Wild Fig opens in former Hicksville Boston Market near Ikea

Are you overdue for an Ikea trip? Here's a way to reward yourself for all that schlepping: Wild Fig, one of Long Island's tastiest salad bowl joints, has opened an outpost next to Ikea in Hicksville. The stand-alone spot used to be a Boston Market, but now instead of creamed spinach and sweet potato casserole, the counter is stacked with colorful Mediterranean veggies and dips. And the rotisserie chicken device has been replaced with a stone oven, which bakes exceptional Turkish pide breads. 

Wild Fig is a fast-casual concept owned by Ali Ugan, who opened his first restaurant (also in a former Boston Market) in Glen Cove in 2001. His original locations were sit-down restaurants that served recipes from his native Turkey, but Ugan switched to a fast-casual model during the pandemic. His current roster includes two other Wild Figs, in Roslyn and New Hyde Park. When another Boston Market became available in Hicksville, Ugan made a deal with the landlord, who had been a customer. During renovations, the chain's doors and vestibule had to be torn down to fit their large stone oven inside. The new Wild Fig opened in October. 

The Hicksville location still has the layout of a Boston Market, with a counter at the front and a clean but spare dining room off to the side. If you're looking for a boutique Turkish restaurant with a large menu and a lot of character, this is not it. But Wild Fig excels in its own category, blowing other corporate build-your-own-bowl spots like CAVA out of the water. 

The key here is that the customizable salad and rice bowls ($12.99) are shaped like deep plates, so each ingredient has a chance to shine. On a recent afternoon, the counter was brimming with pickled red cabbage, sumac-spiced red onions and sliced green olives (a must). Instead of tossing all the ingredients together and mucking everything up, the dish was created by layering white jasmine rice and romaine lettuce in a lemony dressing, with yellow banana peppers, green olives, red cabbage and onions. The bowl comes with a choice of two meats. The chicken and the beef kofte meatballs were soft and succulent, and tasted worlds fresher than those Swedish meatballs next door. 

The healthy lunch was outshone by the bubbling hot pide flatbread that came out a few minutes later in a pizza box. Wild Fig prepares its dough from scratch, letting it ferment for a day or two before shaping it into flatbreads for sandwiches and the pide, a Turkish pizza. There are five flavor combos showcased at the front counter — spinach feta is a natural choice ($12.99). The crumbled feta and leafy spinach play a prominent role atop the football-shaped bread, which is just thick enough to hold the toppings, but not too bready. It's built better than the pide you often get at sit-down restaurants. The salty cheesy flavors were so satisfying, it almost made me want to skip Ikea altogether. 

Wild Fig, 3005 Broadway Mall, Hicksville, 516-390-5327, mywildfig.com. Open 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday. 

By Andi Berlin

andi.berlin@newsday.comAndiBerlin

Andi Berlin is from Arizona and does not know where she is going. But when she gets there, she’ll find something beautiful and delicious that the world needs to taste.