Girl and the Goat

           This post is a bit delayed as I have put off writing about my experience at Girl and the Goat, one of the most talked about new restaurants in Chicago. Started by Stephanie Izard, winner of Top Chef, the restaurant was nominated for the 2011 James Beard best new restaurant award. Despite its three-month waiting list, the unassuming restaurant welcomes walk-ins at its communal tables. Naturally, the night we had planned to go was the night of a massive blizzard in Chicago. As a reward for making our way through the blizzard, there was no wait for a table once we arrived. Seated at one of the long tables in the dimly lit, cavernous restaurant that somehow maintained a cozy feel, we immediately felt part of a communal dining experience. The menu featured a variety of small plates, all for sharing. Unsurprisingly, from the name of the restaurant, the vegetarian options were not abundant. While I don usually mention the bread at a restaurant, the bread was a part of the culinary experience. The beet bread accompanied by a spread of goat cheese spiked our excitement of the meal to come. 

             For our first course, we settled on the roasted cauliflower with pickled peppers, pine nuts and mint. The combination of textures and subtle and spicy tastes made for an complex but fresh taste.

            The second course, grilled sepia with hazelnut-parsnip puree and smoked tomato bonito, combined the toughness and simplicity of the sepia with the soft but sharp taste of the tomato.

            The third course, steamed mussels with goat sausage croutons, cilantro and a bit of Caesar, allowed the fresh taste of the fish to stand on its own, the seasoning simply accentuating this taste.

            However, the pinnacle of the meal without question was the chocolate cake combined with pomegranate seeds, left milk compote and chocolate ice cream. It was one of those dessert experiences that you just don’t want to end. This dessert is on my top ten desserts in all of Chicago, of which I have tried quite a few. Overall, the meal was surprisingly affordable for a restaurant which has generated such hype and such a long waiting list. Each of the dishes ranges from $10 to around $20 and it is suggested that each person gets around two. Although if splitting the dishes, that can even be too much food.

While the meal at Girl and the Goat can be classified as a culinary experience necessary to try at least once, it is not a place that I will become a regular. The tastes were delicious but left a heavy feeling due to the richness of the ingredients. 

            Even if I do not make it back to Girl and the Goat, I definitely plan on trying Little Goat, Izard’s new restaurant that is planned to open this summer. Little Goat will be a spin-off on the traditional diner replete with a bar, shuffleboard table, photo booth and of course delicious food.

Girl and the Goat: 809 W. Randolph Street, Chicago, IL 60607

(312) 492-6262

http://www.girlandthegoat.com/

Sun.-Thurs.: 4:30 p.m.-11 p.m., Fri.-Sat.: 4:30 p.m.-12 a.m.

Chilam Balam: Small Plates

Living without a car in a suburb of Chicago, getting into the city takes a little extra motivation. The celebration of the opening of the Boystown branch of Forever Yogurt with the distribution of free frozen yogurt for a year to the first fifty people in line, provided just the push. Forever Yogurt, a self-serve frozen yogurt place where the price is determined by the weight of your ice cream and toppings, is any frozen yogurt lovers’ dream. While I consider myself one of the top frozen yogurt fans, to my dismay we found a line of people who are a bit more loyal and had been there since hours before opening time. After watching a somewhat anticlimactic distribution of envelopes, we decided to walk to a Mexican restaurant we had wanted to try, Chilam Balam.

 Prepared for a long wait, we were unsurprised that the tiny yet boisterous restaurant located down a small flight of stairs was packed at 7 p.m. on a Friday night. After a 45-minute wait, we were seated at one of the small tables and confronted with a small menu that we soon discovered is changed monthly. The menu features a variety of small dishes all for table sharing. The likable and honest waitress informed us that the shitake mushroom empanadas we had planned to order were not the best the restaurant had to offer. Confronted with dishes with names from “memelas” to “flautas” to “succotash gorditas” we decided to rely mainly on the waitress’ selections.

Roasted cauliflower with chimichurri, jicama, pineapple, cucumber and mango. 

The first two dishes were the corn masa memelas and the roasted cauliflower with jicama, pineapple, cucumber and mango. The memelas were a delicious start to the meal, the savory black beans topped with goat cheese was a perfect complement to the simple but tasteful corn exterior of the memela. Yet the cauliflower dish, although a beautiful presentation, did not quite compete. The combination of mango and cauliflower was inventive and served for a fresh side but the spiciness of the sauce took away from the otherwise clean flavor of the dish. We followed these dishes with the grilled vegetable succotash gorditas and the grilled salmon. The grilled vegetable succotash, although not quite as good as the memela, was also delicious in its bean and veggie interior and corn exterior. The quintessential salmon complemented with wild rice, was similarly light yet filling, but less original than the other dishes on the menu.
Upon looking at the website later in the night we found our surprisingly honest waitress was actually the owner of the restaurant, Soraya Rendon. According to the website Soraya had moved to the U.S. at the age of 18 and only a few years later had learned English and played an integral role in the creation of the restaurant. The down to earth feel of the owner serving her own dishes only adds to the charm of the restaurant.

Overall this Mexican restaurant stands out from its competition due to its evident dedication to  obtaining its ingredients from local farms. The freshness of its ingredients in confluence with its inventive combinations create simultaneously rich yet clean feeling meal. The fun atmosphere is enhanced by the encouragement to BYOB in addition to the many small dishes that make for a fun experience. 

Chilam Balam: 3023 N. Broadway Street, Chicago, IL 60657

(773) 296 - 6901

http://www.chilambalamchicago.com/

Tues - Thurs: 5 p.m. - 10 p.m., Fri - Sat.: 5 p.m. - 11 p.m.