Friday, August 20, 2010

Girl and the Goat

I'm a huge Top Chef fan.  When Season 4 winner Stephanie Izard's new restaurant Girl and the Goat opened in the West Loop back in July I couldn't have been more excited.  Luckily Brady called opening day and was able to score us a table a month and a half later.  Finally, last night Brady and I and his friends Jeremy and Laura got to visit the highly anticipated new restaurant.  Thankfully, it was well worth the wait!

The concept behind the restaurant is shared plates focusing on local ingredients and big flavors. The menu is divided up into three sections- vegetables, fish and meat.  And yes, in case you are wondering, there is goat on the menu.

Our group of four shared the following:
corney goat bread with whipped goat cheese and corn relish
whipped back fat with bourbon onions and biscuits
crispy soft shell crab with sweet corn, lime and chili aioli
smoked goat pizza with tart cherry sofrito, black kale and ricotta
grilled lamb ribs with sweet onion bbq sauce, grilled avocado, and pistachio picada
goat cheese bavaroise with brown sugar cake and blueberries
frozen chocolate fudge with olive oil ice cream and Dragonfruit beer

My personal favorites were the corney goat bread (which I plan to try and recreate) and the smoked goat pizza.  I also really enjoyed the goat cheese bavariose which tasted like a rich cheesecake and once the server pointed out there were blueberries and cake hidden under all the creamy goodness I was even more pleased.  The only dish that I wasn't a big fan of was the whipped back fat.  The waitress told us it tasted like the best cheeseburger you have ever had so obviously we were sold, disappointingly, it did not taste like the best cheeseburger I have ever eaten.

While the food and atmosphere at the restaurant were great, the real highlight of the evening was realizing that Stephanie Izard was actually there!  She was working the food line, checking dishes as they went out to the tables.  Thanks to Laura's bravery we were able to meet Stephanie and get a picture with her, she was incredibly busy when we walked up to her but she couldn't have been nicer.  Definitely a great way to end our dining experience at one of the hottest new restaurants in Chicago!

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