Each meal at Fig & Olive begins with a tasting, but it's not the kind you might expect. Servers deliver three kinds of olive oil to the table, which guests sample by snacking on freshly baked bread.

This olive-oil trio is but a small selection from a vast library: Fig & Olive sells more than 30 varieties, and displays them at the entrance of every restaurant location. What's more, olive oil is incorporated into almost every Mediterranean-inspired dish on the menu. For example:

Mediterranean branzino: a delicately flavored fish glazed with fig and 18-year-old balsamic vinegar, paired with olive oil mashed potato. It's served tableside and finished with Koroneiki olive oil—a good match because of its herbaceous flavor.

Veal milanese: breaded veal escalopine, roasted tomato, and garlic-sautéed broccolini adorn pesto fettucine, served with tomato mascarpone sauce.

Caramelized cheesecake: a decadent dessert made with caramelized peaches from Scholl Orchards. Even this dish benefits from olive oil, this time in the form of a crisp on top.

These creations are the brainchildren of founder Laurent Halasz and his distinguished kitchen team. It was Halasz's upbringing in southern France that imbued him with a knack for Mediterranean cooking and a passion for olive oil's many subtleties. To better emulate the feel of his home region, he's decorated Fig & Olive with coastal touches, including natural limestone and white stucco walls out in the open-air garden terrace.