Girl and the Goat809 W Randolph St.
Chicago, IL 60607
(312)492-6262
Hello Stephanie Izard, winner of Top Chef: Chicago. It's about time. After the snag of wanting to call her West Loop joint
The Drunken Goat,
Girl and the Goat has finally opened. The menu rotates, so what is reviewed here may or may not be available on any given night.
Enter the scene: dark wood stained tables and decor in a warehouse feeling which perfectly matches the surrounding environment of the west loop. Izard did a very nice job integrating the physical space and creating a warm, yet clean atmosphere. A wood burning stove viewable from the house works away as Izard watches over her minions carrying out her orders of the night.
The word "goat" isn't just in the name...goat
is served. Not just our traditional thought of goat cheese, but the actual animal. Goat is starting to show up on more menus of Chicago restaurants these days. The menu is divided up into vegetable, fish, and meat dishes all meant to order and be shared. Think tapas, but a bit larger portions. (My dining partner and I split 3 full dishes, 1 "appetizer" and a loaf of bread and that was plenty!)Izard features many handcrafted Midwestern beers (anyone who features Metropolitan Brewery beers on draft is respected in my book)
I started the evening with
Corny Goat, a crispy loaf of bread served with corn relish and goat cheese butter. The bread was hearty, none of the 99 cent crap one buys in a grocery store. The corn relish provided some tang to balance out the creamy richness of the goat cheese butter.
Step two involved the
veal sausage served with sungold tomatoes. I was a bit apprehensive to take on this dish only because it's a bit early in the growing season for good sungolds, but to my surprise, the tomatoes were perfect! The veal sausage had really good flavour and was seasoned nicely, but the sausage itself was a bit dry.
And then came the
Ham Frites. Wow. Served with a pepper aioli and swiss cheese dip, these cut fries were sprinked in flake salt and ham. Amazing.
Two words:
GREEN BEANS. By far the best dish I experienced of the night. If anyone can perfectly cook a green bean, it's the line staff at Girl and the Goat. My wonderful host, Lindsay described this dish as "If you want to see Stephanie and what she is all about, this is the dish." Served with a mouth puckering fish sauce vinegarette and topped with crushed cashews, if you go to Girl and the Goat, this is the must have!
Unfortunately, I was not a fan of the goat pizza. If picked off the pizza, the actual goat meat was fantastic, but there was just something wrong with the dish as a whole. The clumps of ricotta cheese sprinkled atop were washed out by the bold sweet flavours of the sauce. I found it to be too sweet and clashed with the savory aspects of the dish.
Being a newborn on the Chicago restaurant scene, Girl and the Goat has done well. They seemed to have avoided some of the glitches new restaurants often have. The only one operational criticism I have is that they needed to slow down. I felt things were brought out way too fast. It's a personal preference, so if you don't mind having the house bring out one dish at a time, one after another, their system will probably work well for you.
Girl and the Goat has lived up to the chatter. Book now cause you're gonna be waiting for a while, but it will be well worth it.
