San Antonio chef Luis Colón has worked at Folc, Biga on the Banks and other lauded restaurants. Credit: Facebook / Luis Colon

The River Walk’s venerable and elegant Fig Tree Restaurant has reopened under new leadership, including veteran San Antonio chef Luis Colón, the Express-News reports.

Colón — known for his work at shuttered Olmos Park eatery Folc — plans to breathe new life into the iconic downtown restaurant with a creative menu, cocktails and expanded riverfront seating, the daily reports. It’s set to reopen Wednesday, Oct. 5.

The Express-News bills the Fig Tree’s revamped menu as a “streamlined foray into French inspiration” that features  local ingredients and practiced technique. New items reportedly include a prosciutto-wrapped saddle of lamb with wild mushrooms and gnocchi plus a lamb tartare served with horseradish crème fraîche.

Before a fire closed Colón’s Folc in 2016, the eatery racked up copious critical praise, including from Texas Monthly, which declared the Folc Burger the best in the state. The chef’s career also includes stints at Biga on the Banks, Ambler Texas Kitchen + Cocktails and the now-shuttered Bexar Pub.

The first iteration of the Fig Tree closed in 2020, a casualty of the COVID-19 pandemic. The high-end restaurant offered traditional dishes popular in the 1950s and 1960s such as beef Wellington and baked Alaska. Though the food had a reputation for lagging behind the times, it was long considered a River Walk staple.

The new Fig Tree is open for dinner 4-9 p.m. Sunday, Wednesday and Thursday, and 4-10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Plans to add Saturday and Sunday brunch — as well as Tuesday hours — are in the works, the Express-News reports.

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This article appears in Sep 21 – Oct 4, 2022.

Nina Rangel uses nearly 20 years of experience in the foodservice industry to tell the stories of movers and shakers in the food scene in San Antonio. As the Food + Nightlife Editor for the San Antonio...