fig & olive.

new restaurant alert : fig & olive in river north.

per their website : "fig & olive embodies its origins from the south of france, italy & spain ... [&] captures the essence of the french riviera." getting excited! 

the girls & i decided to head to fig & olive for a few reasons.

   1. it's new & we like new.

   2. we wanted to feel like real housewives for a minute.

   3. it was one of our bestie's bdays ... hbd, joelle! 

birthday girl w/ birthday dessert!

anyway, here's what i had ...

crostini :

avocado, cilantro & tomato. 
one bite goodness. 

carrot & brussels sprouts :

carrot confit in olive oil, cumin, orange juice, cilantro, spanish onion, charmoula, dry apricot & harissa.
this is food i like. i wish i could have ordered a big version of this for my meal. maybe next time?

artichoke :

garlic & balsamic.

also good, but it confused me because it was cold. we were all expecting something hot.

zucchini carpaccio :

lemon, pine nuts & picholine olive oil.

not going to lie, this is one of the dumbest things i've ever eaten as a vegan. did it taste good? yes. did i need to spend $14 on sliced raw zucchini, olive oil & pine nuts? no.

sautéed spinach :

fig, garlic & marcona almond.
really delish, but also kind of just a side of spinach.

ok, two things i should note... 

   1. i couldn't decide what i wanted for dinner. maybe i did bad ordering, but i just wasn't obsessed with anything on the menu. 

   2. when i told our server i was vegan, she asked if that meant no fish. yes, it does mean no fish. she then said she would ask her manager what i could have. when she came back, so gave me two items, which were obvious. (something quinoa & the zuc carpaccio ... i had to ask about each of these other things i had.) she also said, & i quote... literally : "my manager wanted me to tell you that a new study just came out that says plants feel pain when you eat them." 

guys, anyone who has read this blog before knows that i rarely don't like my food ... and that i rarely have these kind of weird conversations with people. maybe since this happened before i even ordered, i felt like it soured the meal a little bit. oh, well. there's always next time.

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fig & olive
104 e. oak street
chicago, il 60611