Girl and the Goat

-By Scott

Stephanie Izzard

I’ve had a reservation in my head at Stephanie Izard’s Girl and the Goat for two years, two months, and some change. Ever since Izard was crowned the winner of Bravo’s Top Chef Season 4, it’s been on my list of restaurants to try. The only problem until recently is that the restaurant did not exist. But after partnering with the restaurateurs behind Boka, Perennial, and Landmark, Izard opened Girl and the Goat earlier this summer as a follow-up to her last Chicago restaurant, the Bucktown eatery, Scylla. I never made it to Scylla, but heard that Izard’s ascent to Top Chef champion was no surprise to those that enjoyed her cooking before Scylla closed its doors in August of 2007. Although reservations at Girl and the Goat have been about as easy to come by as a Cubs win this season, a friend of mine was able to land a table on a recent Friday night for a group of seven.

The moment I entered Girl and the Goat, I knew it was the type of place I was going to enjoy.  The space itself meshes well with the West Loop/Randolph Corridor neighborhood where it is located.  Dark wood, industrial lighting, open kitchen, and thick black posts define the interior that has a distinctly lofty feel to it, a certain refined grittiness.  To the left of the restaurant is a beautifully back-lit bar and lounge area, a perfect place to come in for a cocktail, if you can get a seat, or while you wait for your table.   

Girl and the Goat -Bar

At the rear of the restaurant is the kitchen, open and in full view of the dinning room. On this particular night, and from what I have read, most nights since the restaurant opened, Izard expedited and oversaw every dish that left the kitchen. Mixed in with the space’s warehouse district motif is also a definite playful, exuberant quality that parallels its food. A painting that lines the wall on the right side of the restaurant reminded me of something that could have come from the mind of Tim Burton. In the painting, a woman (presumably Izard herself) doing her best Helena Bonham Carter impression, walks in a starry-eyed trance with a goat among skulls and what appears to be circus tents in the background. It is a colorful, somewhat haunting piece that serves to break the otherwise dark tones of the dining space.

Girl and the Goat - Interior

But enough talk about ambiance. On to the food. Simply put, the food is good. Really good. Satisfying, inventive, accessible but also adventurous.This is a place that is deeply serious about what it puts on a plate. We began our meal, as any good meal should, with a cocktail. I chose the Double Standard: Ransom Old Tom gin, rye, lemon and mint. The drink boasts a refreshing citrus flavor with just hints of the rye peaking through. This isn’t the Violet Hour, but Girl and the Goat can certainly make a drink.   

Our group decided to take our server’s advice and shared a number of entrees. After beginning with a sampling of two of the offered breads – both excellent and worthy accompaniments to our drinks – we received two orders of the Hiramasa Crudo. Delicate, silky fish paired with deliciously bacony pork belly that somehow managed not to overwhelm the yellowtail-like fish.   

Hiramasa Crudo

With our palates engaged, the floodgates opened: Our choices included grilled octopus salad, savory with a touch of spice, baked Shishito peppers, ham frittes with a heavenly smoked tomato aioli that needs to be bottled and marketed as a ketchup substitute, and a satisfying smoked goat pizza with apple soffritto, black kale, ricotta, and cipollini onions that could easily be turned into a light meal for two on a different kind of night. 

Fat Back

And while nearly everything was absolutely excellent, there were two standouts in my mind.  The first of the head spinners was the smokey whipped fat back with bourbon onions and accompanying biscuits. The biscuits here, while nicely executed, were merely a conduit for the real star of the show, the whipped fat back. It’s exactly what it sounds like. Fat from the back of a pig, whipped into an ethereal emulsion, oozing smokey goodness. Creamy fat with a ghost-like presence of deep smoke left over from the cooking of a whole hog (I suspect), spread generously over the homemade biscuits. In between bites, the onions, tinged with a bourbon pickliness, cut perfectly through main attraction. An absolute revelation. I would go back just to try it again. If you can resist, save some of the fat for the fries. Think of it as a play on the European frites served with mayonnaise. Crispy, velvety, smokey, fried – you may shed a tear.

Crispy Pig Face

The other star of our Friday night show was the Crispy Pig Face. Yes, that’s right: Crispy. Pig. Face – in your face. Or in your mouth, rather. Described by our server as something of a riff on headcheese, the pig face is an absolutely must for any pork lover who goes to Girl and the Goat. Melty, rich, tender fat and meat, egg yolk, paper-thin potato sticks and caramelish tamarind. I almost ordered it again for dessert.

Skirt Steak a la Plancha

There were other highs to the meal including the Skirt Steak a la Plancha, with salted goat milk caramel that offered notes of sweet and savory, as well as a rich pork liver mousseline that was expertly paired with pancake-like crumpets. If I had one complaint, it would be on the subject of desserts. We ordered two: a brown sugar brulee with fluffy Bavarian cream, bluberry compotem and a brown sugar cake, as well as a corn-themed chilled dessert cut with a puckering gastrique. Neither dessert was bad by any stretch, but I was not impressed with the sweets section of the menu as much as I was with the savory fare.

What makes a good dining experience for me extends far beyond the food on the plate. There’s the décor, the service, the feel of the silverware in your hands, the lighting, the quality of the bar, even the bathrooms. But for me, what really makes a good meal is the company you keep while you are enjoying it. There is nothing more satisfying than sharing a good meal with friends. Sharing food, enjoying it together, talking about it, experiencing new flavors and textures as a group, are things that can turn a good meal into an exceptional one. And Girl and the Goat feeds into that concept. It is the perfect place to take a group of friends, the kind of place that becomes better the more friends you have with you at the table. I know my meal was exponentially improved by the presence of my dinner companions. It’s an order-the-whole menu kind of place. The type of restaurant where when you leave you immediately turn to your calendar and try to figure out when you get to come back to sample more items. I have to say, it was completely worth the wait.

Girl and the Goat - 4 Food Babies

 -Scott

Girl and the Goat
809 West Randolph Street - (312) 492-6262
Open Monday - Sunday: 3:00pm - 11:00pm
For more information check out the Girl and the Goat website, the thread on LTHForum, and the Food Babies approved Mega Bites Chicago review.