Something I forgot: Monday January 18th is a holiday. Yay for holiday, boo to tons of Chicagoans having the day off. The wait at Au Cheval was 3 hours. At 1:30 on a Monday. ARGH. They close the kitchen for dinner change over at 3pm, so I was SOL. DOUBLE ARGH.
Luckily, Au Cheval is located on West Randolph, amongst many other fantastic restaurants. I decided to walk down the block and hit a place I have been recommending for years, but had never actually gone.
Little Goat is the sister restaurant to Girl and the Goat, both by Stephanie Izard. I had been to the Girl and the Goat a few years ago for my birthday and had a fantastic experience. I figured the same would apply to Little Goat. I rolled up to a packed house, but there were a couple of seats at the dining counter so I snagged one.
I was greeted warmly by my server, who gave me free coffee as I was sitting really close to the back door (it was 13 degrees in Chicago that day, and that door opened often). She let me know that everything is a la cart, and since I was there kinda late in the game they were out of cinnamon rolls.
I dove into the menu: man oh man. It is a beast. Little Goat is very much upscale diner fare (not unlike my current Minneapolis obsession: Nighthawks). There is all day breakfast, sammiches (yes sammiches), burgers, salads, soups, bakery, and full on entrees. I was so in the mood for a burger, but since I had that Au Cheval burger on my mind, I knew I couldn't do a burger here. It just wouldn't be what I had been thinking about. So I perused the menu, and decided on the tonkatsu sammich and a side of brussels sprouts.
WHOA. Maybe this is the thing with the elevated diner, but the portions are INSANE. The tonkatsu sammich is a giant pork chop, breaded and fried, then drenched in asian bbq, japanese mayo, and a cabbage slaw on thick white bread. It was delicious, but enormous. I could have easily shared this with someone else, I only ate half of it!
The brussels sprouts are done with sliced almonds, a spicy fish sauce (I am pressuming nuoc cham) and crispy onions. Perfectly done, and again SO MUCH FOOD. I will say the half sammich with the sprouts would be a lovely leftovers breakfast with an egg on it.
Now, when I walked into the restaurant the hostess was talking to one of the servers and letting her know what the cake special was for the day. Cheez-it Cake. I AM SORRY, WHAT? Cheez-it CAKE? Okay, there is no way on this earth I am not going to get that. I was super stuffed after that meal, so I got the cake to go so I could share it with Professor Ruiz when I got to his place in South Bend.
Cheez-it cake. An interesting concept, kind of a strange execution. It was basically white cake with chocolate covered Cheez-Its in the middle and on top. The cake was decent, the frosting was fine, but it wasn't much to write home about. Especially for $8 (!!!).
In Summation: Little Goat is a great diner. I would maybe skip dessert and go to Bang Bang for Pie.
I got to South Bend, J and I went to a talk by Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi of the #BlackLivesMatter movement and then went to Blaze for pizza. I took no photos of Blaze, cuz, well, Blaze. It was totally fine. The only one I know of in the Twin Cities in on the U of MN campus REALLY close to Punch, which seems real silly to me.
Next stop: Nashville!
Now Listening:
No comments:
Post a Comment