A couple weekends past, S and I were able to go out with another couple for an evening away from the kids and some adult company. We are very fortunate to have a high-quality food scene here in the Cleveland area, and the restaurant of choice this time out was Flying Fig, a quaint little eatery right around the corner from the West Side Market.
The menu changes daily at The Fig, and they like to source as much as possible from local family farms and artisans. It’s a fairly small space, seating maybe 50-60 (totally wild guess, I apologize if it’s way off), not including the bar by the entrance. Lighting is low, and I would imagine it can be quiet, although on this night it was not. Probably my only complaint would be the people at the bar that were a little overly excited, and made it necessary for us to shout on occasion just to be heard across the table. Funny how alcohol tends to make you think that everyone else also wants to hear your conversation… But I digress. The place is casual, after all.
S and I started the evening’s festivities with the Medjool Dates, which were stuffed with chorizo, wrapped in smoked bacon, and smothered in a smoked pepper sauce (and which we’ve since replicated at home – yum!).
For the main course, S went with a molasses glazed Ohio pork loin, which came with sweet potato, pickled radish, watercress, jalapeno, and cilantro. Quite the combination of flavors. I chose a duck leg confit, accompanied by salad of frisee, bacon lardons, duck fat fingerlings, and topped with a poached egg and a dijon vinaigrette. My only other experience with duck was many years ago, and not good, which is surprising, because ordinarily I’m a vacuum when it comes to food. This duck was perfect, however, with a crisped skin and meat that just melted off the bone, and not too fatty.
Finally, there were several very tempting desserts, but we picked the Warm Molten Chocolate Cake, topped with Kahlua syrup, chocolate ganache, and served with fig ice cream. It was as good as it sounds.
The overall experience was very nice – a good place to go to enjoy a night (or at least a couple of hours) of grown-up time and good food. Service was good (I forget our server’s name, but he was a hoot), food was fantastic, and prices were comparable to other similar establishments – total bill was just over $60 for the two of us, which included the appetizer and dessert. 3 1/2 out of 4 stars.
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