Dmnkly wrote:

David Hammond wrote:Grave regrets: we forgot to order the Pan Fried Shishitos (a type of pepper that is sporadically hot, that I don’t think I’ve ever had)

FYI, in my experience, shishitos are pretty much universally hot (I mean not hot, but not a lot of variation). Are you thinking of Padrón peppers, or do I not know my shishitos?

My experience with shishitos is that they the smaller they are, the hotter they are. The large ones are no more spicy than a particularly flavorful bell pepper, while the tiny ones can approach jalapeño levels of heat.

nsxtasy wrote:

David Hammond wrote:the place has been packed (booked through mid-September)

There is availability sooner than that, depending on how flexible you are with dates and times. Right now Opentable is showing early seating times for two people on four of the days of July 28-August 3 (including Saturday the 31st) and late seatings for two of those days. And there's quite a bit of availability for August 8 and later. But if you absolutely must have that prized 7:30 slot on a Friday or Saturday, then yes, you're looking at mid-September or later.

Technically, I believe the place is never fully booked as they keep 2-3 tables available for walk-ins.

Dmnkly wrote:

David Hammond wrote:Grave regrets: we forgot to order the Pan Fried Shishitos (a type of pepper that is sporadically hot, that I don’t think I’ve ever had)

FYI, in my experience, shishitos are pretty much universally hot (I mean not hot, but not a lot of variation). Are you thinking of Padrón peppers, or do I not know my shishitos?

I'm just going by what our server (who I deemed trustworthy) told me; this link confirms "sporadic hot" nature of these peppers ("sometimes one will have a little bite"), but I can't confirm from personal experience: http://www.culinate.com/columns/deborah ... to_peppers

The latter then, I guess

David Hammond wrote:Technically, I believe the place is never fully booked as they keep 2-3 tables available for walk-ins.

The restaurant says it is keeping half of seats unreserved for walk-ins, but I suspect it's closer to Hammond's projection.

David Hammond wrote:
Technically, I believe the place is never fully booked as they keep 2-3 tables available for walk-ins.


The restaurant says it is keeping half of seats unreserved for walk-ins, but I suspect it's closer to Hammond's projection.

They've also been periodically updating their Facebook page with pleas for people to come sit at the bar or in the lounge, I would think that might be a viable option on a weeknight.

Went on Opentable and picked a random date. If you're a party of 2 and you'd like to eat at 8pm on August 17th, there's a reservation out there with your name all over it.

The Girl and the Goat - it's so crowded nobody goes there.

jesteinf wrote:Went on Opentable and picked a random date. If you're a party of 2 and you'd like to eat at 8pm on August 17th, there's a reservation out there with your name all over it.

The Girl and the Goat - it's so crowded nobody goes there.

It was pretty much fully loaded last night, but of course it's still riding the wave of initial excitement (deserved, I feel).

I stopped into G&tG tonight for drinks and snacks before meeting a friend for dinner nearby. I hoped to snag a seat at the bar, but there ended being an open spot at the high communal table adjacent to the lounge area, so that's where they put me. I was impressed overall with how comfortable the space was, even with the dining room basically full. At my seat--granted, near the periphery and away from the kitchen--the volume and mid-evening light were very pleasant. I walked in at about 7pm, stayed maybe an hour, and there seemed to be seating available in the lounge the entire time. For two people, that seems like a cozy option.

I started with the fried Raspberry Points oysters with egg salad and capers. These were lovely--as David Hammond has said, really admirable for the simplicity and restraint of preparation. The oysters were very delicately fried, arrived at my table still quite warm. The egg salad with capers added just enough of a velvety mouthfeel, creaminess and salt.



That said, it was with this first dish that I realized that the food at G&tG is a little more precious or dainty than I expected. The composition of the dishes (admittedly, of the very few I tried), portions, presentation (particularly the oysters on the dried black beans) and value in general made me think retail display, maybe Williams-Sonoma catalog. This impression could be due largely to the fact that I dined at Graham Elliot last night and in general like my food with a little attitude. G&tG struck me as almost too nice or at least much more polite than I expected.

