Chef Stephanie Izard Chats With The Ghost About Girl & The Goat (Part One)

Chef Stephanie Izard and the kitchen staff of Girl & the Goat

by Rock ‘n Roll Ghost

Restaurants are a tricky thing to open it would seem.  Back in November of last year when I met with Stephanie Izard in Chicago’s Wicker Park to discuss her restaurant, it had a different name (The Drunken Goat), was a little over two months away from opening and construction had just started.  Nearly eight months later, Izard’s Girl & The Goat opens tonight, Monday, July 12th.  Reservations were opened up at 10 AM and most of the reservations, but not all, were already snatched up for today.

Izard, who first gained fame as the winner of Season 4 of Bravo’s Top Chef series, has kept busy in the interim by continuing her Wandering Goat series, working on an upcoming cookbook with writer Heather Shouse, doing some traveling and a lot of event cooking.  She has also managed to keep a very visible profile by using social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook and her own website, StephanieIzard.com (and now, GirlandTheGoat.com) to promote her events and news on the restaurant.

This isn’t Izard’s first restaurant, however.  Before signing up for Top Chef, she decided to close her popular eatery Scylla (also in Chicago) for a multitude of reasons.  This time around, she chose to work with partners who had more experience than her so that she could concentrate on cooking and her brand.  Working with Rob Katz and Kevin Boehm of Boka Group, Izard has found the right combination of help to ensure success.

As the title indicates, this interview is part one in a planned two-part feature.  Nailing down the phenomenally busy Izard has been hard to do, and now, with the restaurant opened, it is even harder.  I sent over a list of questions to Izard’s publicist to answer when she has a moment and will be publishing those responses as soon as we get them back.

For now, enjoy my initial conversation with the talented and beautiful Chicago chef.  The Ghost has been pushing for her success since first laying eyes on her on Top Chef (and the Ghost has perhaps just the tiniest bit of a crush on her as well – shh…don’t tell Mrs. Ghost) and is very happy that her moment has arrived.  Now all I have to do is get in the damn place and be fed right and proper! (Hint, Hint).  Enjoy!

Girl & the Goat's Stephanie Izard with a little friend

Rock ‘n Roll Ghost: What is the idea behind the restaurant’s look?

Stephanie Izard: We’re going with rustic with a bit of badass for the design.  I love rustic design, but we wanted to bring in a little bit of modern, funky, goat skully-y…a little more in your face while still having that rustic, comfortable feel.

Where are you with the menu?

Stephanie Izard: I have a few things that will for sure be on the menu.  We have a wood burning oven that my partners let me get.  We’re gonna do smoked, braised goat and we did this smoked goat flatbread the other day.  So, the goat bread will just be our house specialty.  We also did some goat sausage stuffed prawns that we did on the grill.  There’s some things we’re playing around with but I change my mind so often…we’ll see.

What’s been the delay in opening?

Stephanie Izard: Anybody that’s ever tried to open a restaurant understands there’s always a delay.  There’s nothing major that’s happening, just general trying to open a restaurant.

You’re going to have a liquor license?

Stephanie Izard: I don’t like opening a restaurant without it.  That, for me, would take away from the experience, because the wine list and the beer list and the cocktail list are going to create a part of the whole experience.

You’re having your own wine made, right?

Stephanie Izard: Yes, I went to Walla Walla and got to do the blending, which was really cool.

From winning Top Chef to now, what was the process of getting to this point?

Stephanie Izard: Unfortunately, the first month after I won, I went to cook in the Hamptons.  It was something I set up before I knew I won.  It was really bad timing, because that month should have been spent planning a website.  When I got back in town I was working with another potential partner for a little while.  Great guy and I love him to death and I’m sure he’ll open a great place some time by himself.  But I wanted to go with people that had more experience than me, rather than less.  Rob and Kevin from the Boka Group had spoken to me way back when I first (started) Scylla, so I decided to go back to them. I told them the whole concept of The Drunken Goat.  I thought that when I said those words they would laugh at me, but they were like ‘we love it’.

Tell me how the Wandering Goat series got started?

Stephanie Izard: I was watching the news one day and there was something about Art Smith, he had appeared somewhere.  Of course there are the Sunday Dinner Clubs and I thought, the Drunken Goat – the goat got drunk and he’s wandering around the city.  It all started coming together.

How do you feel about using Twitter and Facebook as a way to get the word out on what you’re doing?  Do you now enjoy it?  Because at first you seemed a little bit reluctant doing it.

Stephanie Izard: Sometimes it amazes me that I have (so many) followers.  We’re definitely going to embrace it.  I’m going to Twitter from the line.  We’re planning on doing a live camera feed that will be on the internet of the kitchen all the time.  That is your press these days. The more you can let people into the world and let them see what it’s like to actually be a part of the restaurant, the better.

What about the videos on your website for The Tasty Life?  They’re very cool and professional.

Quang Hong's painting "The Girl & the Goat"

Stephanie Izard: I came up with the idea of doing The Tasty Life…I just wanted something from that was totally quirky.  My friend Quang (Hong), who did those paintings on the wall, he drew the little Chef girl and the logo.  His brother (Chi) does animation, so he did the intro.  I’ve learned that I have so many talented friends in my life that are great at doing different things.

Is there something you’d like to do on TV?

Stephanie Izard: I’d love to do (something along the lines of) Dirty Jobs.  Now more than ever, everybody’s going green, everybody’s going local.  A lot of people still don’t know where their food comes from.  They don’t know all the work that goes into getting that food.  I love scallops, but nobody really knows that people actually dive down to get them.

What sort of inspiration have you gained from traveling?

Stephanie Izard: When I travel it’s all about food, or scuba diving.  I’ll go eat at ten restaurants in a day.  When I go to New York, that’s what I do.  When I go back (to Spain) I’ll just go to different areas outside of Barcelona.  And Italy, I’ve never been there, but I have a friend that lives there one month out of every year and he’s going to set up some people for me to meet.

What about scuba diving do you love?

Stephanie Izard: It’s so peaceful to me.  It’s like another world, like you’re in outer space.  When other people see a lobster, they go, ‘ooh pretty’, I go ‘ooh yummy’.  Sort of a different mindset.

What do you do for fun?

Stephanie Izard: I go out to eat a lot.  Eating out is my favorite thing to do.  All I do is eat and drink wine.  Trying to hang out with my friends, because I’m never around.  This year it’s been traveling around, hanging out with Chefs in different cities and going into their kitchens and learning from them and basically cooking.  Cooking, eating and drinking wine are my fun things to do.

When you’re home alone with nothing to do, what do you do?

Stephanie Izard: Mostly, I’m on my computer and recipe testing.  I’m writing a cookbook, too.  With Heather Shouse, she used to write for Time Out magazine and she writes for Food & Wine, also.  I just got a TV.  I want to get into all the shows on Showtime, but I don’t have Showtime. I watch Top Chef each week.  I’ve been watching a show called The Good Wife. I usually watch movies.  And I watch South Park a lot. I’ve been watching the Next Iron Chef, that’s the only other cooking show that I like – the challenges are really intense.

Have you been approached by anyone with promises to turn you into, say, the next Rachel Ray?

Stephanie Izard: As soon as this all happened, I said, I don’t want to be like Rachel Ray.  I guess I would be closer to Jamie Oliver.  He seems really cool.  I would rather be somewhere in between Mario Batali or…I don’t know.  I want to do my own thing.

Stephanie Izard in the Girl & the Goat kitchen

Official Stephanie Izard Website

Official Girl & the Goat Website

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