110 West Spain Street, Sonoma, CA 95476
(707) 938-3634
Parking: street parking
Hours: 11:30 am to 11pm
http://www.thegirlandthefig.com/
Last Visited: January 2, 2004
Food: 3 stars
Atmosphere: 4 stars
Service: 3 to 4 stars
Price: $$$ to $$$$
The Girl and the Fig first opened in Glen Ellen quite a number of years ago. They then expanded and opened a new location on the ground floor of the historic Sonoma Hotel, and in 2003, opened a new restaurant in Petaluma. There tag line is “cuisine de campagne avec une saveur francaise” which is translated to Country Food with a French passion.
The entrance of the Sonoma location leads directly to face the vintage bar. Upon entering the dining area, one finds a lot of earth tones which include mustard, orange, dark green, and burgundy. The walls chairs are yellow and the tablecloths are mustard topped with white paper stamped with the Girl and the Fig logo and a squiggle of orange atop the stamp. Each table is adorned with a bright orange candle holder, an orange flower, and ornamented with a silver fig. The chair seats are upholstered in either dark green or burgundy fabric. The windows are draped in green fabric. Along the walls, one sees pictures of a lady with figs or flowers, depending on the piece. The lamps are in the shape of upside down cones and illuminate soft yellow lighting.
Windows along one wall bring in more light and along an adjacent wall, the tables are set against a bench upholstered in more green fabric. Most of the other tables are set in the center of the room. After ordering is complete, rustic country French bread arrives at the table.
- Soup of the day: Leek and potato soup – A creamy green soup is served with several homemade seasoned croutons. The soup had good flavor but didn’t follow the typical look or taste of potato and leek soup. I would definitely put this under a country style version. It’s not white or very creamy, but rather light in flavor and texture. $6.50
- Quiche Lorraine – The menu mentions that the quiche comes with matchstick frites, but surprise, it also comes with a green salad. Although the website makes mention of this, it’s not clearly written in the menu nor is it mentioned upon ordering. This is one of those points of improvement. If something isn’t clearly mentioned, I might have ordered a salad as a first course and then been disappointed upon the arrival of the quiche dish. The salad is lightly dressed and slightly sweet; the greens are fresh. A healthy slice of quiche is served along with the salad and a mound of matchstick frites. The slice of quiche filled with a mixture of egg, cheese, and bacon, was thick, but surprisingly dark in appearance. The crust on the bottom of the quiche was a bit tough on the bottom and required a knife to cut through. The crust on the side could be flakier and more delicate. The filling has good flavor and is light and fluffy. The matchstick frites though plentiful were a bit disappointing. They weren’t as crunchy as expected, and though seasoned nicely, they were tough to handle. If you want matchstick fries, you’ll probably enjoy the Pik Nik brand original shoestring potatoes. I expected the consistency to be more like these with a distinctive crunch, but perhaps I had different expectations. $10.95
Other dishes ordered but not tried included a Crabcake ($9.95) starter and a Croque Monsieur ($10.95). The single crabcake came atop a mushroom ragout (both chantarelles and button mushrooms) with a meyer lemon confit. The presentation is rounded out with pomegranates scattered around the golden lemon sauce. The croque monsieur, lightly grilled bread sandwiching prosciutto and cheese could be grilled less – it came rather dark in appearance also. It also seemed a bit greasy and according to my guests, it didn’t meet typical French croque monsieur standards.
During my visit, I felt that service was directed more to the people who the wait staff thought would pay the bill, but at least all the water glasses were constantly replenished and we were far from neglected. The atmosphere during the lunch period was quiet earlier in the lunch, and as the afternoon passed, the restaurant became fuller and noise level increased. Overall, the food was nicely presented, but it has room for improvement, both in the description on the menu as well as in quality.
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