Being a huge fan of Top Chef, Stephanie Izzard was my fav top chef winner and I have been wanting to come here ever since I have heard that Stephanie was opening a restaurant here in Chicago. My BF had told me a week ago that he had wanted to take me somewhere for dinner on Sunday night as a surprise. Since I knew that it takes about three months to get a reservation here I did not expect that we would be coming here. (I have checked with the online reservation site myself a couple times so I know that you have to look about three months in advance if you want reservations at a reasonable dinner time.) It turns out he made reservations in October! I was so shell shocked that we actually had reservations at the G&G, I could barely answer when the hostess asked us if we wanted to check in our coats.
For how crowded the restaurant was, we were actually seated right on time. We got there at 6:40, my BF reservations were at 6:45. We got a drink at the bar and were promptly seated. I was still in shock so I spent those five minutes willing my brain to realize we were actually at the Girl and the Goat! On our way to our table, the hostess wished us a great dinner which I thought was nice. (I was still too busy smilling like an idiot since I was amazed we were here!)
Here is what we ordered:
Lamb sausage stuffed calamari - interesting take on this dish, I thought it was pretty good, the lamb felt a little try but ground lamb does tends to be a little on the dry side. I thought it was delicious still!
Escargo meatballs - My BF loved this dish. I agree as well. The meatballs are so flavorful. I couldn't really taste the escargo but I could have eaten just the meatballs for dinner. Plus the meatballs came with these chinese long greenbeans that I love!
Goat liver mousse - I wanted to get something with goat since we were at the Girl and the Goat and figured this would be an interesting dish to try. The waiter also mentioned that the crumpets that came with this dish were homemade and I am a sucker for homemade bread! The goat liver was creamier than the usual pate texture and it tasted more like sausage than liver so I thought it was pretty amazing. Plus it came with little pickled sides that were pretty tasty.
Pig face - I was really expecting this to come...well more face like, but I overheard the waiter telling the table next to us that it is more like a headcheese and it is all grinded up together, cut up into patties and fried. It came with a fried egg on top, and the combination of the egg yolk and crispy pork...I mean you can't go wrong right?
For dessert, we ordered the blood orange sorbet. I am not usually a sorbet girl, but the combination of flavors in this dish, the orange sorbet with pistachio cake and crunchy savory parsnip crisps, along with this vanilla like custard pudding went shockingly well together!
A view of the little kettle that our dessert came in, cute huh?I was so happy that the G&G did not disappoint. When I watch Top Chef, sometimes I wonder how those dishes would taste since they always use the most interesting ingredients and weird combinations. I always think to myself, would that taste good? With the G&G I feel like all of the dishes sounded so interesting and had things I would never have thought would have gone together, but the textures and flavors all come together to make some pretty amazing dishes.
I also really love the decor of the G&G. It is a huge loft space, but still manages to feel homey. It was a lot bigger than I expected and I like that they tried to make as much seating space as possible, yet the place still looks super nice. Service at the G&G is attentive but not overwhelming, prompt and not pushy, so it is the perfect balance.
I am pretty amazed that my BF manage to keep these reservations a secret for so long. Especially since everytime someone brings up this restaurant I am always like I so want to go there! I literally was so shocked I was speechless..and if you know me, that is pretty rare! So BF thanks a ton, that was the best surprise ever!
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