Girl & the Goat

They know where to get pig’s heads. They just decided not to put that dish on the menu.

We’ll take some signature dishes like the sautéed green beans with fish sauce vinaigrette and cashews, and bring them there. But we’re not just transplanting the entire menu. We’ll develop new dishes just for LA. The pig’s face in Chicago, for example, is something we have on the menu because our farmer has a lot of pig heads, and that’s why we started doing it in the first place. But we won’t have that in LA because it doesn’t have the same story. It’s still the same fun style of service but a different take on it that fits into the Los Angeles scene.

Over the years, I’ve been out there a lot for Top Chef stuff and filming other random things and events with friends, so I’ve gotten to know the city a little bit. I have a good handful of chef friends and connections that have helped introduce me to farmers and meet new people. Our chef de cuisine moved out there one and a half years ago from Chicago, and he’s been diving into getting to know the purveyors and farmers a little more.

EVERY pig farmer in every state has a surplus of heads.

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highlights
crumpets - these were incredible. like a cross between a roti and a pancake. I hope they include more dips and spreads with this like majordomo’s bings.
duck
oyster
pork belly
chickpeas
popcorn
oyster sauce stracciatella

king salmon poke, chili crunch, avocado, strawberry
this was more like a salad, ceviche or tartare. I need my soy, sesame sauce, and nori with my poke.

duck tartare, gochujang mayo, sesame, cherums, fried brussels

goat liver mousse, crumpets, biscuit crackers, pickle relish, marmalade mostarda
the liver still had a bitterness to it so the blueberries and marmalade was a nice complement.

pacifico oysters, clam baguette, sausage butter, oyster sauce mayo, white currants
delicious.

pork belly, green mango, pickled fresnos, shrimp rice, coconut crunch
loved the different textures in this salad.

chickpea fritters, goat yogurt, herb chutney, tamarind, sev crunch
the fritters reminded me of tater tots that just melt in your mouth.

goat curry, masa chips, radish, pickled veggies

popcorn situation, cheesy butter cake, popcorn ice cream

oyster sauce stracciatella, espresso caramel
savory and sweet for days. get this. @attran99

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Oyster sauce in a dessert reminds me of the miso caramel sponge cake I had in Chicago.

Brunch was solid - high level of execution and eclectic flavors make me very eager to try dinner here! The only thing was, it was still brunch, so the ceiling was probably a lot lower than it would be for dinner. Also, I don’t think we ordered the best mix of dishes because I think every savory dish had eggs, so there was a redundance to the meal, but that’s on us.

All tasty, though. The weakest dish was the cinnamon roll, which was fine but not a particularly good one. Not pictured - Potato Croquette w/ Vietnamese sausage and lettuce cups, and Paratha w/ some kind of cheese, eggs, lettuce.

Veggie Omelette - roasted tomatoes, pickled onions, seasoned/spiced cream cheese inside

Biscuit, “Sichuan sausage”, egg, with chili vinaigrette and strawberry

Cinnamon roll - as I look at this pic, I’m wondering why this was served with a spoon! Ended up basically tearing at it with our hands.

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oh this is cool… i look forward to it… usually dont care for chefs expanding into LA but i really enjoyed my Chicago visit

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WOW!
I love TGATG.
Space, Drinks, Food are all fantastic.
My favorite dish was the Chicken Thighs with Vanilla beans - fantastic melange of flavors and textures.
Crumpets with that duck liver are truly amazing.
Sergio was expediting.
New dish (I think, doubt Porky missed it) bears a resemblance to some of Chang’s stuff but very different taste.
Sticky Glazed Pork Shank - shiitake, strawberry, hoisin mayo, hot mustard, naan, lettuce

This made me laugh - reading it would give me watery eyes and a scratchy throat, I think…

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that was the highlight from my first visit :heart:

crumpets are crazy good too.

I’ll have to try those chicken thighs next time.

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I missed you not missing it.

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do they have bar seating now or should i still call ahead?

