Nic Narrates

Time for another in the Dressing for Dinner series! This time my boyfriend and I had a date night at the long awaited and recently opened restaurant from fourth season Top Chef winner, Stephanie Izard. It’s Dressing for Dinner with Nic at…Girl and the Goat!

The Dress: A Gap sale rack find! The dress is a recent purchase so it may look familiar to some of you, and may even still be available in stores. It’s white linen and a bit more girly than I typically go for in a “Holy floral print and oh crap there’s an actual butterfly on this too? Great. What am I, five years old?” kind of way.

Nevertheless, the dress won me over with its light-weight fabric, empire waist, and beautiful criss-crossing back. I’ve worn it twice now and it’s proven to be the perfect casual but ladylike dress for Ravinia, a day at work (with a cardigan of course), and now dinner. The first time I wore it I instinctively reached for the sides and wouldn’t you know…POCKETS! Don’t you just love that? Finding pockets in a dress you already loved? Jackpot.

I kept the accessories simple this time: just a small charm necklace and comfy sandals. My boyfriend got me the sterling silver charm from a local designer at the Chicago Folk and Roots Festival last month (where we sat in 95 degree heat eating funnel cake and watching America’s Future assualt the man behind the magic that is Puppet Bike).

The shoes are Born Alcala II in tan linen print and are what I have dubbed my “comfy old lady shoes.” Born doesn’t fuck around when it comes to making a good quality comfortable shoe, and while many of their shoes seem pretty fugly to me, I kind of thought these weren’t.

I featured this pair in my “Shoe of the Moment” widget a while back and am tempted to get them in “nero” or “mogano” leather too. They’re that comfortable (though not that cheap: $125 on Zappos). You can’t really tell in the picture (unless you zoom in on my feet and WHY would anyone want to do that because, like, FEET), but my nail polish color this time is “Re-fresh Mint” from China Glaze, which you can get at Ulta but not on their site because apparently they hate you.

The Dinner: Girl and the Goat. From the moment we walked in the door, everyone was friendly and everything SMELLED amazing in that smoked BBQ kind of way. The space is dark with exposed wooden beams, many of which are burned to a blackened sheen, and the back wall of the restaurant is open to the kitchen where you might catch a glimpse of Ms. Izard checking each and every dish. Once at our table (with a “chopping block” looking tabletop) we settled in for a parade of “small” plates…

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The Verdict: We’ve already made reservations for November!

Like I told Stephanie, (that’s right! I got to meet her and tell her how awesome she is and then I even hugged her and got a picture with her because I’m a big weirdo I guess) the food is just really, really good. You don’t sit there wondering “Am I eating this correctly?” You just dig in and stuff your face because everything is so damn tasty.

In fact, some of what we ordered didn’t even make it to being photographed: the “fat” bread (which I didn’t care for personally- the butter is more like a liver mousse- but the boy quite enjoyed it) and our dessert. We ordered the “fudgecicle” dessert and I immediately started in on it, completely forgetting that you would be wanting to see the pretty little bowl of olive oil gelato, chocolate, and “dragon’s milk.”

I’ve already found four additional items I’d order on a return visit (black olive mezzelune, seared scallops, seared summer flounder, and ham frites) but I know the menu will have already changed by then. Can’t wait to see what she comes up with!

If you’re interested in trying Girl and the Goat, make reservations now. I made ours using OpenTable within a week of the restaurant opening and got the day and time I wanted (three weeks out). They’re definitely busier now, but it’s worth the wait and the price is reasonable (estimate $130-150 for two people inclusive of drinks, dessert, and gratuity).  And, like the food, you’ll find the dress to be laid back too…jeans, mandals, and of course, sundresses were in abundance- don’t forget to wear yours!

Filed under: a thing of beauty, awesomeness, city encounters, dressing for dinner, fanciness, i heart fashion, shoes by Nic