Radar Range: NYC’s Fig and Olive Scouting Locations in Dallas

That’s what the real estate hawks tell the me.

Here’s what NY Magazine wrote about Fig and Olive’s Manhattan location (there are a total of five F&O’s, including one on Melrose, in Los Angeles).

“Like a ray of Provençal sunshine, this spacious restaurant evokes the Mediterranean with its unwavering devotion to olive oil, a featured ingredient in nearly every dish. Olives swim in it. Vegetables are marinated in it. Fresh, artfully arranged salads are dressed with it. Once you’ve found one you particularly like—the Moulin Baussy paired with the salmon tartine, say, or the Koroneiki that anoints the fig-and-olive salad—you can repair to the on-premise shop and buy a bottle to take home. The market-like ambience, the wicker armchairs, the Provençal rosé all conspire to create a convivial European air that attracts neighborhood suits, hospital staff, and gossiping girlfriends, all mixing much better than oil and water.”

And this from LA’s Daily Candy:

Fig & Olive, the XXL Mediterranean restaurant from NYC opening tomorrow on Melrose Place. It’s an 8,000-square-foot mecca of olive oil-drenched deliciousness. Master the art of small plate snacking (mushroom and artichoke crostini, juicy Santa Barbara prawns) at the 50-foot marble tasting table, then proceed to the airy main dining room or, if you’ve got an al fresco yen, the garden terrace. Potted rosemary and olive trees waft notes of the Riviera as you dine on chilled cucumber soup (owner Laurent Halasz’s mother’s recipe), striped sea bass with garden veggies, and, yes, even olive oil gelato. End the evening in a big way at the upstairs champagne bar (open Thursday through Saturday), swilling dirty martinis and champagne piscine cocktails while you shake your groove thang to the DJ’s Euro beats.