Fig (restaurant)

Last updated


Fig, stylized FIG, is a modern American restaurant located in Charleston, South Carolina. [1] The name is an acronym for "Food Is Good." [2] The restaurant was established in April 2003 by Mike Lata and partner Adam Nemirow in downtown Charleston. [3] Fig is known for Southern classics with seasonal ingredients served in a bistro setting. [4]

Contents

In 2018 the restaurant won the James Beard Award for Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages Program. Two of its chefs have also been Beard Award winners.

Background

Lata and Nemirow signed the lease for Fig on Dec. 31, 2002. [5] Five months later, in April 2003, FIG opened in the single-story space at the corner of Meeting and Hasell streets. [6]

Lata and Nemirow met while working together at Anson Restaurant [7] and reconnected a few years later when they decided to open Fig together. The goal of Fig's menu is to serve local ingredients, with French-influenced cooking, using seasonality and paying homage to European farmhouse cooking. [8]

Awards

In 2018, Fig won the James Beard Award for Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages Program. [9]

Two of Fig's chefs have won James Beard Awards for Best Chef: Southeast, Lata in 2009 and Jason Stanhope in 2015. [10] [11]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Beard Foundation Award</span> Annual awards for culinary professionals in the US

The James Beard Foundation Awards are annual awards presented by the James Beard Foundation to recognize chefs, restaurateurs, authors and journalists in the United States. They are scheduled around James Beard's May 5 birthday. The media awards are presented at a dinner in New York City; the chef and restaurant awards were also presented in New York until 2015, when the foundation's annual gala moved to Chicago. Chicago will continue to host the Awards until 2027.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Traci Des Jardins</span> American chef and restaurateur

Traci Des Jardins is an American chef and restaurateur who previously owned Jardinière, a French influenced California fine-dining restaurant in the Hayes Valley neighborhood of San Francisco, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gary Danko</span> American chef

Gary Danko is an American chef. He combines French, Mediterranean, and American styles into his cooking. He is best known for his eponymous restaurant in San Francisco, California.

Charlie Palmer is an American chef, hospitality entrepreneur, hotelier, and author. He is best known for Aureole, his flagship restaurant in New York City, which has earned 13 Michelin stars and two James Beard awards. Considered a “pioneer of progressive American cooking,” Palmer has received over 20 Michelin stars and consults 15 F&B outlets through the Charlie Palmer Collective.

Kevin Gillespie is an American chef, author and former Top Chef contestant. He is a former co-owner and executive chef at Woodfire Grill in Atlanta. He opened Gunshow, a restaurant in Atlanta, in 2013 and Revival, a restaurant in Decatur, Georgia, in 2015. Gillespie also started Red Beard Restaurants, allowing Gillespie to expand and provide consulting services to other start-ups. Kevin Gillespie's Gamechanger opened in August 2017 on the 200 concourse western end zone of the Mercedes-Benz Stadium. In May 2024, Gillespie opened Nadair in Atlanta, a restaurant showcasing his Scottish heritage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hominy Grill</span> Restaurant in Charleston, South Carolina

Hominy Grill was a restaurant in Charleston, South Carolina. It was located at 207 Rutledge Avenue, in the heart of historic downtown Charleston. The restaurant has been delighting tourists and locals alike for almost 24 years. Chef Robert Stehling has been honored by the James Beard Foundation Award as the best chef in the Southeastern United States in 2008 and the restaurant has been featured on The Best Thing I Ever Ate, No Reservations with Anthony Bourdain, Amazing Eats (shrimp & grits and the "Big Nasty" and Man v. Food. The restaurant features amped-up Southern classics and Lowcountry cuisine with an elevated twist.

Sepia is a mid-sized, upscale restaurant run by owner Emmanuel Nony and Executive Chef Andrew Zimmerman located in the West Loop neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. Chef Zimmerman's menu is classified as New American cuisine, and focuses on local, seasonal products. Built in Chicago's Warehouse District, Sepia was originally a print shop from the 1890s. The renovation for the restaurant, designed by Gary Lee, included putting in a custom-tile, Art Nouveau floor and hand-crafted millwork in order to enhance the historical qualities of the building. Sepia also uses vintage stemware for their tables matching the vintage interior decor of the restaurant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sean Brock</span> American chef (born 1978)

Sean Brock is an American chef specializing in Southern cuisine.

Judy Rodgers was an American chef, restaurateur, and cookery book writer. She became famous at Zuni Café, in San Francisco, California, of which she became chef in 1987. Rodgers' food was influenced both by Chez Panisse, where she had worked, and by the food of France, where she had spent time as an exchange student living with the family of Jean Troisgros. The Zuni Café Cookbook, published in 2002, spread the influence of her painstaking, attentive approach to food further outside the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Solomonov</span> Israeli chef and restaurateur (born 1978)

Michael Solomonov is an Israeli chef known for his restaurants in Center City, Philadelphia. His first restaurant Zahav, founded in 2008, has received national recognition including the James Beard Foundation "Outstanding Restaurant" in 2019. Solomonov was also awarded Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic in 2011, Cookbook of the Year in 2016, and Outstanding Chef in 2017 from the James Beard Foundation. In 2021, The New York Times named his restaurant Laser Wolf as one of "the 50 places in America we're most excited about right now."

