We all deserve a few sun-kissed, romantic weekends away once in a while. If a great meal is thrown into the mix, so much the better. I got the whole package last weekend on a quick jaunt to Sonoma County, where we reveled in cedar enzyme baths, strolled contentedly along the beach, and had a fabulous meal at the girl & the fig, a restaurant I’ve been wanting to visit for years.
Located on Sonoma’s beautiful central plaza, this lovely, intimate restaurant catapults its diners directly to France. We sat in the cozy back garden area, next to a magnificent fig tree, and relished a velvety cream of celery soup that seemed to capture the very essence of this delicately flavored vegetable. A peekytoe crab stacked “salad” featured this sweet shellfish tidily piled atop a layer of chunked avocado and a second layer of citrus segments (lime, grapefruit and orange), all drizzled with kumquat vinaigrette; and a bountiful bowl of fat, gorgeous orange mussels was served up with a huge mound of thin, crisp, and very hot frites.
110 West Spain Street, Sonoma, (707) 938-3634; www.thegirlandthefig.com
