Fun Playing With Food in Chicago Part 3: Girl & The Goat

Our Monday dinner reservation at Girl & the Goat wasn't until 9:30pm, plenty of time to recover some appetite after our marvelous lunch at The Gage. We hopped a bus across town and arrived a little early, and so waited at the bar until our table was ready. There, we enjoyed two interesting beverages - mine a take on the classic Dark N Stormy, containing a local rum, house-made falernum, and Blenheim Ginger Ale, while Bob sipped a full bottle of the boldly flavored Blenheim Ginger Ale.

Girl & the Goat is one of Chicago's hottest reservations right now, and with good reason. Chef/owner Stephanie Izard and her team are cranking out small plates of creative food emphasizing local and sustainable ingredients, though I haven't found anything that explains the goat connection. Izard is doing for goat what The Purple Pig is doing for pork; there were some stylistic similarities between the two restaurants, though the food itself was rather different. The Girl & the Goat menu is divided into three categories: Vegetable, Fish, and Meat, however, while vegetable, fish, or meat are respectively the main stars of their categories, there are crossovers. Goat gets its own category, as do oysters and breads/spreads. There is also a separate dessert and cheese menu. Sadly, we hadn't emptied out enough to taste something from each menu, but we sampled a nice variety. The delicious food was matched, again, by outstanding service. 

Busta Rye, Smoked Salmon Cream, Pickled Relish

Breads are baked across the street from the restaurant, at Little Goat Bread. The bread, salmon spread, and relish (which thankfully included some veggies other than cucumber) were delicious, and well worth $4. The other bread varieties available that evening were beet and stecca (also known as baguette), and each was offered with a different spread, walnut vinaigrette and sweet garlic oil, respectively, also at $4.

Grilled Sepia, Smoked Tomato and Pipara Relish, Mighty Goat Sausage

Sepia is similar to squid. This version was tender to chew and the delicate smokiness it picked up from the grill was enhanced by the smoked tomato and piparra peppers, which are of Basque origin. The goat sausage finished off the dish without overpowering the more delicate elements.

pan fried shishito peppers   parmesan . sesame . miso

An interesting take on these zesty peppers successfully combined dairy with sesame and miso, which normally to my palate don't "go" together.

tempura loup de mer filet  . bacon  . sweet n' sour . tuna crema

Loup der mer is a type of seabass also known as branzino. This dish offered a strangely harmonious combination of bacon and tuna flavors under the fried fish, and again didn't allow the more assertive accompaniments to dim the star.

Confit Goat Belly, Bourbon Butter, Lobster & Crab, Fennel

Our favorite two bites of the evening - perfectly braised goat belly (who knew that there was such a thing, or that it could, in its own way, be as savory as pork?) enrobed with bourbony butter and plated with pristine chunks of lobster and crab meat. A pity that we reached capacity before licking up every drop.

It became apparent very quickly why Girl & The Goat is such a hot ticket in Chicago, and you don't even have to like goat to enjoy it! We, however, came away from dinner with a new appreciation for the versatility and flavor of goat - though a little lobster and bourbon don't hurt. Our fun playing with Chicago food would continue Tuesday night.

Fun Playing with Traditional Family Style Indian Food

It was a mere two days after we returned from Destin that we attended a fabulous dining experience at Doug Katz's wonderful restaurant, fire food & drink. We had missed last year's dinner, when Chef Doug teamed up with local Indian cook Radhika Rajwade to create an authentic family-style meal of Indian cuisine, and we were determined that we would not miss this one! A Rose Wine Cocktail began the repast; sorry, I didn't get a photo of it.


Our Hosts: Chefs Doug Katz and Radhika Rajwade

As Chef Doug introduced his cohort, the servers began pouring a variety of three Indian beers, which would continue to flow throughout the meal.


Hari Chutney - Cilantro & Green Chile


Lal Chutney - Red Chile and Garlic

Our table needed repeated refills of these fiery condiments, as all 7 of us were spice lovers!


Achar - Spicy Indian Pickles.

No cucumber = I love these!


Imli Chutney - Tamarind

This was freshly made and offered a sweet counterpoint to the heat of the other condiments.


Dahi Papdi and Ragda Patty

On the left, a house-made flour crisp is topped with Lentils, Potato and Yogurt. To the right, a mashed potato cake topped with chick pea curry.









Chicken Chaat - Indian Chicken Salad

Delicious!


Tandoori Prawns - Tandor-Roasted Shrimp with Indian Spices

I had warned Chef Doug before the meal that, being just off the plane from Florida, he should not be insulted if I found any of the fish or seafood not palatable. This dish surprised me, because although the shrimp was certainly frozen, there were no chemically tastes or smells. It actually was quite good.


Lahori Fish Fry - Spiced Talapia

I cannot say the same for the talapia - the joys of fresh-from-the-water grouper were too close to my memory banks. Though the preparation was lovely, the fish was, well, Cleveland fish.




Mughlai Karu Murgh - Cashew Chicken Curry

This dish was one of my favorites of the evening. As boring as white meat chicken might be - in this dish, it sang in perfect harmony with nutty, spicy, creamy goodness.


Baingan Bharta - Roasted Eggplant

One of my favorite Indian dishes - not too greasy, not too heavy - perfect!


Blurry, Steamed Basmati Rice


Naan - Clay Oven Bread


Aloo Gobi - Cauliflower and Potato Curry

Another delicious and expertly executed dish.


Makhani Macchi - Butter Fish Curry

Alas and alak - I could not get enthusiastic about the fish - though I again loved the preparation. Oh well - more food was coming out to the table!


Kheema Biryani - Spiced Minced Goat, Rice, Saffron and Crispy Onions

This was also one of my favorites. Who knew that goat meat could taste so good! It really stands up to the spices.


Yoghurt

This dip accompanied the Biryani. The yoghurt tasted homemade!


Saag Gosht - Braised Goat and Spinach

Loved this, too.


Badami Matar Paneer - Pea, Cheese and Almond Curry

This was my favorite dish of the night - I'd never had freshly made paneer before, and it was amazing. I was kind of sad that this was the last savory dish, because I did not have much room left to truly appreciate it! Though another round of naan was served with these courses, I was too full to taste any.


Mango Ice Cream with Nan Khatai (Cardamon-Pistachio Cookie)

I had a tough time eating any dessert - as tasty as it was, I was done.


Gajar Halwa - Warm Carrot, Cardamom and Saffron Pudding

I apologize for the lateness of this post - but by COB the day following this dinner, I came down with a nasty cold that got me way behind on a lot of things, including blogging.

If you learn that Radhika Rajwade is cooking somewhere - make a reservation - because we had tremendous fun playing with her artful, tasty food. And the rest of the staff at fire, together with Chef Katz, made this a great evening of fun and food.