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Fig & Olive's summer menu is giving Angelenos a taste of the food you might find on the French Riviera, with some new seafood dishes and veggie-and-fruit libations. And we're supplying you with some food porn.
LAist went to a tasting this week at the restaurant in West Hollywood to do some investigative eating. We tried their three crostinis sampler which also included a new summer addition: the octopus crostini, which uses ingredients like cherry tomatoes and an heirloom carrot purée; their octopus is thinly sliced with a citrus flavor. Executive chef Pascal Lorange is crazy about olive oils—he enjoys featuring obscure but delicious olive oil labels in his food—so even the crispy crostini bread topped with the oil is flavorful on its own. If you're a fan of octopus, the Octopus a la Gallega is a delicious dish of paper-thin slices of octopus beautifully fanned out on a circular plate with heirloom potato and arugula complements.
The flavorful Chilean Sea Bass was marinated in lemon thyme and surrounded by a celery root puree, with accompanying asparagus and carrots. The meat was succulent and perfectly crispy on the outer edges.
One appetizer that shouldn't be missed is the Melone & Burrata, which is a nearly inch-thick circular cut of ripe Cavaillon melon (that could at a glance be mistaken for a brioche bun) with burrata generously slathered over the top and topped with prosciutto.
And to wash that all down, the summer Fig & Olive drink (which is called just that, like a self-titled record album), is a refreshing cocktail that might remind you something you can get at a juicery, except with booze. It is made of blood orange puree and even blood orange-infused olive oil with a cucumber-infused vodka, topped with a toothpick holding together slices of celery. So, maybe this might be your "healthy" drink of the night. The Sweet Red Pepper may appeal to the folks with a sweet-tooth as it's made with strawberries and passion fruit.
If you're not into the seafood dishes, you can always try their lamb chops, which basically gets served to you with a flaming and smoking bundle of rosemary sprigs under the meat, permeating the scent into the entire dish (which was amazing). However, the neighboring table complained to me that the smoke was starting to bother them and asked me to put it out. Wah wuh.
Also, there are a few days left of dineLA (it runs through to July 27), so you could check out Fig & Olive's prix fixe menu if you're on a budget.
Fig & Olive is located at 8490 Melrose Pl. in West Hollywood, (310) 360-9100
