Girl and The Goat - Chicago

Bread ($4 each): small round loaves served warm

Fat - liver butter, pomegranate marmalade

Ruby Rye - mustard butter, thousand island dressing

Vegetables

Sauteed green beans - fish sauce, cashews ($9) - group favorite and disappeared within minutes

Chickpea fritters - romesco, hazelnut hummus, goat feta ($11) - yummy little square donuts of chickpeas

Butternut Squash ravioli - mushroom raisin ragout, shroom creme fraiche ($13) - more like leaflets of pasta
Sweet potato gratin - rogue river smokey blue ($12)

Fish

Lamb sausage stuffed calamari - sweet garlic, sweetbread crisp, currant ($15) - very large calamari stuffed with lamb, it would have been easy to finish off a second order

Sauteed cod cheeks - mushrooms, garlic crunch ($16) - generous and tender cheeks

Escargot ravioli - tamarind sauce ($15) - didn't have much flavor

Meat

Braised Beef Tongue - Salsa Verded ($14) - very tender

Grilled Pork Ribs - scallion vinagrette - excellent and tender, the meat fell of the bone and the flavor was slightly sweet, and this was the group's favorite

Grilled Goat T-bones - salsify, sausage sauce ($17) - very mild flavor and tender, tasted like lamb

Grilled Bison Butt - veal sausage, black trumpets ($22) - also very tender and mild, great alternative to beef

Dessert ($8 each):
Bourbon apples - cranberry, miso marcona almond, maple fat gelato - layered in a jar

Bittersweet chocolate - shitake gelato, toffee creme fraiche - typical chocolate cake

Sesame semifreddo - pork fat donuts, sambal pineapple - excellent little fried pillows with a hint of pork flavor

Blood orange sorbet - parsnip pot de creme, pistachio cake, three sisters cornmeal crust - nice flavor

The overall decor was warm although it was a cavernous, industrious space.

Happy in Havana

Well, I was actually at Happy Hour in Havana NYC...a cuban restaurant in NYC's Midtown area near Bryant Park at 27 West 38th Street.

Weeknights between 3-7pm is Half Price Happy Hour. Specialty drinks and food are half priced.

"J" and I both a Margarita (each regularly $12, HH $6). Then we shared 3 appetizers:

Calamares Fritos – Fried Calamari with a Caribbean Cocktail Sauce (reg $12, HH $6)
Tri of Empanadas: lobster, beef, spinach & cheese (reg 3 for $10; HH $5)
Tostones Camarones – Shrimp in Garlic Sauce with green plaintains (reg $12, HH $6).

The drinks were weak, but the food was good although they served cocktail sauce with the calamari.