Girl and the Goat

Last weekend we tried a new restaurant - not just new to us, but new to Chicago. Girl and the Goat just opened about a week ago, maybe less, and it's Stephanie Izard's restaurant. Recognize that name? She won Top Chef Season 4.



The restaurant is very handsome-looking. I don't want to say pretty because it has a very rustic look, but it's a really cool space with a big open kitchen so you can see everything going on. Upon being seated we were handed a wine and cocktail menu, a regular menu, and a little bread and oyster menu. If you want bread, you have to order it and it's $5. Whaaaat? I know, but trust me - you want this bread. They have an in-house baker making everything fresh, and there are three choices of what comes with the bread. We got the white anchovy butter and roasted garlic in olive oil option. The bread was hot and crusty and the butter tasted like caesar dressing melting into the bread.



I'm never one to pass up oysters, so we ordered the raw French Kisses with some kind of mignonette. I apologize for the lack of details in explaining exactly what's in each dish, but I assumed the whole menu would be online so I could go back and look at it again but it's not.



The menu is designed so that everything is a small plate to be shared. We ordered three and a veggie side dish. The first one to arrive was the pork liver moussaline. I know, crazy. Since I liked the other two dishes we ordered I told Peter he could go crazy and get whatever he wanted for the third even if I didn't like it. This dish is something I would have never ordered on my own, but once I tried it...it was so good. The moussaline is in that little jar and it came with some little buns, a cherry jam of sorts, and housemade pickles which were amazing. I don't even really like cherries, but there I was slathering the pork liver and cherry jam on bread and really enjoying it.



The veggie dish arrived along with the moussaline. Roasted cauliflower with pine nuts, onions, and mint. So, so good.



The next two plates were both seafood. Scallops with caperberries and bits of braised veal:



The scallops were good, but the braised veal was my favorite part of the dish. And here's the other one - crispy soft shell crab with corn and potatoes. Really excellent.



And of course, dessert. What's a meal without dessert? We got two: the "fudgcicle" and the goat cheese bavaroise. The goat cheese dish was kind of like a goat cheese cheesecake substance, but fluffier and not as sweet, with blueberry and brown sugar cake underneath.




So, here's my beef with dessert. Every dessert option, and there were four, had a very big savory component. The fudgcicle had olive oil gelato and a beer butter sauce. One of the other desserts involved fried potato dumplings. It almost seemed like Stephanie isn't a sweets person and reluctantly put a few dessert items on the menu but didn't go all the way into the dessert category with what she chose. Me, I like dessert. The goat cheese thing was good, but I wish it was more cake and blueberries and less cheese. The fudgcicle was ok. I like olive oil gelato, but sometimes you just want a good flourless chocolate cake with some fresh whipped cream or vanilla gelato, you know?

That's really my only complaint about the meal though. The food was excellent, the staff couldn't have been nicer or more excited to be opening a new restaurant, and restaurant itself had a great vibe. I know we'll be coming back for more. And look at this cute little goat!

Set your DVR - Top Chef is back!

A new season of Top Chef starts tomorrow (Wednesday) night on Bravo at 9/8 central! I'm so excited! This season is in Washington, D.C., and there's a new judge - Eric Ripert of Le Bernardin in New York. Don't forget to set your DVR if you won't be home to see it!

Cilantro/Cumin Skirt Steak

Cumin is quickly becoming my favorite spice - I used it in lentil and vegetable soup, and in mojo criollo. It has such a wonderful smell and unique taste. So when Susan Feniger used it on her winning dish on last week's episode of Top Chef Masters, I thought I should give it a try. Luckily since it was the winning dish, there's a demonstration video online of exactly how to make it.

She made a cilantro cumin marinade for skirt steak, then made tacos with black bean salsa, and guacamole. I made the steak the same way but didn't do tacos, and instead made a corn, black bean, and avocado salad to go on the side.

Marinade:
1 cup cilantro leaves
1 serrano chile
2 tsp. ground cumin
juice of 3 limes
1/2 cup olive oil

Combine all ingredients in a blender, blend until smooth, and spread over steak. Let marinate for a couple hours. This was enough marinade for one pound of steak. The recipe actually called for toasted cumin seeds, but I already had ground cumin and didn't want to buy another kind just for this recipe.




Salad:

2 vine tomatoes, diced
2 Tbl. diced red onion
1 jalapeno, very finely diced
1 cup corn
1 cup black beans
1 avocado, diced
juice of 1 lime
2 tsp. white wine vinegar
2 Tbl. olive oil
generous pinch of salt

Combine all ingredients in a bowl.



And that's it! Grill the steak for about 7 sides per minute. I had a pretty thick piece of skirt steak, so 7 minutes might be too much for a thinner piece. The marinade is really flavorful. I loved the steak on it's own, but maybe I'll try the taco version next time.

