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 
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.