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Big bar, lots of seating (but lots of demand too).
I think I mentioned elsewhere that the night I went to sit at the bar - a Monday - the bar was closed due to staffing issues. I asked about that last night and was told that only occurred once and is unlikely to repeat.

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Got it, thanks. I might stop by tonight for a solo dinner so I was trying to see if it would be possible.

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Funny!!!

If jury duty doesn’t screw things up, my plan is to get there 15 minutes before they open.

Naan and dips. Carrot hummus was delicious. Warm fluffy naan was great

Short rib was well cooked

Green beans had the very wok hei flavor you’d get at Chinese restaurant

Oysters were yummy. Even my wife who does not normally like cooked oysters thought this was great

Vanilla chicken thigh confused my palate. There were too many flavors for my taste. Wished we ordered the pork shank instead.

Fun natural wine from Baja

Took blurry pics of the tomatoes and stone fruit, beets, shrimp salad and scallops. The tomato salad was very similar to Majordomo. Delicious and refreshing with perfectly ripe ingredients. Scallops were excellent. The meal was very good but the one thing we noticed is that a lot of the dishes were sauced, sometimes heavily and the sauces at times masked the flavor is the main ingredients. Would definitely come back to try other dishes. Excellent service and gorgeous space.

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Peony: Girl and the Goat is a lovely “hustling and bustling” restaurant. All the dishes were strongly flavored. My favorite was the salmon poke. I like the combination of salmon, avocado, strawberries, and tiny tomatoes seasoned with chili oil and sesame. Somehow, all of the different textures and flavors just worked well together and complement each other. The chicken thigh dish was also interesting, as I tasted strong smoky flavor in the chicken meat. The oyster sauce ice cream actually worked, although the amount of oyster sauce is very tiny. So overall, I find all the dishes were made well and pleasant to eat, and I like how they incorporated Asian flavors into the dishes.

Warrior: I would say the best restaurants in the Arts District are Bavel, Brera, Factory Kitchen, Bestia, and Manuela. I would put Girl and the Goat below those restaurants. I didn’t find most of the dish concepts and flavor ideas appealing. I did like the salmon poke (agree with Peony’s comment above) and the “naan.” But when we were driving home past Brera, I thought damn — I would have much rather eaten there.

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When I first heard the Girl and the Goat was coming to my neighborhood, I was cautiously optimistic. I’m a Top Chef fan and knew how beloved Chef Izard’s Chicago restaurant was, but also was a bit scared this new location could be just a shell of the original.

Wow, I am so happy to say this restaurant slaps.

My crew and I rolled up to a 7:15 reservation, but didn’t get seated until 8. With all of us a little hangry (we couldn’t even order drinks and wait by the bar), the Girl and the Goat had a bit of a hill to climb. But, they more than surpassed our expectations with exciting food, as well as exceptional, attentive, and warm service.

Goat Liver Mousse

One of the few items we knew we needed to order and it was a roundhouse kick to the face. And then the crumpets kneed me in the groin. What a total knock out—it’s a must order. If you skipped it, you messed up.

Sourdough with Harissa Butter and Giardiniera

As a make-good for the delay on getting seated, the staff started bringing out an array of dishes on the house, and this was the first. I didn’t hear them say the butter was butter so I liberally spread this on a slice. So it was a bit overkill, but I didn’t mind.

Naan and Dips

This was probably one of the indications that this is a Top Chef restaurant. Neither the carrot hummus nor tahini tofu blew me away–though they were good–but the fact that they are trying interesting stuff like this reminded me a bit of our dearly beloved Nightshade (even if exceptionally the dish wouldn’t touch anything there).

Roasted Beet

Everyone’s got a beet dish on the menu and they’ve all got a high floor so we thought this would be a safe, crowd pleasing order to say we got some vegetables. To be honest, it kind of got lost in the parade of dishes, but I don’t remember disliking it. Again, there’s some nice creativity here with the addition of berries and a nutty crunch.

Tomato and Stone Fruit

Shitty picture, messy dish, and and a complete stunner. This was our favorite of the salads/vegetables. It just hit on so many levels. Just interpret the blur as my physiological response to taste ecstasy.

