REVIEW: Taco Joint

There is a new taco place that opened up last year called Taco Joint.  The first time I went it was their 2nd week after they opened and my review was just so-so.  I gave it a second chance a few nights ago and boy was I wrong! Not only were the tacos tasty and not dry (which is a problem a lot of tacos have), the margarita’s were deeeeelicious! Honestly one of the best I’ve had in the city. I forgot the name of the drink my date had but it had a smokey quality to it which really brought out an interesting taste to the sweet and salty margarita.

Anyway – onto the food!

Here’s the Al Pastor.

My favorite of the night – ceviche tacos.

Fish Taco! (forgot what kind of fish, but moist and flaky)

A close contender of the ceviche taco… goat. Great spicy flavor.

Saving the best for last… Elotes. SO SO SO darn good. Sweet, salty, spicey, creamy and CORN! Heaven. I would go back just for this.

Ok I lied, this margarita beat the elotes but only by a tad.

Oh, and the service at Taco Joint is awesome – the servers are really happy to be there and they just have fun while they work and it shows.

If you’re in Chicago, go check it out!

REVIEW: Girl and the Goat (Stephanie Izard)

There is one restaurant I always go to when my friends and family from out of town visit me in Chicago: Girl and the Goat, the restaurant by Stephanie Izard, Top Chef winner.  There is always a 2-3 month reservation wait so I make sure I reserve early.  Their menus change every so often but the past few times I have dined out at GATG in the past year, at least half of their menu had the same great dishes (my favorites are pig’s face, green beans, and wood baked oysters)

This time I tried something new: grilled octopus salad and goat empanadas. The octopus salad had the really great charred grilled taste to it, and the goat empanada was one of the crispiest empanadas I’ve tried. The sauce on the empanada was amazing (I wish I knew what it was!)

The only downside to Girl and the Goat is that a lot of their dishes taste a little over salted. After trying 5 dishes or so I felt like my palette was salted out.

P.S. the drinks at GATG are also amazing. I love chartreuse and can never find it often enough but GATG had the perfect minty/basil-y chartreuse cocktail. 🙂