Next, I had the Escargot & Goatballs. I loved the play of textures--the snails in particular were cooked perfectly--and the acidity added by the romesco, but I wanted more goat flavor. This dish was way too salty.

I capped my snack session with the fried potato dumplings with lemon-poached eggplant, figs and honey yogurt. Like the oysters, I was glad not to have to share this dish as it was very, very good. The dumplings had a nice balance of crunch and chewiness, and the dressing was light and not too sweet.



I also had two cocktails, which I drank too fast: a Before and After (Plymouth gin, Aperol, Averna, Carpano Antica) and a Double Standard (Ransom Old Torn, Rittenhouse 100, lemon, mint). The former could have used less vermouth, but both drinks were very respectable.

Overall, I look forward to returning to G&tG and trying more dishes.

David Hammond wrote:

Dmnkly wrote:

David Hammond wrote:Grave regrets: we forgot to order the Pan Fried Shishitos (a type of pepper that is sporadically hot, that I don’t think I’ve ever had)

FYI, in my experience, shishitos are pretty much universally hot (I mean not hot, but not a lot of variation). Are you thinking of Padrón peppers, or do I not know my shishitos?

I'm just going by what our server (who I deemed trustworthy) told me; this link confirms "sporadic hot" nature of these peppers ("sometimes one will have a little bite"), but I can't confirm from personal experience: http://www.culinate.com/columns/deborah ... to_peppers

Green Acres at the Green City Market has boxes of shishitos nowadays. I can't remember how much... $3? $4? I wouldn't be surprised if they are G&G's source for them, as they were for Mado last summer, when they were doing pan-fried shishitos. We liked them so much at Mado we started buying them and making them at home ourselves. And I concur with the "sporadic heat" assessment, though I've never had one quite as spicy as a jalapeno.

Thanks for the shout out Hammond-- it was great to see you in the restaurant!

I can answer a few of these questions.

1. Shishitos. They are sporadically hot. Steph says that you get one hot one out of fifty or so mild ones. Unpredictable. All of the ones I've tasted have been mild.

2. Reservations. This place is getting more and more packed as the nights go on. Every night many tables are kept open for reservations-- I don't think they keep a strict percentage open though. The place opens at 4:30, and before 6 there are always many open tables.

In general the dishes change a lot. Not only does she alter the dishes depending on availability with the farms from which she sources, but she is still altering the dishes for taste. Stephanie is very responsive to customer concerns and requests.

The restaurant has been attracting an odd mix of Chicago fashionistas and foodies. Most all of the servers though are food nerds who are super excited about what they're doing and practically everyone who is on the floor has had months of training-- so don't hesitate from the volume/ pace of the restaurants to test us. We have fun with people who like good eating!

The girl who served me was definitely a food nerd, and so, very easy to relate to and fun to have helping us pick our dishes!

Should have checked LTH before now, but tried to make reservations for Tuesday early Tuesday and nothing was available before 4:30 (we wanted to go right after work - 5ish) so we went elsewhere.

I stopped by (without a reservation) last night with two friends around 7pm. The place was jammed, but we were able to find seats at the bar very quickly. We tried three of the cocktails (all except the Old Fashioned) and they were outstanding. The sampling of dishes also impressed me. Some favorites were the grilled octopus and the goat ribs (or lamb ribs - I can't remember). The ribs had an incredibly flavorful thin layer of fat on them and were cooked perfectly. The shaved kohlrabi was good, but was kind of lost in the chopped red leaf lettuce. The scallops and braised veal were very good, though quite aggressively seasoned; a little too salty for one of my friend's taste (and thus probably way too salty for most people's taste). I thought this was just an ode to Tom Colicchio! The place has a lot of energy. The food was very good and I expect it will improve a bit more as time goes on.

