The sleepy little town of Sonoma doesn’t have a ton of restaurants but what it lacks in quantity it makes up in quality. At the top of the list lies the The Girl and the Fig: French cuisine in a wine country setting. Located in Sonoma’s charming downtown, Nishan and I visited after a long day of wine tasting. We were famished (and hey, wine tasting is serious business).
We started with the steak tartare — my first steak tartare, mind you. Served with caperberries and sprinkled with lavender sea salt, this was far tastier than I imagined it would be. Who knew steak could be light and yet decadent? The caperberries provided a hit of piquantness while crusty bread served as a perfect canvas with which to eat our tartare.
For my entree, I had a plate of butternut squash arancini served with oyster mushroom and frisee salad. This was delicious but the plate was quite small as a main dish. Better suited as an appetizer, I polished off my entire plate. Warm, gooey arancini, velvety mushrooms, and peppery greens — more please.
The Girl and the Fig is among Sonoma’s most popular restaurants, so make reservations ahead of time. Despite being nearly always busy, service is good and the dishes are presented with detail. It’s a little bit country, a little bit California, and a little bit French. In other words, entirely wine country.