Fodor's Expert Review Girl & the Goat

Bravo's Top Chef Season 4 champion Stephanie Izard's highly anticipated restaurant lives up to the hype, serving her personal brand of sharable, eclectic plates with seasonal flair. The antithesis of fussy, Girl & the Goat's rustic decor features communal butcher tables, dark antique fixtures, and an open kitchen. Dishes are grouped into straightforward categories—vegetable, fish, and meat—and range from pan-roasted skate cheeks with pecans and romesco sauce to roasted pig's face with tamarind and cilantro sauces. Not surprisingly, goat-centric plates take prominence, including a goat-liver mousse with apple butter, pickled mushroom relish, and crumpets. Desserts are also inventive, like the indulgent bittersweet chocolate cake served à la mode with shiitake-caramel gelato and drizzled toffee crème frâiche.