3,000 reservations on it’s opening day, if you haven’t heard of Girl and the Goat (or G&G to the scenesters), you’ve been living under a rock. I finally got to try the place after a solid two months of impatiently waiting. The Chef’s Table was totally worth it though as we got a preview all thirty dishes on the line before ordering and chat with the sous chefs. Sitting steps from Top Chef Izard and looking completely exhausted (I don’t think she got a Labor Day break), she couldn’t have been more down to earth. Watching her perfectionist OCD way of touching up the sauces on every plate that would make any Jewish mother proud, you could see her unwaring dedication to each and every dish that went out with her name attached to it.
From the second you step in the door, you can sense the magical love everyone has for being there. It’s this forgotten lost feeling that everyone loves their job, loves food and loves welcoming new people into their world. All in all one of the best serving experiences I’ve ever had as our waiter used colorful analogies like “if x and y had a love child” and “like a fat man rolling in goodness” to describe the flavorful menu. In order to edit the thirty option menu (10 fish, 10 meat and 10 vegetarian), Steph held underground dinner series around the city using her fan boy twitteratti as unsuspecting focus groups. Word on the street is one of the dishes was even inspired by Taco Bell’s Cheesy Gordita Crunch with a soft and hard shell, contributing to her intense likability and creativity.
What We Tried:
The sourdough bread “baked from heaven” with onion butter. The waiter was dead on with that one, best butter ever.
Wood-fire wellfleet oysters with horseradish aioli. I love oysters and apparently only a handful of restaurants in the country prepare them on a wood fire stove, yet many more should.
Shaved Kohlrabi Salad with fennel, blueberries, evalon, and toasted sliced almonds. More sauced than a “gourmet” salad usually is, but light, crisp and totally refreshing.
Hiramasa Crudo made of crisp pork belly, aji aioli and caperberries. This is a not to miss, I could have eaten just this and been happy stealing the little pork belly pieces from everyone else’s dishes on the line. Everything was consistently good, but the Crudo was melt-in-your mouth salty, sweet and amazing.
Wood Oven Roasted Pig Face with a sunny side egg, tamarind, cilantro and potato stix. Honestly, I’m not a huge meat-eater I just thought this was a house favorite that could not have been missed. It was good, reminded me of a breakfast for dinner hash brown patty, I’d say you would be okay with skipping.
Sauteed Skate with grilled calamari, chickpeas, grilled radicchio, and tomato aioli. Also melt in your mouth textures, the Mediterranean departure seemed a little more random than most of the other fried options, but it broke up the greasiness well. The homemade tomato sauce would be amazing on bruschetta.
We didn’t try the special smokey whipped fat back with bourbon onions and biscuits, but it seemed to be a huge favorite looking like a Southern plate on crack. The name was just a bit of a turnoff. I like to pretend to eat healthy at least.
809 W Randolph St. 312.492.6262. www.girlandthegoat.com
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September 12, 2010Kristen Bell, Sofia Vergara and That Hot Guy from True Blood
