Michigan Avenue - Niche Media - Michigan Avenue magazine is a luxury lifestyle magazine centered around Chicago’s finest people, events, fashion, health & beauty, fine dining & more!
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THIS MONTH: YOUTH IS SERVED RIGHT: Follow the sign for Stumptown coffee and fresh pastries. the little goat that could STEPHANIE IZARD'S NEW SPOT PROVES THAT GOOD THINGS DON'T JUST COME IN SMALL PACKAGES. BY ARI BENDERSKY the shuttered Red Light space became available at 820 West Randolph Street, offering a more sizable opportunity. "We saw the space and thought, We could do the diner and the bakery," she admits. "Now I love all the different parts. It's like a whole Little Goat village." So the plan evolved, growing to include Little Goat Bread (or Bar), along with a modern, lightdrenched second-level kitchen with an outdoor roof deck for private events and classes. Now the place serves dinner, too. And despite all the space—the dining room holds 120 with room for roughly 65 more upstairs—the people still wait. Good things come to those who stick around—lots of things, actually. The menu is stuffed with more than 75 items that hit every category from morning to late night. "There's something for everyone," Izard boasts. "You can come here five nights a week and get something different each time." So whether you pop in at 7 AM before work (or continued on page 72 —STEPHANIE IZARD t's 6:30 on a Thursday evening and every table at Little Goat—as well as all the stools at the counter facing the bustling open kitchen—is full. About 20 people linger across from the host podium beneath a rounded tufted leather wall surrounding the revolving-door entrance. Through the dining room and into Little Goat Bread (which at night may as well be called Little Goat Bar), about 40 more people happily quaff pints of craft beer and bourbon cocktails. Everyone waits to get a seat at Stephanie Izard's new spot. The same scene plays out directly across the street at Izard's original restaurant, Girl & the Goat. So if you thought the new kid on the block would steal thunder away from her older sib, you'd be wrong. And either way, you'd still be waiting. Little Goat was meant to be just that. When Izard and her partners, Kevin Boehm and Rob Katz, discussed the follow-up to Girl & the Goat (affectionately known by the team as the "big goat"), they envisioned "a bakery to do breakfast, maybe lunch," says Izard. But then "Now I love all the different parts. It's like a whole Little Goat village." 70 PHOTOGRAPHY BY NATHAN KIRKMAN I FAR LEFT: Stephanie Izard expands her Goat empire with a bakery, bar, and restaurant in one at Little Goat (ABOVE). MICHIGANAVEMAG.COM 070-072_MA_Flavor_FlavorOfTheMonth_MayJune13.indd 70 4/16/13 10:38 AM