Opening back in the summer of 2010, Girl & the Goat remains one of the hottest restaurants in Chicago. Located in the West Loop, the globally influenced menu features unique small plates and bold flavored foods. Chef Stephanie Izard, the first female chef to win Top Chef, has created a fun and lively setting to go along with the tasteful menu.
Dinner at Girl & the Goat
You’ll want to make reservations as soon as possible. I believe they accept them up to 3 months in advance. I only managed to get a 4:45pm reservation for one on a Monday. I gladly took it and could not wait to see what all the hype was about. After some sightseeing, I headed to the restaurant located on Randolph Street for my early dinner.
Entrance
I gave the hostess my name and was shown to my table right away. I could see the impressive open kitchen towards the back.
Kitchen
My waiter, Owen, was very nice and super helpful. He handed me the food and cocktail menus, and a small menu featuring a few breads. I already had an idea of what I wanted to try, but it never hurts to look everything over again.
Menu
The place just opened and tables were filling up quickly.
Place Setting
The cocktails sounded great. I went with the first one listed, the Royal Rubus. It’s made with Finns gin, lemon bitters, blackberry, lime, and soda. It was the perfect balance of sweet and tart, and very refreshing.
The Royal Rubus
All the food sounded amazing. As much as I wanted to try several plates, I knew a couple would be the perfect amount. I went with the wood grilled broccoli and their most popular dish, the pig face.
Perfect
Wood Grilled Broccoli
I mixed it well since most of the cheese sat on the bottom. It was great. It had a distinct smoky flavor and the crispies added a bit of a crunch.
And now, the wood oven roasted pig face. It sounds scary, but it’s really not. The recipe calls for a whole pig’s head where the face is precisely trimmed off, seasoned, and rolled up porchetta-style with the tongue, cheeks and snout inside. Okay, it does sound a little scary, but it’s worth a try! Patties are sliced off and placed in a sizzle plate and cooked in the wood fired oven to get nice and crispy. The famous dish is made with tamarind, cilantro, red wine-maple, potato stix, and topped with a sunny side egg.
Wood Oven Roasted Pig Face
I was told to break the egg and mix it all up.
Break It
Yum, this dish was amazing! The pig face patty was thick and fatty. So rich and awesome! Mixed with the cilantro sauce, egg, and potato stix – it was like a chunky bacon hash. Yep, this dish was worth the hype. I dream about coming back and eating it all over again.
Mix It
The food was so good, I had to check out the dessert menu. I asked Owen what he suggested. He said the Caramel Corn & Malt Balls is their most popular dessert. It has vanilla malt gelato, caramel popcorn, and chocolate magic shell. Yes, magic shell! How could I not try it?
Caramel Corn & Malt Balls
It was a hit! The crunchy sweet caramel popcorn with the vanilla gelato and chocolate was perfect. It’s like your childhood favorites all in one bowl. Bravo!
I thoroughly enjoyed my dinner at Girl & the Goat. Cocktails were great and the food was delicious. Loved the pig face! I would really like to try their other unique dishes, it all looked so good. Service was on point and Owen was excellent. Thank you!
Girl & the Goat
809 W Randolph Street
Chicago, IL 60607
(312) 492-6262
Website
