Make Reservations at: Fig & Olive

Book dinner at Fig & Olive a sprawling new European villa on Melrose place. You’ll find 8,000 square feet of branzino, scallops and olive oil (it’s used instead of butter), so this is where you’ll want to book your next dinner party for up to 300 of your favorite expats. (New Yorkers have been doing this for years. There are three Figs in Manhattan, but this is the first one outside New York State.)

Upon entering, you’ll see a long marble bar disappearing into the horizon—start here with a bite of Zucchini Carpaccio and a Custom Dirty Martini, with three types of olives and brines to choose from. (Also: vodka.) Then you’re ready  feast at the 50-foot communal table. Or under the olive tree in the towering stucco dining room. Or out on the enclosed patio, scented with rosemary plants (and covered by a magically disappearing ceiling). Once dinner’s wrapping up head to the balcony champagne bar. That’s where your nightcap could entail a Piscine (iced bubbly with strawberries) or a Fig Mojito. – UrbanDaddy.Com