Serve one stuffed fig, one eggplant and one onion to each person, with sauce drizzled over all three.
But one grilled food that was new to me came my way in California last year, courtesy of the chef Gary Danko: the stuffed fig. Of course coastal California, with its Mediterranean climate, is a place where charging for figs barely makes sense.
Next build the stuffed fig. Place a piece of arugula on top of fig, trim if necessary so the leaf doesn't hang over side of fig too much.
WHAT WE LIKED From a menu that changes weekly: stuffed figs, octopus with chorizo, pear salad, calamari salad, beets and goat cheese salad, Tuscan flat bread, lobster-crab ravioli, oven-roasted Chilean sea bass, braised short ribs, pan-seared scallops, oven-roasted black fish, apple crostata, molten chocolate cake, vanilla panna cotta, tiramisu, gelatos.
Fatty pignoli added interest to the usual seared tuna, but sweet stuffed figs quelled rather than stimulated appetite.
Our party of four left everything in Beck's hands, and we were first rewarded with anjeeri tikki, crisp patties made from roasted beet and carrots stuffed with fig and mint.
Tender slices of steak, imbued with red wine and lavender ($19), melt in the mouth, but pork loin stuffed with figs ($17) is deadly dry on arrival.
WHAT WE LIKED Manhattan clam chowder, stuffed fresh figs, strawberry-endive salad, tuna tartare, lobster sliders, fish and chips, mahi-mahi, pork chop, rib-eye steak, all desserts.
RECOMMENDED DISHES -- All salads, house cured smoked salmon, Hudson Valley foie gras and foie gras raviolis, fried calamari, linguine with white clam sauce, sautéed duck breast with butternut ravioli, rack of lamb with mint risotto, sirloin steak with blue cheese gratin, Angus burger, roast leg of lamb stuffed with figs, berry parfait, chocolate bourbon cake.
Our dinner featured a salad of figs stuffed with duck liver in a fig sauce.
