Cabra: Izard's Peruvian-influenced restaurant

Having made a reservation a month before they opened, we tried Stephanie Izard's new Peruvian-influenced restaurant in the Hoxton Hotel in West Loop, Cabra (Spanish for "goat") this weekend. We enjoyed a cocktail downstairs at Lazy Bird (speakeasy-style jazz bar, 52 old-school cocktails in a beautifully illustrated bound menu book; crowded on a Friday evening around 8pm but we were able to find 2 seats at a bar table when other guests left - I very much enjoyed my cocktail there).

We had a reservation for 8:45pm on a Friday evening; they would not seat us until our entire party arrived (our dining companions arrived 10-15 minutes after our reservation time; I believe this is a consistent policy as Girl & The Goat has; we were ultimately sat at about 9:10pm, so they may still be working through pacing and reservations a month after their opening.

It's a spectacular space on the rooftop; unfortunately it was 45 degrees, windy, and raining the evening we were there (ah, May in Chicago), but with nicer weather the rooftop will be terrific.

I'm fairly familiar with Peruvian food, including several trips to Peru, so I tried to temper my expectations given even Izard and Boka call this merely "Peruvian influenced". We tried a bunch of items: the classic ceviche, tuna tiradito, crab causa, smoked goat and aji de gallina empanadas, grilled baby carrots, grilled shishitos, arroz con pato, the chicharron del puerco, and sweet potato donuts for dessert.

The confit duck leg in the arroz con pato was tasty, but the portion of cilantro sticky rice seemed off - far too little rice for a dish called arroz con pato, and it lacked the punch of flavor (a la Sazon) that I would typically find elsewhere. The chicharron del puerco was the star - described on the menu as "skin on fatty pork shank", it was a large pork shank, beautifully tender pork meat with crispy skin to be appropriately called chicharron - all accompanied by terrific house-made flatbread and sauces/dips (as you'd expect from Izard). Lovely pickled onions and peppers helped to cut the richness of the pork.

No photos, but overall enjoyed the meal - though the DJ playing did mean that the volume of the restaurant was very high. This is not a place for a quiet meal and conversation; it's your typical trendy West Loop "scene" with the added urgency of being still relatively newly opened.

Cabra
200 N Green St
Chicago, IL
inside The Hoxton Hotel