Give Caesar What Is Due Him

If you are looking for all-around amazing Mediterranean food, then Wild Fig in Glen Cove and Garden City is... not the place you're looking for, despite what Newsday and The New York Times articles (which are framed in their front hallway) said a few years ago. Wild Fig has a lot of misses with major Mediterranean staples, such as their dry, tasteless falafels, and the chicken gyro on which you have to apply the cucumber sauce yourself. Even the pita bread was hard, slightly burnt, and lacking butter at the Glen Cove location. Can one dish salvage an entire restaurant? Probably not, but if one ever could, Wild Fig's lentil soup would be it. The pureed, gourmet masterpiece seems quite overlooked on the menu, often only serving a supporting role as a side dish that comes with something else. Last time I bought the mediocre chicken gyro with some fries in desperate need of some salt, and was given the soup as another side that came in the gyro lunch. I found myself abandoning the leader and running off with the humble servant. Tonight, I went there seeking just the soup, but ordered an appetizer sampler to have more of a meal. The "Hot Appetizer Sampler" was such an under-achiever, I wondered how it could come from the same kitchen as the lentil soup, which is really one of the best soups I have ever had in my life. That is a big accomplishment for the Garden City location, being neighbors with the Soup Exchange, and beating them at their one and only game. Too bad what Wild Fig is supposed to be good at is so bad. Maybe they should stick to soup and the Soup Exchange should start making falafels.