Fig & Olive had been suggested to me many times and I finally made it over to the meatpacking district location. One of three NYC locations (there is a lexington avenue and 52nd street location), Executive chef Pascal Lorange presents us with a eclectic Mediterranean menu. The main focus of course is olive oil, as dishes are often paired with a certain selected extra virgin olive oil. This venue is asthetically very pleasing and open with a nice big bar. Though I did have high expectations for the Fig & Olive experience, I'm sorry to say that on this occasion, especially from a culinary perspective, I was completely let down.
I started with their signature dirty martini ($16) served with a choice of housemade brines verdial thyme, arbequina, olive niscoise. I went with the verdial thyme. It was an attempt to do something different that didn't quite work. The thyme and lemony flavor from the olive brine or olive juice, made my dirty martini taste more like a salad. I would have preferred just a traditional dirty martini to this. Lemon just does not factor into a dirty martini.

First we started with a selection of crostini (3/ $9.50 or 6/$18). We went with the proscuttio fig olive and walnut, manchego fig spread and almond, bresaola goat cheese and black olive. It was ok, the presentation was nice. I just found the crostini to be quite chewy like they didn't keep the bread safe from humidity. I did, however, like the flavor combinations. It was a nice dish to share with friends but nothing to write home about.

Then for the penne funghi tartufo ($17, you can add chicken for an additional $5) served with cremini mushroom, parmesean, black truffle paste, fresh parsely, scallion and white truffle oil. I was kind of depressed at this point an didn't even bother taking a picture of this dish. It was very bland in flavor and unfortunately extremely dry as well. It was literally a plate of dry penne pasta with mushrooms that held a slight flavor of white truffles from the truffle oil. It was very disappointing.

I have heard people say great things about Fig & Olive in the past, I just did not have a good experience. Maybe we just ordered the wrong things or caught them on an off night or went to the wrong location. I guess in the end there are no excuses.
Fig & Olive
420 West 13th Street
New York, NY 10014
212.924.1200
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