Barbary Fig

Rating:

We all have our litmus tests. One of mine is when I invite a recommendation from a server. "What's good?" I'll ask. If the reply is , "Everything," then I know I'm in trouble, since everything is often synonymous with nothing.

This little exchange -- chased by a sense of dread -- transpired on my first visit to the Barbary Fig. Funny thing is that for once, everything -- well, almost everything -- on the menu actually is good. For this anomaly we can thank owner Brahim Hadj-Moussa, the guy who does all the cooking. Literally. If he's not in his kitchen, his 13-year-old restaurant is closed. Like those silly Hollywood pronouncements ("Julia Roberts is Erin Brockovich!") Hadj-Moussa -- everyone calls him Hadj -- really is the Barbary Fig.

That's one reason I'm so fond of this unassuming gem, because its menu reflects the flavors of the three regions closest to Hadj-Moussa's heart: his native Algiers, his beloved Aix-en-Provence and his adopted home here in America. All three are evident in his alluring combinations of hot-cool, sweet-savory and spicy-mellow. Although his cooking feels and tastes highly personal -- the dining equivalent of peeking into someone's diary -- it's never eccentric, and it's unlike anything else in the Twin Cities. No wonder the Barbary Fig has such a rabidly loyal following. Count me among its groupies.

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