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Photos by Erin Nelson.
Tee Holland delivers an order to a party during Sunday brunch, April 30, at The Fig in Cahaba Heights. The restaurant is celebrating its 10th anniversary.
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Photos by Erin Nelson.
The Fig pig pork, a tomahawk pork chop butterflied and topped with apple Gastrique-sauteéd rutabaga, front; the crab cake situation, pan-seared claw meat crab cakes on top of fried green tomatoes, with two over-easy eggs and hollandaise, center; and the gulf fish with broiled red snapper, jalapeno cream corn and pea shoots are some of the chef’s favorite dishes.
JP Holland knew from an early age he wanted to start his own restaurant.
So when the opportunity came to start The Fig in Cahaba Heights, he jumped on it.
This year, the restaurant is turning 10 years old.
When he first started, he had no money and bought tables and chairs at yard sales, serving meals on paper plates, Holland said.
“We just cooked our butts off,” he said.
Over time, the restaurant has expanded from seven tables to 22, Holland said. They have expanded further into the salon that the restaurant sits behind. Holland described the food as Southern casual and said it has grown in popularity over the years.
“People loved that we were this weird spot at the back of a salon,” he said.
Holland built a big garden on the property and the restaurant uses it to grow as much of their own ingredients as they can, he said. Some items just taste better grown fresh, he said. As a chef, his desire is to provide the best ingredients for his guests.
The restaurant gets heirloom tomatoes from their garden, along with peppers. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, they were raising pigs, Holland said. All of that is part of Holland’s effort to “bring things back to the way they were before the modern world.” Holland studies the “old-school ways” of how food was produced and foraged, he said. He forages for specific types of mushrooms while incorporating “new-school ways” of producing food, he said.
“My paradigm has changed on food and what’s important to me,” Holland said.
And being in the city of Vestavia Hills has been a boon for the food business as well, he said. There are numerous artisanal, local restaurants in the city.
“There are people doing well right here in Vestavia,” Holland said. “People are very willing to forego going downtown to get something here. … Vestavia has a way cooler restaurant scene than they give themselves credit for.”
Holland said he is looking forward to seeing how one-offs of small batch beer sales will go.
“I’m a little bit of a wild card,” Holland said. “Our menus reflect that and what I’m passionate about.”
Seasonal changes trigger menu changes at The Fig, Holland said, adjusting offerings to reflect what’s fresh and the weather outside.
For those who work at The Fig, Holland said there is an expectation not only of experience but of a desire to continue to learn along with him. He has learned to make vinegar, how to forage, old-school butchery and more.
“It’s a little bit of the old school done correctly,” Holland said.
While the cuisine is Southern, it pulls from French, Italian and other international flavors, he said.
“The South has always been a melting pot,” Holland said. “That’s what ignites us right now.”
As he’s gotten older, Holland said he’s fallen back into what he’s good at and has learned how to improve and how to know what people want.
In the future, The Fig will also share some space with Miss Astrid’s Tavern, a forthcoming restaurant and event venue in Cahaba Heights that will be behind the restaurant and will utilize their kitchen.
“We’re excited to help Cahaba Heights grow,” Holland said. “I think we’ve earned it. It’s something that Cahaba Heights really needs.”
Miss Astrid’s will be more casual than The Fig, but without cutting quality, Holland said.
The past 10 years have included many conversations, as Holland tries to talk with every customer that comes and sits down, and he encourages his staff to do the same. The friendly atmosphere might be one of the reasons the restaurant has been a mainstay in Cahaba Heights for the past 10 years.
“We’re just trying to let you hang out in our living room,” Holland said.
