 | Sheep go to heaven, goats go to hell |
So, I called this Girl and the Goat place after looking online and seeing they were booked for 2 weeks out. They did have a cancellation at 11:30pm if I wanted that. I had just read an interesting article about getting into elite restaurants, and was excited to try my hand at some of the tactics. The first one, is just show up. They opened at 4:30, and we got there around 4:50. We got seated right away, but at a table for 8 they call the lounge. It’s actually a pretty sweet idea. It’s a very wide table, and couples sit next to each other. We were seated at one end, and a guy and his son were at the other end across the table.
The menu was “interesting” to me. I’m not all that adventurous with food, so I look for familiar things on menus. There was a lot on the menu that I wasn’t sure what it was, let alone if I’d even like it. I found a few things that I would be comfortable with though. It is served “small plate” style, so you order like 3 different items and split it between the 2 of you. So we got the ravioli, the mussels, and skirt steak. I also had been told by a few friends to try the Golden Monkey from Voodoo Brewery, so since I saw it, I got one of those as well. Later, I also downed an Left Hand Brewery Polestar Pilsner. Left Hand has a dear place in my heart, originally just because of the name, but I really like their beer.
Anyway, back to Girl and the Goat. As they’re bringing out food to Tony (the guy at the other end of the table) and his son, the server is giving him the full schpeel about what it is, what Chicago Magazine had to say about it, and used a bunch of colorful adjectives to describe what went into it, almost as if Tony was a food critic. There was too much laughing and smiling about it though, as it turns out, Tony was an employee just stopping in with his son. Tony strikes up a conversation with us, and tells us about the sharing food idea, and he said that a little known secret is to use the sauce from the mussels with the fries, which he had, so we ended up putting the dishes together. As we’re doing this, 2 other couples join our table and join in on the plate sharing. Tony ended up passing around his extra lamb shank. It was soooooo good. Everything was so good. I have no idea what was on the skirt steak, but it was awesome. This could very well have been the best food I’ve ever eaten in one sitting, and I don’t usually get excited about food.
One dish had brussel sprout leaves in it, and since Kallie has been growing brussel sprouts, she asked Tony and our waiter if it was indeed the leaves of the brussel sprouts, or if they were the bigger leaves of the brussel sprout plant itself. Tony said that particular dish was just the sprouts, but there was another dish that had the large leaves. We ordered that so Kallie can see if it’s something she wants to learn how to make. A few minutes later, our waiter brought the owner, Stephanie Izard. Wow, what a surprise. The waiter was just so surprised about Kallie growing brussel sprouts, that he asked Steph to come out and share the recipe with us. It was a short conversation, and you could tell she was very involved in taking care of the restaurant, but it was an awesome surprise.
This place was awesome. The food, the staff, the atmosphere were all exceptional. It was a little on the pricey side for small plate, but it’s one of those great date dinners where you get dressed up for a night out.
I’ll give it 10 feet out of 10 (that’s a good thing). If you’re in Chicago, GO.
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