The Girl and the Fig (Sonoma Town Square) CA

En route from Sacramento, to San Francisco, my friend MK and I stopped off in Napa and Sonoma. After the suggestions of some waiters at Domaine Carneros we went to The Girl and the Fig in Sonoma Square (110 West Spain Street, Sonoma/ http://www.thegirlandthefig.com/). *(We figured we could avoid the dinner time rush back into the City which we noticed was backed up.)

Right off the Sonoma Town Square, we went into this cute restaurant. When you first enter, there is a area to relax and have some cheese tasting and to buy their products (their fig port vinigrette is to die for!). According to MK, a food show visited this restaurant and sat in the patio in the back. We were lucky with no reservations to get a table for two in the main dining room.

Since we were not famished we opted for the famous arugula and fig salad and the fromage tower. We never had cheese and all its other accompaniements for a meal. It was a first. We had a choice of six cheese and we asked the waiter to surprise us. We had a mix of some domestic but the majority were French cheese. We were advised to eat the cheeses counter clockwise and you could choose from cow, goat and sheep's milk cheeses. The fruit, fig compote, nuts as well as the pates----chicken liver mousse, rabbit and pork were good.

Cheese Choices as advised by the waiter:

*Fiscalini Bandaged Chedder (Cow) Modesto, CA

*Jean De Brie (Cow) Seine et Morne, France

Sweet Grass Dairy Holly Sheep (Goat) Thomasville, GA

*St Maure (Goat) Loire Valley, France

Roquefort Coulet (Sheep) Aveyron, France

Petit Agour (Sheep) Pays Bosque, France

My faves are starred and my least fave was the Roquefort for its strong taste. Luckily I got more St Maure in exchange as my friend MK did not like it as much as moi. Or the chicken liver mousse in comparison to the pork pate I got to have more of as we negotiated our likes and dislikes. After all the toast points, fruit, nuts, compote, cheese, pates and salad we were full.

The fig salad was amazing and the fig port dressing was lovely! Just hints of chevre cheese, the nice bite of the arugula, bits of prosciutto were heaven and these ingredients made the salad delectable.

Now I have more of an appreciation of cheeses.

9 forks out of 10 forks