Hit G&TG last night with reso's for four made the day they opened. Snagged the communal table by the kitchen. Not going to review space etc. as that has been covered. Orders were:

- Carrot Bread (forget the name)
- Warm Marinated Olives
- Sauteed Green Beans
- Chick Peas three ways
- Sauteed Skate
- Lamb Ribs
- Beef Tongue
- Pig Face
- Ham Frites
- 'Fudgesicle'
- Trifle desert (forget the name)

Overall opinion is that food is good, but overworked a tad. For example, Chickpeas three ways were great, but many ingredients in the dish were superfluous. Tongue, skate and and Pig Face (Testa) had perfect flavor of the protein, but they had so many other ingredients it was difficult to understand what was going on. Small plates (to me) are all about simplicity and freshness (see Publican) and not about composition.

That being said, this is a solid restaurant, I just think it needs a few tweaks to its menu and it could be an institution. I would just like two or three dishes that were fresh and simple (re: Nightwood tomato salad.) as well as a ew straight forward proteins.

Service was great, wine list was OK, US and PacNW focused. Ambience was good and the ego boost of sitting at chef's table at the hypiest restaurant in Chicago was a highlight...!
With so much hype, I would be sweating balls!!!!

After a considerable wait for a reservation, my BF and I dined at the Goat last night. We arrived on time for our 7:30 reservation and were told that they were running behind and should wait at the bar or lounge. A quick glance in that direction told us that lots of other prospective diners had been told the same thing; no room in either area. We pointed out the situation and asked how long the wait would be. The host said he couldn't tell us so we asked if they could call us on my mobile phone when the table was ready. He agreed. We walked next door to an empty Nia and ordered a cocktail while sitting outside. I had a serviceable version of a Dark and Stormy. About 20 minutes later (just enough time for said cocktail), we were called and told that our table was ready. We showed up and were led to our table. While I'm not thrilled with a restaurant that can not honor reservations in a timely fashion, the ability to have a quiet cocktail next door made us happy.
Now the food:
Fried malpeques over egg salad topped with capers- perfect combination but we wish there had been four oysters instead of three so that we wouldn't have had to fight over the last one
Hiramasa crudo with bits of crunchy pork belly and sliced caperberries- the second best dish of the night-the fish was delectable and the caperberries were thinly sliced so they added just a bit of tang to the dish.
Fried shisito peppers- these were delicious served in a crock with a drizzle of parmesan cheese sauce. The peppers ranged in spiciness and we ordered bread to go with them. This dish with the bread would be a great snack with a beer.
Steamed clams with pork sausage, chopped fennel bulb and a bit of linguine- this dish was bland and the fennel flavor overwhemed it. If the sausage had been spicier, the dish might have been more balanced. The clams were perfectly cook though. Unfortunately, the linguine was overcooked. This dish could be reworked to be good-maybe lose the fennel?
Escargot with goat meatballs- I did not like this dish. I dream about the escargot preparation at the now closed Rick's Cafe on Sheridan. They were done in a butter, champagne and hazelnut sauce and were amazing. These were not. These were chewy and bland. I didn't like the meat balls either. They lacked any really meaty/goaty flavor. This was the only dish that didn't work on any level.
Baked Pork Face- This was our favorite dish of the evening. This is perfectly flavored and textured testa baked in a high heat oven so that the outside is crispy. Then it is served over toast with a fried egg topping the whole thing. Salty, crunchy, gooey, porky goodness. I want to figure out how to make this at home.
Blueberry compote topped with goat cheese and crunchy oats- the server (who was terrific) originally described this as a kind of cheesecake. I am not a cheesecake fan and almost passed on this. I'm glad my BF insisted. This was delicious. It was sweet and savory and the texture of the goat cheese in the terrine was silky and light. A very good ending to a terrific meal.

All in all, the meal was excellent. The service was top notch and a number of the dishes were amazing. Only one dish completely missed the mark. I will become a regular here. Thankfully, I live within walking distance. I just hope that the waits subside as the hype dies down.