Paul Qui is a Texas-based Top Chef winner and James Beard award recipient. He operates restaurants East Side King (Austin), Thai Kun (Austin) and Pao (Miami).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward Lee (chef)</span> American chef

Edward Lee is a Brooklyn-born celebrity chef, author and restaurateur. He has made numerous television appearances on shows including The Mind of a Chef and Top Chef as well as a judge on Gordon Ramsay's Culinary Genius. He is a nine-time James Beard Award nominee, owns multiple restaurants throughout the United States and the Caribbean, and is the author of two award-winning books Buttermilk Graffiti and Smoke and Pickles.

Marco Canora is an American chef, restaurateur and television personality. He has appeared on the Food Network on shows such as The Next Iron Chef, Chopped and Top Chef. Canora owns the Hearth Restaurant and Terroir wine bar in New York and is also the founder of Brodo, a marketer, producer and seller of bone broth.

Ashley Christensen is an American chef, restaurateur, author, and culinary celebrity. She is based in Raleigh, North Carolina, and the chef + proprietor of AC Restaurants, a hospitality group that operates Poole's Diner, Fox Liquor Bar, Beasley's Chicken + Honey, Death & Taxes, Poole'side Pies, and AC Events. A two-time James Beard Award winner, she is widely credited for helping to put Raleigh's food scene on the map.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jean-Louis Palladin</span> French chef

Jean-Louis Palladin was a French-born chef who introduced French Nouvelle cuisine to the Washington elite at his restaurant, Jean-Louis at the Watergate, and influenced a generation of French and American chefs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mashama Bailey</span> American chef

Mashama Bailey is an American chef trained in French technique who is currently cooking Southern cuisine. In 2019, Bailey was awarded a James Beard Award as best chef of the southeast. In 2022, Bailey was awarded a James Beard Award as Outstanding Chef.

The James Beard Foundation Awards are annual awards presented by the James Beard Foundation to recognize culinary professionals in the United States. The awards recognize chefs, restaurateurs, authors and journalists each year, and are generally scheduled around James Beard's May birthday.

The James Beard Foundation Awards are annual awards presented by the James Beard Foundation to recognize culinary professionals in the United States. The awards recognize chefs, restaurateurs, authors and journalists each year, and are generally scheduled around James Beard's May birthday.

The James Beard Foundation Awards are annual awards presented by the James Beard Foundation to recognize culinary professionals in the United States. The awards recognize chefs, restaurateurs, authors and journalists each year, and are generally scheduled around James Beard's May birthday.

Damarr Brown is an American chef. In 2022 he was named one of the country's best new chefs by Food & Wine and in 2023 he was named the James Beard Foundation's Emerging Chef.

References

  1. Burt, Stephanie (2023-02-21). "36 Best Restaurants in Charleston". Condé Nast Traveler. Retrieved 2024-04-02.
  2. "FIG". Bon Appétit. Retrieved 2024-03-28.
  3. Ulla, Gabe (2012-08-30). "Mike Lata on FIG and His New Project, The Ordinary". Eater. Retrieved 2024-04-02.
  4. "FIG". 10Best. Retrieved 2024-03-28.
  5. Barna, Stephanie (2012-02-02). "FIG owners opening restaurant on Upper King Street". Charleston City Paper. Retrieved 2024-04-02.
  6. Moss, Robert F. (2023-08-29). "Restaurant Review: 20 years in, FIG remains as impressive and relevant as ever". Post and Courier. Retrieved 2024-04-02.
  7. Gomez-Misserian, Gabriela (2023-04-21). "For Chef Mike Lata, Food Is Good. Really Good". Garden & Gun. Retrieved 2024-03-28.
  8. "Chef Spotlight: Chef Mike Lata of FIG, Charleston". discoversouthcarolina.com. Retrieved 2024-03-28.
  9. Raskin, Hanna (2017-03-15). "FIG wine program nominated for James Beard award". AP News. Retrieved 2024-04-02.
  10. Walloga, April (2015-05-05). "Here are the big winners from the 2015 James Beard Awards in Chicago". Business Insider. Retrieved 2024-03-28.
  11. Milner, Parker (2024-03-28). "A brief history of SC chefs, restaurants and the James Beard Awards – a.k.a the 'Food Oscars'". Post and Courier. Retrieved 2024-03-28.

32°46′57″N79°55′54″W / 32.782394°N 79.931633°W / 32.782394; -79.931633