Chickpea Fritters

It wasn’t exactly what we were expecting, which turned out to be a plus. We wanted to be surprised throughout the meal and this was a dish that caught us off guard in a great way. It was a bit small, but mighty.

Summer Squash

Fried zucchini with fried onions is tough to mess up. The sauce was awesome.

Grilled Corn

Super sweet, peak summer corn, covered in butter and cheese—another can’t miss. We were also multiple cocktails in at this point and it was just fun to get a bit messy eating with our fingers.

Pork Belly

This is under the “salad” section :laughing: and turned out to be another surprise stunner. It was one of special things that we noticed as we were all passing dishes around to each other shouting with full mouths “half-you-try-dis?”

Sautéed Green Beans

Honestly, one of the best vegetable dishes I’ve had in awhile. It read’s pretty simply as just “fish sauce vinaigrette and cashews” but it tastes so much more than that.

Lamb Sirloin Skewer

We knew to order two of these for our entire table, and it’s among the best cooked lamb I’ve had in the past few years—incredibly flavorful and tender. There’s a lot going on, but again just smacks of flavor.

Beef Short Rib

Not essential compared to the other dishes we had (it would be in the bottom half of the power ranking) but still well composed and fully enjoyed. If this was the centerpiece of the meal, it probably would have gotten a little more shine.

Goat Curry

Another dish we knew we needed to order before we sat down, and it didn’t disappoint. I think the rest of the table was a bit let down that they were so stuffed with everything else that they couldn’t physically stomach as much of this as they wanted. Amateurs. I knew to save myself and yes it was worth it. The masa chips mixed in got to that crispy-gone-soggy texture and it was wonderful.

PB&Gs

Way better than it probably should have been and we ordered it out of curiosity having just experienced all these other creative savory dishes. It’s peanut butter ice cream with roasted grapes, mini pickled champagne grapes, sliced grapes, and a chocolate crunch. It was super interesting and well liked.

Popcorn Situation

Insanely sweet, but the butter cake itself was so moist and dense I was both impressed and overwhelmed.

We were stuffed. The Arts District is lucky to have another injection of creativity into the restaurant scene (I’m still holding out hope that Nightshade comes back!) and I’m looking forward to coming back.

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Ha, you ordered almost everything I did the other night.

I’ll post soon, I got so many dishes that it’ll be a chore.

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Dinner last night killed. Tomato salad, goat pate, sourdough bread, green beans, corn, shishitos, lamb kebab, salmon poke, branzino and the pork shank…oh and the popcorn ice cream. Amazing meal, best service I’ve had in a while in LA, including the sommelier who was really wonderful. They let us byob three bottles, though their limit is two. Met the chef’s mom, shared a glass of wine with her table. Just a superb experience. Probably my new favorite place.

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wine

Couldn’t decide between red and white so.

muffins

Goat liver and scalding hot muffins. This was great. The cherries weren’t sweet, just slightly sour. Did they say they roasted them? The other two items were great though I didn’t want them with the liver.

bread

Bread was just OK, not great like what I had in Chicago. Great relish, whatever it was.

oysters

They comped me a couple of oysters. Way hell of a lot going on there. There’s actually leftover clam liquid in the dough of the bread. Very rich.

beets

Beet salad, excellent.

chaat

Straight-up chaat. Solid.

beans

Green beans.

belly

Goat belly, really good but very rich. I was hitting my limit.

oyster_sauce_stracciatella

Had to try the (housemade) oyster sauce stracciatella. Couldn’t taste oyster but the salty caramel sauce was great. My kind of dessert.

Chartreuse

I was musing to the sommelier or server that Chartreuse would be a good match for that and they comped me a shot.

check

I liked all the dishes but everything was on the complicated side and I feel like a few dishes in I got palate fatigue. Would probably have enjoyed the meal more if I’d ordered only say four things. I had leftover green beans last night and they were much better than I’d realized, really a fun variation on the usual wok-charred Chinese dish. Some of the prices were surprisingy reasonable by LA standards.

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Ugh stupid surcharges. Hate them so much.

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