The Girl And The Fig

No better way to kick start our Labor Day long weekend, but with a 5 hour road trip to grab lunch!

Yesterday, we decided to take a quick drive to Sonoma to eat at the Girl and the Fig.

I had read about them in Sunset magazine, as having the best fig spreads in the whole of US of A. We had driven to Sonoma a few times over the past months, and although we had stopped by the Girl to stock up on their OH SO GOOD fig spreads, every time we were lured by strong forces from the crazy beautiful patio of the Sunflower Cafe and we couldn't stay for lunch at the Girl.

Sunflower Cafe is officially an Espresso and Wine Bar, which actually is an art gallery, and also actually, is a fantastic restaurant with local, organic and most creative gourmet country foods like awesome cheese appetizers (once we had fresh goat cheese wrapped in fire grilled red peppers, drizzled with olive oil, pistachios and orange zest, OK?), salads that have brought tears to my eyes on more than one occasion, and stuff off the outdoor grill that are fresh and delicious.

The patio is so darn pretty. Furniture in teak wood and light yellow umbrellas which send you off to another place - perhaps the country side of some cute European town, and darn it you had just come to Sonoma to become present and before you knew it you are somewhere else. And a rather large water fountain that shields the unsuspecting wine drinkers at the bar from the sound of little ones lunching (perhaps a little too loudly - but thanks to the fountain their mommies don't mind, they get to meditate for a moment or longer on their salads and their glasses of Leese Fitch Chardonnay, while their little ones bite on their gourmet hot dogs and sing out loud)...

Anyways back to The Girl and The Fig.

We got there at 1. An hour late due to traffic. And by then the entire large dining room, the cute lounge, the bar, and the fantastic patio was FILLED with people. We were so lucky that they had saved our reservation (isn't that nice?). And we were also lucky to have the loveliest waiter, a Nepalese transplant who had lived in Sonoma for the past 6 or so years, and who seemed to adore his job.

We just left ourselves in his care, and he fed us so well. Cheese and meat boards, different loaves of fresh french breads, a fantastic grilled cheese sandwich with a side of a delicious tarragon sauce which luckily our girl didn't like to eat (but we did), and different exotic salads with figs and nuts and cheeses and lentil and Duck Confit.

They really don't have a children's menu, but our girl enjoyed the crispy chicken leg (duck) and all the breads of course.

For desert he brought fresh made raspberry ice cream for the UrbanToddler, and a brown sugar vanilla cake with grilled fruits and creme fraiche and housemade vanilla ice cream for the rest of us.

Afterwards we went to pay our respect to the duckies at the Square.

Note: And I am not even paid to write this stuff! And, all the pictures are courtesy of other patrons which I linked to.

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