Fun Bits

I've been absent for a few days because I was in New Jersey for the weekend - my friends Jess and Tim had a beautiful wedding, and I was a bridesmaid. I was way too busy having fun to take pictures of the amazing things I ate all weekend. However, I do have a couple fun items to share.

• Alinea's Grant Achatz is opening a new restaurant called Next Restaurant. Instead of reservations, diners will have to purchase tickets which cover the cost of the entire meal - food, drinks, and service. What kind of food? "Next Restaurant will serve four menus per year from great moments in culinary history – or the future. " It's supposed to open sometime in the fall. Can't wait!
• Top Chef season 7 is starting in just a few weeks! I thought I overheard at the Top Chef Tour that it wasn't starting until late summer or fall, but I'm glad I was wrong. The season premier is June 16th at 9/8 central (I have to include that "central" part since that's where I live now), and this season takes place in Washington, DC. And there's a new judge this season - Eric Ripert. I'm just a little bit excited.
• Grub Street Chicago says a record 8,214 people attended Green City Market's outdoor opening in Lincoln Park this past Saturday.

Ok, I did take just a couple pictures of food this weekend. Now, this goes against everything else I eat. I have never in my life had a Twinkie, Zebra Cake, Ho Ho, Ding Dong, or any of those other processed snacks with crazy names. I swear - I have NEVER had a Twinkie before. My mom wouldn't buy them when I was little. However, my grandfather (Dad's dad) who lives in South Jersey would spoil us by sending us packages of Tastykakes. My sister and I loved them. They can only be found in the surrounding areas of Philly...at least as far as I know. So when I saw them at 7-11 last weekend (in central Jersey), nostalgia took over and I had to buy them. 

The classic Tastykakes are chocolate cupcakes with a little Kraft single of chocolate icing on top. There's about six kinds of partially hydrogenated oil in them...but I love them.

Top Chef Tour!

I haven't talked at all about my love of Top Chef because it hasn't been on since I started this blog. Top Chef Masters is currently on, which I do really like...but it's just not the same. So I was watching the local news last night and they did a piece about how the Top Chef Tour was in Chicago that day doing demonstrations with Kevin Gillespie and Mike Isabella, two of the contestants from the last season. WHAT?! Why didn't I know about this? I missed it??!! Luckily at the end of the story they said - they'll be back again tomorrow. Phew.

So that's what I did today. I showed up for the noon demonstration nice and early since I knew I would have to be on the waiting list (I missed the online registration period).



That's the set up. The big tent in the back is for the demonstration, and in the front area there's merchandise for sale, a table for autograph signing, and a quickfire-like game where you are blindfolded and have to guess what's in the canister (three different canisters) by smelling it. Would have been fun, but my allergies are so bad I can barely smell right now, plus it would have creeped me out to put on a blindfold that probably 200 other people have had on their face.

So, I got into the noon show! The demonstration was 20 minutes of cooking and 20 minutes of questions. Here's Kevin and Mike at the beginning of the cooking part:



Mike really did all the cooking. He made olive oil poached shrimp with a fava purée, capers, and pickled onions. Then we all got to taste it!



I guess they do a different dish at each demonstration, because I heard some guy leaving the 10:30 demo saying "Wow, I've never had raw meat before, it was good!" And on the news last night it looked like they had some kind of raw tuna. Darn, tuna's my favorite. But the shrimp was great, and the fava purée was excellent. Mike explained that they aren't really fava beans - they were Santorini golden lentils and only in Santorini do they call these kind of lentils "favas".

Next came the questions.



First question - some guy asked about Kevin's beard. Lots of questions about what it's really like being on the show, and about culinary school. I finally thought of a good question - what restaurants have you been to and are you going to while you're here in Chicago? Then the girl before me asked it. Ugh! They said they went to the Publican and Big Star, and that Mike's other favorites here in town are Spiaggia and Blackbird.

I ended up asking what they like to make at home when they're not working. Mike said nothing, his wife cooks. Kevin said he likes to make a plan to go out to eat. Ok then.... But then Kevin said he likes to make really classic southern food that his granny used to make and that's hard to find anywhere these days.

Another question - what are the best foods to buy organic? Both answered - everything. There are a few things where there's not much difference, for example onions. But really everything, especially meat, is better organic. And what would they eat for their last meals? Kevin said bbq, Mike said a bacon cheeseburger with everything on it and fries. After the demo they signed autographs.



What a fun way to spend an hour on a dreary Friday afternoon! They said the next season of Top Chef is filming right now, so I guess it will start sometime late summer or fall, not sure. And the Top Chef Tour still has lots of cities to visit so check out the website. FYI - Kevin's restaurant is Woodfire Grill in Atlanta, and Mike's restaurant is Zaytinya in Washington, DC.