I'm surprised they didn't offer to buy you a drink. Note, though, that the bar could have been filled with walk-ins, not just people waiting for a table. When I went the other day (see above), more than half of the people in the bar area were eating there, not waiting for a table.

Kennyz wrote:The sample menu on the website separates stuff into V, F and M categories which I assume stand for Vegetables, Fish and Meat. But 100% of the F listed also have an M component to the dish, which I hope is not indicative of what will actually be the case. I'm into F&M, but my wife not so much. And sometimes I too just want a good F.

CTB wrote:Hiramasa crudo with bits of crunchy pork belly and sliced caperberries- ...
Steamed clams with pork sausage, ...
Escargot with goat meatballs-...

Seriously, is there not a single seafood dish without meat? That would really be a shame, as Stephanie Izard has such a deft hand with fish and it seems like she's taking trends just a little too far with this menu.

Kenny, you won't be surprised to hear the grilled octopus I had the other night was served with guanciale. The guanciale was probably 99 percent fat.

If I'm remembering correctly, she was doing this at Scylla as well.

jesteinf wrote:If I'm remembering correctly, she was doing this at Scylla as well.

there were some dishes like it at Scylla, but Scylla was among my pescatarian wife's favorite restaurants. You could definitely get a good, unadulterated F there.

Kennyz wrote:You could definitely get a good, unadulterated F there.

I think I went to a restaurant like that when I was in Amsterdam.

Kennyz wrote:

Kennyz wrote:The sample menu on the website separates stuff into V, F and M categories which I assume stand for Vegetables, Fish and Meat. But 100% of the F listed also have an M component to the dish, which I hope is not indicative of what will actually be the case. I'm into F&M, but my wife not so much. And sometimes I too just want a good F.

CTB wrote:Hiramasa crudo with bits of crunchy pork belly and sliced caperberries- ...
Steamed clams with pork sausage, ...
Escargot with goat meatballs-...

Seriously, is there not a single seafood dish without meat? That would really be a shame, as Stephanie Izard has such a deft hand with fish and it seems like she's taking trends just a little too far with this menu.

For lovers of seafood minus meat, only one dish would have worked: the fried oysters over egg salad. But, I ask you, what good is "S" without the always complementary "M". I loved the combos and look forward to the octopus with guanciale. You know, I called Bari (the deli on Grand) a couple of weeks ago looking for guanciale. The guy told me that their shipment had been delayed and they were having a hard time getting it in. Maybe it's all going to the Goat...

CTB wrote:For lovers of seafood minus meat, only one dish would have worked: the fried oysters over egg salad.

I'm sure that they would have been happy to accommodate such "pescetarians" by preparing meatless versions of many of their seafood dishes.

We had a great meal at Girl & The Goat on Sunday night. The staff is so friendly, enthusiastic and capable. The server was very knowledgeable and was keen to explain dishes to us. DH and I started with a cocktail, he with a sazerac and I with an old fashioned. Both drinks were very well-executed. We felt there was a bit of a slow turnaround on drink orders throughout the night and noticed it was not just us but the table next to us had issues as well.

We stuck mostly with the V section of the menu simply because that is what looked most interesting to us.

Favorite dish of the night—A tie between
Veal mousseline and Chilled yellow tomato soup with house-made yogurt and vanilla.
The mousseline was just fantastic. Perfectly creamy and with great flavor. The accompaniments of house-made pickles, cherry mustard, cauliflower and bread were fantastic. We had intended to order the fat back, but the server steered us to the mousseline and I am so glad he did. The chilled tomato soup was pure summer in a bowl. DH and I were licking our spoons. We hardly spoke the entire time it was on our table and ordered took two orders of it to take home!

Other Winners
Fried oysters—most have already said what needs to be said. A great starter.

