For as long as it takes you to savor a Provencal lunch or dinner, Fig & Olive Newport Beach, and its owner and founder Laurent Halesz, want you to feel like you’re on vacation in the French Riviera. Stepping into it’s Fashion Island location takes you there. The space boasts three dining rooms with clean, bright, minimalist interiors complete with skylights, exposed beams, floor-to-ceiling windows and olive tree accents—a true South of France oasis in the heart of Orange County. When it comes to Orange County visitor information, most people want to know the best place to eat. Trust us. This place won’t disappoint.
And then there’s the food. “The menu’s core ingredient of olive oil is used in place of butter in many of the dishes—ranging from a sweet and delicate olive oil that pairs well with a steamed lemon sole papillote, to a green-fruit olive oil that is served with a green apple sorbet,” says Executive Chef Pascal Lorange. Diners are treated to a range of different dining experiences: for example, guests can gather at the crostini station to enjoy tasting dishes and sharable small plates such as thinly sliced octopus with marinated bell pepper, fingerling potato, black olive, basil, arugula, pimenton lemon dressing and Cobrancosa olive oil; or a fig Gorgonzola tartlet with melted Gorgonzola, prosciutto, fig, walnut, arugula, tomato, Manchego, fig spread, and almond crostini on a puff pastry.
Entrees include grilled branzino glazed with a fig and 10-year balsamic vinegar, figs, snow peas and a sweet Picholine olive oil; and Provence rosemary grilled lamb chops marinated in rosemary, garlic smoked herbs de Provence and finished with a rosemary garlic olive oil served with goat cheese gnocchi and eggplant roasted with thyme and honey.
Cap off your meal with a dessert selection that showcase specialties such as the paper-thin warm caramelized apple tart which is a family recipe handed down by Halasz’s mother and fig cake with olive oil ice cream. The restaurant offers late night dining, serving until 11 p.m. Su-Th; until midnight F-Sa; bar open until 1 a.m. F-Sa. Lunch and dinner served daily, brunch on weekends. 151 Newport Center Drive, Newport Beach, 949.877.3005. figandolive.com