stuffed with goat cheese and grilled, in a clafloutis, eaten out of hand. Figs figs figs...so it was a total surprise to go to The Girl And The Fig in Sonoma last weekend.
I had never heard of the restaurant (I'm kind of bad that way...I guess I should do more research) but was really blown away by the experience....
TGATF is billed as Country French and I don't think I have even been to a place, before now, that has all of what I like about that style. They had a small but really nice selection of cheeses, they make their own rillettes (and other cured meats), the wine list is expansive, the food simple and most of all good. And good in that French comfort food kind of way,
We started with a charcuterie plate. They offer the plate with one of three different main meats (pate, rillettes or terrine - we opted for rillettes) and paired it with a small wedge of Spanish sheep's cheese drizzled with honey and blanched almonds, some slices of herby sopressatta, cornichons, olives and crispy baguette slices. Simple, homey, good...this is a staple of our Sunday French dinners at home.
Next was a six-cheese sampler. They have 12-14 cheeses to choose from and it took some time to pick. We ended up with a Jean de Brie, a Fiscalini bandaged cheddar, and a Vella dry jack from the "cow" menu. A Cypress Grove Midnight Moon from the "goat" and an Abbaye de Belloc and a Roquefort coulet from the "sheep" menu. The Jean de Brie was amazingly creamy but not so flaccid that it wouldn't stand up to the Domaine la Milliere, 2001 Chateauneuf-du-Pape we chose for wine. The others were excellent as well with tatses ranging from subtle/smoky to tangy/salty. The clear winner from that group was the Abbaye de Belloc which dense and rich and fruity. I was ready to order an entire wheel of this and make a night of it.
TGATF's fig salad is supposed to be one of their signature dishes and it was a work of art: arrugula, pecans, semi-dried figs, chevre, and pancetta with a port vinaigrette. Everything played well off of each other - every bite was fresh and lively.
As for entrees, I was enticed by the steak frites (a very guilty pleasure for me) and Jan chose the braised beef short rib. The steak was a hangar steak cooked perfectly VERY rare (borderline bleu) with short very crispy shoestring potaoes and sautéd broccoli rabe. A small knob of port butter garnished the steak. The short rib had been cooked for hours in red wine and figs and the caramelization was pervasive. Garlic mashed potatoes and greens provided a bed for the rich slab of fork tender meat. I liked my entree quite a bit but I think Jan had the winner.
After so much food (plus cocktails beforehand), dessert was going to be tough. We opted for the chocolate-dipped dried figs which provided just enough "sweet" to round out the meal. The choice of chocolate (semisweet) counterpointed the intense sweetness of the figs. 2-3 little bites to meal-ending nirvana.
The Girl And The Fig pull all of this off without being stuffy or pretentious. The room is old style bistro and very inviting. The waitstaff was fantastic - everything was damn near perfect. Oh, and they've got a fantastic selection of pastis at the bar. This should be on your list of places to go to next time you're in Sonoma.