Hiramasa crudo---Yellowtail sashimi with crispy pork belly. DH adores Yellow Tail and this was great. The crispy pork belly and caperberries made for some great bites of fish.
Fried shishito peppers- this is quite a substantial order. Would be great for a group. Very tasty!
Chickpeas three ways- I love chickpeas and would order this again.
Seared Scallops with veal- I thought it was great, DH found it a tad salty but felt that all in all the flavors worked quite well together. The scallops were perfectly cooked.
The only true loser for us was the Fried Okra with Sausage. We like okra. We like sausage. The texture was fine. We did not like this. It was two whole okras stuffed with sausage and then deep-fried and served with a sauce. It was terribly salty and the sausage had no real flavor. It could have been anything in there. We struggled to eat it. It’s a new dish, maybe it needs tweaking or maybe it needs to go away. It just did nothing for us.
Dessert was potato dumplings with eggplant, figs and yogurt. The dumplings were similar to a beignet. Unusual and light, which seems an odd way to describe fried dough, but it really was. We were full but it was a lovely finish to our meal.

I appreciate that they let you order as you go, rather than place the whole order at once. Each dish arrived relatively quickly after ordering. All in all a great experience. We look forward to returning soon.

I remember at Scylla - we went twice. The first time, relatively early in its life, there were simpler dishes, with just fish. The second time, right before it closed, not only did nearly every dish have both fish and meat, nearly every dish also had fruit in it. I like fish, I like meat, I like fruit. I'm not a big fan of them all combined together

I'd say the fact that Stephanie is altering the "Animals" portion of the menu on a daily basis to accommodate whatever offal she has extra of would be pretty exciting, except you can't get into the restaurant, and the people going there--and if you want to know who went to see Sex and City 2, here's a bunch of them--are largely not reporting on their meals here; I only hear anecdotally, because my girlfriend is a server there, as to how good these offerings (e.g., goat heart satay, goat leg, etc.) are. They vanish as quickly as they arise, sadly.

Let's hope this restaurant one days becomes like Mado, or even The Publican--the sort of place where an LTH'r can take a photo of something knockout one day and the curious can actually get in there the next to try it. The Tribune was in taking photos when I stopped by on Wednesday, so don't hold your breath: it ain't slowing down 'til October, at the earliest.

leek wrote:I like fish, I like meat, I like fruit. I'm not a big fan of them all combined together

Will it blend?

I would encourage anyone worried about getting a spot to keep looking at OpenTable, and/or walking in near opening time (4:30); we had a great experience last week, and that was even on a Saturday. I was impressed by the room, with its butcher block tables, slinky bar, and floor to ceiling fireplace, the gentle smell of good woodsmoke in the space, and also at the utter lack of pretension of the waitstaff, in jeans and t-shirts and ready to handle even kids, calling Piece to mind more than Blackbird. What denizens populate the place later in the night may create a different atmosphere. Some phonepics:


On left, nonalcoholic 'happy juice' (ginger, cranberry, orange), on lower right, something that made me forget it was 92 out.


Chickpeas three ways, which I think is a worthy signature dish. We also enjoyed the rustic pottery and hefty tableware used here and in a few other undepicted dishes (the fudgesicle dessert, the biscuits with lardo, bread and jam service).


Beet, string bean, and anchovy salad, lightly dressed, a very Madoesque dish.


Skirt steak with beets, caramel, and pickled vegetables. As observed above, this is not the hit it should be, because it essentially wets and cools down a perfectly seared steak. Either serve the steak hot with dressed vegetable accompaniment on the side, or make it completely into a room temperature Thai-style salad and list it as such.


Dom, I couldn't pass up skate. They got it right this time - very crisp. The calamari even had some sear (and was quite tender and fresh).

All in all, not too much M in my F, slightly too much W on the M, didn't mind paying for the B when the jam is that good, plenty of V to go around; K.

Santander wrote:Dom, I couldn't pass up skate.

Neither could I, which is why I was so disappointed. Glad to hear they got it up to speed

Santander wrote:All in all, not too much M in my F, slightly too much W on the M, didn't mind paying for the B when the jam is that good, plenty of V to go around; K.

Thanks for the report, M, aka S.