girl & the goat.

since chef stephanie izard opened girl & the goat in the summer of 2010, it has been one of the hottest restaurants in chicago... so much so that we were only able to get a 5pm reservation on a sunday several weeks in advance. (and when we got there, it was packed!)

so josh and i visited girl & the goat last week.
and let me say... it. was. incredible.

not only is this restaurant naturally accommodating to vegans (with the usual : no cheese, no butter), but chef stephanie izard was also kind enough to create some specialty vegan items for me that weren't on the menu... and send out a couple experimental items we didn't even order. our neighbor patrons asked what our dishes were... twice!

**note : since some of the items weren't on the menu, i'm doing my best job in determining their components.

here's what i had:

a flatbread pizza :
red onion, a bit of hummus, lentils, kalamata olives and water cress.

one word : yum. 
unique toppings are my kind of pizza. 

kohlrabi salad with fennel, toasted almonds, pear and ginger dressing. 

also : yum. it was interesting... i had never had kohlrabi before... and when i saw this, i expected the big slices to taste like apples. not at all! either way, the flavor combo was fantastic.

(also, apologies. can't get this photo to rotate properly... still new to this.)

 chef izard's creation (from what i could deduce) :
masa, frisée, chickpeas and mint salsa.

this was my favorite dish. it was definitely indian inspired -- which was perfect. it contained all of my favorite indian elements... chickpeas à la chana masala, some crispy deliciousness in the form of masa and a new take on the traditional mint chutney (my absolute favorite indian sauce). mmm. perfect! i could eat this all the time.

roasted cauliflower, pickled peppers, pint nuts and mint. 

 cauliflower can either be amazing or super blah in my book. when i lived in spain, my señora once served me a plate of plain steamed cauliflower and said, "it might need some salt" as she handed it over. needless to say, it did need some salt... quite a bit. now this plate of cauliflower was the exact opposite. girl & the goat normally prepares it with butter, but olive oil was used for me. when i say it was the best cauliflower i've ever had, i'm not lying. i loved each wonderful bite.

another specialty creation : tempura veggies with a sweet chili sauce.

 i haven't had tempura in sooo long... so this version definitely hit the spot.

fried crispiness + veggies = mmm. 

funny story : at this point, we had finished eating and were pretty stuffed... but there was still some cauliflower and tempura left... our fantastic waitress, taylor, asked if we wanted to take the rest home... my question : "do people do that here?" as josh rolled his eyes... taylor responded that yes, people frequently take leftovers. so yay! dinner for the next day.

and for dessert : pear sorbet with a bit of jalapeño. 

a perfect finale to the night. super light and very textural for sorbet (if that makes sense). 

girl & the goat was, in one word, amazing. i'm very much looking forward to another trip.