Maria Ferguson says she always knew she wanted to open a restaurant one day, and that she would call it Fig Tree Cafe.

It's the first restaurant she's owned and, she says, fulfills what has “always been my dream."

The name is connected to her Italian immigrant parents, the late Francesco and Liboria Petralia.

“Both of my parents are Sicilian and fig trees grow all over there. My father, in addition to being a great cook, was an amazing gardener and grew fig trees here, which is not easy to do in this climate. Then my mother made fig biscotti with the figs.”

Two years ago, Ferguson was working the counter at Café Chew in Sandwich when one of her bosses, Bob King, who is also a real estate agent, saw The Mills Restaurant in Marstons Mills was up for sale.

“My intuition was just that it would be a good spot for her, a great location, and that she could afford it,” King says.

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Ferguson opened Fig Tree in September 2020, six months into the pandemic.

“It was a turnkey operation,” she says. “I bought it one day and opened it the next day. The previous owners trained me. I was actually thankful for the slowness during COVID because I was learning to run my own restaurant.”

One of the first things she learned, Ferguson says, was that the huge coffee mugs that looked stylish were impractical because they held so much coffee people couldn’t drink it before it got cold. 

King, who owns Café Chew with his partner Tobin Wirt, says he saw a quality in Ferguson that bodes well for a first-time restaurant owner.

“When you buy a new restaurant, you have to ask yourself ‘What are the ideas you’re going to bring that are going to improve the place?’ and ‘What should we keep?’ People make the mistake of changing too much, but Maria is aware of not doing that.”

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Changes that diners will notice include the name and some of the decor. Ferguson asked her friend Chris Ferguson (no relation) to paint a fig tree mural on the back wall. The lunch counter near the kitchen was taken out and replaced with a wooden breakfast bar located against the front window. Suncatchers hanging above cast whimsical shadows on the highly polished bar, which is also adorned with a painted fig tree.

Ferguson once sold homemade tomato sauce and salsa at farmers markets and made condiments with her daughters for their business Spice Girlz. So with a background working in both restaurants and health foods, another goal, Ferguson says, is to incorporate more organic and healthful choices into the menu.

The Fig Tree now offers a full line of smoothies ($8.95) made with fresh fruits and vegetables, as well as add-ins including, most recently, CBD oil, which is purported to help with anxiety, stress and some forms of pain.

Other healthful choices include avocado toast ($10.95), a veggie quinoa bowl for $9.95 (with two eggs for an extra $3)  and a hummus veggie wrap ($10.95).

Ferguson kept many of The Mills’ dishes — and their chef, Jamaican-born Oneil Reid, who notes, “This is my third owner.” But Ferguson has tweaked the menu.

Available now are organic duck eggs — "The yolk is creamier and richer and the white is larger," Ferguson says — for an extra charge of $5 for two. There are Pulled Pork Huevos Rancheros ($13.95), Famous Corned Beef Hash ($13.95 with two eggs and toast) and pancakes, French toast and waffles with your choice of a half-dozen fruits and nuts.

Fig Tree Cafe still offers the baked pistachio doughnuts ($3.75 each) that were a popular choice at The Mills and offered a healthier option than most doughnuts, which are fried.

"And this morning I was baking gluten-free banana nut muffins," says Ferguson, who does almost all the baking. "Everything is homemade from scratch. I think that's why people come here."

Fig Tree Cafe offers a dozen sandwiches, including burgers; a half-dozen salads; and at least two homemade soups each day (tomato basil, $4.95 cup/$5.95 bowl, and clam chowder, $5.95/$7.50).

“One thing I’m proud of is that when I first opened the place, we were mostly (serving) breakfast ... and now it is pretty much 50-50 on breakfast and lunch, which is what I wanted,” she says.

Ferguson runs the 42-seat Fig Tree with a staff of 10, although she worries about being able to hire enough workers, including cooks, for what is forecast to be a busy summer.

Fig Tree Cafe had temporary outdoor dining last year because of the pandemic and it was very popular. Ferguson says she is waiting tor a decision from the town before her boyfriend, Chris McKernan, builds a more permanent patio with a pergola.

Fig Tree Cafe draws community groups and regulars who come in several times a week.

"When one of our regulars was sick, we took a picture of one of the servers who usually waits on him with a sign saying 'We miss you!' and texted it to him," Ferguson says.

She says she loves that her restaurant is a community gathering spot where she gets to spend her days feeding people.

"I remember the first thing I ever made as a child: It was a carrot cake. I remember every detail — grating the carrots, smashing the batter with my hands. And I remember how happy I was when everyone liked it."

Gwenn Friss can be reached by email at gfriss@capecodonline.com or on Twitter: @dailyrecipeCCT/.

508-428-9814; https://www.figtreecafecapecod.com/

Hours: 7:30 a.m. to 2 p.m,. Mondays and Wednesdays through Saturdays; 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sundays (breakfast only)