Thursday, June 14, 2007

Uptown vs. Downtown

The age old fight: Uptown vs. Downtown. The argument has lived forever as to which is better. And like all arguments, it could always be left to a matter of opinion. I, however, always equate downtown with younger and hipper and uptown with older and uptight, so as a midtown dweller, I often shamefully mutter my address when asked where I live and throw in a quick joke about living on retired frat boy row.

When it comes to restaurants, the equation is often not so easy. Many great restaurants reside above the 14th street border and are considered trendy with modern decor and new and unique fare, and there are restuarants downtown that are of the old school nature (hold on, I'll think of an example soon I swear). What becomes really interesting is when a restaurant originally from the east 60's opens a sister establishment in meat packing, and this is exactly what happened with Fig and Olive.

I first went to Fig and Olive some two weeks ago at the original location. The set up was weird, small, and not hugely inviting. But what it was lacking in decor, it made up in taste. The olive oil, a specialty (thus the name), was great and I could hardly contain myself from dipping one too many slices of bread into one of the three varietys set on the table. We started with the Medeteranean vegetable tasting plate which was a combination of pesto hummus, olive tapanade, zuccini terrine, tabouli and eggplant and tomato confit. Everything was great from the tapanade to the tabouli, which I don't usually enjoy. We also got a hot appetizer--the seared sea scallops with shaved artichoke which was also delightfully tasty, although small to share amongst three. For my main, I opted for the Fig and Olive salad, which was a nice mixture between the salty and sweet : say the cheese (manchego, shaved parmesan) and the sweetness of the fig, walnuts and apple. My sister chose the Carmelized Cod which was awesome and made me second guess my decision for the salad--the cod was set on top of leeks (which is my fav!). We paired the meal with a summery pinot bianco which really set the entire meal at a high bar with a chocolate fondue finish that was superb.

With such a great meal under the belt (literally), I was extremely curious as to what the trendy meatpacking location would offer. I decided to check it out with a friend. Location was a little hard to find; I guess maybe because I hadn't gone to Aer in over a year (surprise, surprise) and thought the entire 13th street block west of 9th avenue was random warehousy looking buildings. When I finally got to Fig and Olive, however, I thought, how could I miss it? It was huge; probably 6 times the size of it's upper east side counterpart. Walking from the entrance directly into the host booth juxtaposed a weird barish area in the uptown version. The ceilings are set high with dim candlelit lighting, stone countertops and wicker chairs. The place was packed and I was surprised to see they could sit us without a reservation, but only at one of their cocktail tables. As soon as we sat at the table, a friendly waiter came over to get water/drink orders and instructed that soon he was to come out with the olive oil bread and some olive oil explanations. After he brought over the bread and oil to start and took the wine order (the pinot bianco again!), he disappeared from about 30 minutes...literally. As I looked at my watch, I realized we had been there for a full 45 minutes and hadn't even put in an appetizer order. Our wine was set apart from our table in a chiller as well and I knew there would probably be no one to serve it to us for another 30 minutes. When our waiter came over and thanked us for being so patient, I asked for the wine on the table 'just so we can pour ourselves if no one's around.' It was hard for me to be snarky, however, because he was actually extremely nice and apologetic...but seriously, 45 minutes without an order- pretty ridic even for a busy night. He finally took our order: olives to start and both of us got the cod. I expected the mixed olives to be outrageous, but to be honest, I picked at the small bowl out of conveniance and hunger. There was one olive I really liked but the others I could take or leave and for a place called Fig and Olive--maybe that's not so good? Our cod came and I was excited to see the piece of fish laying on a mound of leeks. The fish was fresh and tasty but somehow in my memory the uptown version was way better. Could it be? Maybe it was made with less care, more of an assembly line finish? All I know was, it tasted better in my mind. That being said, I was extremely disappointed from the service to the dishes and then some.

In the end, if I had to pick between decor and taste, I will always pick taste hands down. And often, somehow taste gets washed away in the meatpacking district; maybe it happens as it's strained through the expectation to be hip and trendy...because c'mon, don't you equate downtown with the same?

3 comments:

Lo said...

I don't usually eat in Meatpacking because I hate that area with a passion, so I'm sure you're right about decor usually coming out on top of taste there. However, I've heard that STK is delicious and has a great atmosphere. Next time I feel the need to cheat my diet with a steak, I'm going there.

Anonymous said...

i have wanted to try fig&olive... guess i'll head to the uptown one!

Anonymous said...

1) Don't say "hip"
2) Because I live in the area I've been to Fig and Olive more then once and have to say I disagree. First was with Jamie- who is the highest of critics when it comes to anything around the olive genre (we both loved it) and the second and more recent time I went it was also great. I had the sole and it was one of the best fish I've had. The crappy service is unfortunate, but if you value dining advice from someone unswayed by the meatpacking novelty- then give the downtown Fig and Olive another shot.