Chicago- DAY 1- Old Town Social and Girl and the Goat

My brother and I arrived in Chicago on Monday afternoon around 3:00 and had no eaten anything all day. We quickly got a cab to the house and walked down the street to find a quick bite to eat.

Luckily, it was 5:00 so all the dinner restaurants were just openin

g. We came across a newer restaurant called the Old Town social whi

ch is (New) American fare. The restaurant itself was really awesome, basicall

y a giant saloon with a huge bar, and tv's coming from the ceiling and the bar.

We were really hungry so we ordered right away because we also had a huge dinner in a few hours.

First thing I ordered were the pretzel bites and pork rilletes.

The pretzel bites were the perfect consistency and went really

well with the accompanied dijon and cheese sauce. The rilletes are essentially spreadable meat on bread and they were also good. A little dry, but flavor was good.

Next I ordered their most popular item, the burger "Their way", wh

ich consisted of a burger with bacon, house aoili and a fried egg.

The burger was pretty good. Probably a little overcooked and I am not totally sold on the fried egg in a burger, but it was certainly passable and looked really good. Th

e extra vinegar ketchup also added another dimension of flavor.

Although we were not planning on dessert, they had a special of Donuts so we felt obligated to order them.

Two hot donuts dipped in cinnamon sugar arrived to the table accompanied by a bourbon creme fraiche. It would be really hard not to like these and they did not disappoint. Absolutely amazing.

After the meal, we decided to go back to the house and get ready

for dinner at the Girl and the Goat.

We took the train for about twenty minutes to the restaurant and right away noticed that all of Chicago may have been inside. The place was absolutely packed and we were quickly seated at a communal table right near the kitchen. The restaurant is basically all small plates and are intended to share. Since one of us was a vegetarian, we decided to each get three dishes which is what the waiter requested.

First order was their fresh baked wheat bread with honeycomb

mb and a banana and bacon whipped butter.

The bread was insanely good. A homemade wheat loaf and when paired with the salty bacon and banana butter with the honeycomb made it one of the best breads I have ever had.

Up next, the server suggested the confit beef tongue so I went with that.

Beef tongue has always been one of my favorite cuts of meat and this did not disappoint. Cooked in its own fat until melt in your mouth tender, the meat was so rich and delicious and the accompanied greens and chips cut down the fatiness of the tongue perfectly.

Up next was one of their signature dishes. A goat, pork and veal sugo over papardalle noodles.

This pasta was cooked to a perfect al dente and the ragu was so rich and flavorful. You could taste all three different types of meat and everything melded so well together. Easily one of the best pastas I have ever had.

The last savory dish I ordered, was the wood oven roasted pig face.

This was basically a more decadent and delicious play on bacon and eggs. It really just tasted like bacon but a thousand times better if that's even possible. Due to my love of pork, this dish was just ridiculously good.

And now for dessert. I got the pork fat donuts with a sesame semifreddo.

The donuts were really great and you could get that hint of pork in every bite. The ice cream was overwhelmingly spicy on its own, but when paired with the pork donuts and pineapple chunks, it was a flavor explosion and was amazing.

Overall, I had very high expectations heading into the Girl and the Goat and it very well exceeded them. Every dish was extremely unique and the flavors were some I have never experienced before. This place is booked months in advance for a reason and now I know why it is up for best new restaurant in America. Can't wait to come back.