Chicago Eats: Little Goat Diner
During our recent trip to Chicago, I was hanging with The Pieholes and decided to have lunch at Little Goat Diner.
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This is Top Chef winner Stephanie Izard’s take on the ubiquitous casual diner. It’s across the street from her first restaurant, the stellar Girl and The Goat , in the building that formerly held the modern Chinese restaurant Red Light. Red Light had a clubby feel – dimly lit with dark colors and splashes of red. Little Goat is the exact opposite with it’s beautiful skylight and window booths.
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It’s definitely brighter, airier, and lighter. But while the décor was not as formal or stuffy as Red Light’s and even Girl & The Goat’s, the food was still very serious.
I had the Blue Plate Special– Goat merguez on flatbread with house-made cucumber yogurt sauce.
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It was their take on a gyro and it was soooo good. I can’t really describe the taste of the goat meat – it definitely wasn’t gamey or tough, just different. But it tasted great with the usual merguez flavors of chili pepper and cumin. I probably could’ve eaten a quart of that sauce.
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Here’s what the kids had –
BBQ Pork Sandwich – no surprises here, but rock-solid flavors.
Sloppy Goat – sloppy joe made with goat topped with rosemary slaw. My son said it was the best sandwich he’s ever had. He’s 11, but it was indeed tasty.
BBQ Pork Omelet – topped with fried onions. This a special of the day. I had doubts about the flavor combinations, but it was fantastic.
Smoked Fries – not sure how they accomplished this. Truly magical.
Turtle Pie – cashews, caramel, chocolate cookie crust
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Since I was with the kids, I didn’t get to try some of the more eclectic offerings. I definitely want to go back for these –
Fork Pork Chop – with lemon soy jus, cauliflower, guanciale, kimchi
Crisp shrimp “cocktail” – somen noodle-wrapped shrimp, cocktail sauce, lettuce wraps
Kalbi Beef Ribs – with Thai fried rice, beach mushrooms, crispy onions
The Cheez-It sundae – peanut butter, cheez-its, chocolate, and strawberry ice cream. Sounds weirdly tasty.
And definitely the Goat Almighty – Goat burger, braised beef, bbq pork, pickled jalapeno, salsa verde, onion rings, cheddar
tastingtable.com
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Little Goat is located just west of the Loop, so it’s pretty convenient to get to from hotels and the downtown businesses. We got there around 11:30 on a Friday and were able to get a table right away. We tried to go back for Sunday brunch but the wait was about an hour. Unfortunately, we had to get on the road soon, so we couldn’t stay. But the food is absolutely worth the wait.
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11 comments on “Chicago Eats: Little Goat Diner”
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Looks like a great meal. Those are some very odd menu items. good to hear that their creativity actually works and tastes good.
We bought a cookbook while there and the first thing I made was a soup – just last night. Will elaborate on it more in a post, but she does a lot of really eccentric combinations that have layers upon layers of flavors. It wasn’t as evident at Little Goat, but definitely at her high-end place.
I’m going to have to put this on the list for next time. I tend to avoid the most popular restaurants because I hate waiting forever, but your Friday idea is a good one.
Definitely worth it. I go back to Chicago often and post about restaurants there as much as I can….If you need any other suggestions let me know! or check out the dining guide on the left menu…
this sounds fabulous and i’ll definitely check it out next time i’m in chicago. i am starving now!
I want to goooooo!!!!
Absolutely loved Girl & the Goat, so I’m dying to try this one too. Looks so good!
Stephanie Izard was one of my favorite cheftestants! This food looks absolutely divine! I have an educated guess on how they made the smoked fries–the probably used a “smoking gun”. We have one and you can quickly smoke almost anything. Two words for you: smoked.butter.
Cheez-It sundae?! What? What?!
I sooooooo wanted to try it but got overruled. It’s ur assignment now
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