Stephanie Izard never had anything to prove to Chicago. Long before she conquered Top Chef, she was mistress of her domain at Bucktown’s Scylla. Still, during the interminable two-year wait between her Season Four win and the opening of Girl & the Goat, she rode the rapids of a relentless if entertaining hype stream punctuated by tweets, blog posts, and innumerable public events. And unless you were lucky enough to score tickets to one of her well-publicized “underground” dinners (or to bear witness as a member of the city’s increasingly compromised food media), word of them only served to heighten the anxiety: would Steph really pull it off?
Unorthodox but not offputting combinations are Izard’s thing: shaved root vegetables and blueberries in anchovy-buttermilk dressing, chicken with fermented black bean sauce and watermelon, smoked goat pizza with sour cherries, grilled lamb and avocado with tart pistachio sauce. She’s particularly fond of mammalian garnishes on fish dishes; a hiramasa crudo sprinkled with crispy lardons and drizzled with Peruvian chile aioli was one of the most delicate things I put in my mouth. Most everything else was simply and appealingly arranged: a crispy soft-shell crab dug itself out of a pile of sweet chile-lime corn that trumped the overpriced elotes so many restaurants were upselling this summer. Snails and goat meatballs with romesco and bagna cauda nestled in a crock. Shisito pepper roulette (one in ten will burn your face off) played out in a bowl, drizzled with creamy Parmesan-miso sauce. Clams and sausage in a tureen of thin cream sauce with just a few lonely strands of linguine was my biggest regret—not just oversauced but oversalted. I could have ordered more meat.
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You might think Chikurin Sushi & Asian Cuisine sounds like just another ho-hum pan-Asian restaurant, but this sleek Bucktown newcomer has some surprises in store. Piquant ma po tofu was as good as most versions I’ve had in Chinatown, and Mongolian beef made with very tender meat surpassed many. Pork wasn’t a protein choice for moo shu, and chicken couldn’t compare, but the filling had the rest of the right stuff, and the pancakes were properly thin. With a touch more curry flavor, Singapore noodles with barbecued pork and jumbo shrimp could become my favorite late-night snack.
Italian cuisine hews strongly to tradition, and any variation can cause consternation in the homeland. When I ordered sliced beef with carrot puree once in Italy, an Italian dining companion declared that no countryman of his would ever dream of ordering such a thing. This strict mindset allows traditional recipes to flourish, but doesn’t leave much room for experimentation. But here Lake is free to add Asiago cheese to fish—heresy! Specifically he adds it to linguine diavolo, a spicy pasta dish of shrimp and oysters (mostly shrimp) with lobster essence, where it melts to impart a subtle, slippery texture to the perfectly al dente linguine without being gooey.
Girl & the Goat
809 W. Randolph, 312-492-6262girlandthegoat.com
Chikurin Sushi & Asian Cuisine
1811 W. North, Ste. 103, 773-252-8880
Pensiero Ristorante 1544 Oak, Evanston, 847-475-7779pensieroitalian.com
