FIG at the Fairmont Miramar Hotel
FIG bars, it's what's for dessert.
One of Santa Monica’s most famous landmarks is the 128-year-old Moreton Bay fig tree that sits in the driveway to the Fairmont Miramar Hotel, so it’s no wonder that the hotel’s new restaurant is named FIG.
Around 90 percent of Chef Ray Garcia's menu is locally and organically sourced, and the dishes will change according to season. If you have any doubts about that, just check out the calendar of crops at the bottom of the menu to see what will be “coming soon” to a plate near you.
There are even “food scouts” who apparently are scouring the local farmer’s markets and nearby ranches for the raw ingredients for Chef Garcia’s menus, which he says are “nothing experimental or overworked. Just pure, flavorful ingredients expertly prepared and delivered to your table.” He must have picked up that philosophy while working at Thomas Keller's famous French Laundry in Napa.
Don’t get the wrong idea, though. Despite the elegant, casual (some might even say farmhouse-ish) atmosphere of the restaurant (a nice change from the rest of the Fairmont formality), the menu is quite sophisticated, with items like braised cow tongue in tomatillo sauce with pickled radish, Kurobata pork tenderloin, and that staple of bistros around the world: steak frites.
The best idea is probably just to head there on a whim, grab a seat at the bar/communal table, and sip on a fig mojito while you hand-pick a plate of charcuterie and artisanal cheeses from the selections sitting out on the bar for you nosh.
Insider Tip: Save room for the FIG Bars, which are kind of like gigantic fresh-baked Fig Newtons with goat’s milk ice cream and a Valhrona chocolate wafer.
Chef Ray Garcia working on some charcuterie. (Photo: FIG)
Related Stories:
· Table Crashing Series [Jaunted]
· Fairmont Miramar [Official Site]
· FIG [Official Site]
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