Little Goat Diner

After trying Girl and the Goat a couple of times in the past.  We wanted to try the more casual sister restaurant, Little Goat Diner. Little Goat Diner is located just across the street from Girl and the Goat and you don't need to make reservations months in advance; in fact they do no take reservations at all.  We went on a week night and walked right in. Exactly as its name implies, Little Goat Diner is a diner-esque restaurant with upscale comfort food dishes and they serve breakfast all day.

Crab Dip Appetizer

We ordered a crap dip appetizer which was  a cheesy crab dip with crackers.  The dip was great but we could have used a few more crackers because even with putting quite generous portions of the dip on each cracker we still didn't have enough.  We ended up spooning the remainder into our mouths by itself.

We tried one of the breakfast items, the Fat Elvis Waffle.  It was a waffle with whipped peanut butter-butter, bananas, maple syrup and bacon bits.  Nick was cautious about this dish but it was really great combining all of these fun flavors.  The peanut butter was lighter and didn't weigh down the dish and the bacon bits offset the super sweet maple syrup so you could appreciate all of the flavors. Natalie would love to try to repeat this at home.

Fat Elvis Waffle

Tonkatsu sandwich - a breaded pork cutlet, with Asian slaw and sauce.  Several of the dishes on the menu had a Korean flair which included kimchi, but Nick didn't want kimchi so we found this dish as a compromise.  It was tasty and the pork was tender.  There could have been a little more sauce with the sandwich.

Tonkatsu sandwich

In addition to the diner, there is an attached coffeehouse and bakery where you can buy bread.  It was closed when we got there (it closes at 6pm on weekday), but we had gone there a few weeks ago to pick up bread before we went to Anna's Asian Bistro around the corner.  We bought 2 unique loaves of bread - one with peanut butter in it and another with Gouda and bacon. They also sell bagels and recently have sold re-creations of wedding cake served at Stepanie Izard's (the chef and owner) wedding.  We bought pieces of the cake with our loaves of bread - it was an interesting concoction which included chocolate and Cheez Its.

Slice of Wedding Cake

Slice of Wedding Cake

Final thoughts on Little Goat Diner:
Food - good unique diner food but quite different from the Girl and the Goat so don't think you are getting the same experience if you can't get into GATG.
Service - nice, friendly and easy going; they go over daily specials and kept the water glasses full
Atmosphere - hip and trendy for a "diner", but definitely had that diner retro feel to the decore. We got our own booth but there are communal tables and a counter that you can sit at.

Tin Fish

Buffalo Shrimp

We went to dinner at Tin Fish in Tinley Park after seeing it featured on Check Please in October.  Since it is a south suburban location (kind of near where we work), we wanted to check it out.

We tried the following:
Buffalo shrimp appetizer - we got a 1/2 lb of shrimp but it is also comes as a full pound.  The shrimp were super tasty in a unique creamy buffalo sauce.  It had a good tang and heat to it but wasn't too overpowering so you could still taste the fresh shrimp.  The shrimp also came with blue cheese dressing and celery.  We should have gotten the pound of shrimp but then we wouldn't have had room for our entrees.

Cornmeal crusted scallops

Tin Fish features fresh caught fish daily which can be prepared in a variety of styles and sides.  We chose the Red Snapper which was a catch of the day.  We had it cooked with a garlic char glaze and it was served with smashed potatoes. The fish was firm and flaky and held the garlic flavor well.

Red Snapper

We also chose Georges bank scallops which are a regular item on the menu.  We had them prepared with a cornmeal crust and they came with a side of brussel sprouts.  The scallops tasted good.  We chose the cornmeal encrusted style of preparation to try it out, but maybe the scallops may have been more well suited to a different preparation (blackened, grilled, sauteed or garlic char glazed). They were still tasty and unique, but sometimes it is better when the knowledgeable chefs pick the preparation method for dishes.

Final thoughts on Tin Fish:
Food - nice fresh fish, with the choose your own fish/preparation/complement there are many variations that can be tried so you can have a unique experience each time - even with the same type of seafood. We loved the buffalo shrimp.
Service - we went early on a Friday night so it wasn't too busy and we got a lot of attention from our waiter (maybe almost too much attention).
Atmosphere - hip seafood place, but it is located in a strip mall.  From the outside it doesn't look as nice as it does inside.  This restaurant could be good for either a casual or a fancy meal.

Giacamo's

Lasagna

We went to dinner at Giacamo's in Des Plaines.  This restaurant has been featured on both Check Please and Chicago's Best. We made reservations a day in advance and good thing we did because it has a smaller interior and there was an event happening in one room.

Mushroom Soup

Salad

We didn't order any appetizers because we saw the entree portions coming out to the other diners - they are quite large and in fact we took half of both our entrees home with us and we were still stuffed.

The entrees come with a cup of soup or salad.  Nick got the salad and Natalie got mushroom soup.

Entrees:
The lasagna had recently been featured on Chicago's Best so we tried that.  It was a massive piece of lasagna and what they do differently is that they have a layer of polenta in addition to the layers of meat, pasta and cheese.  The polenta gave it a sweet taste that was a bit unique.  We thought it was a good lasagna but not worth the 40 minute drive from our house.

Braciole

For our other entree we had Braciole.  Braciole is beef stuffed with Italian meats and cheeses, covered in tomato sauce.  This is an Italian dish we have never had before so it was interesting and unique for us.  It probably is featured at other Italian restaurants we go to but we never had ordered it before. Nick loved it and if he sees this entree at other places he will try it again.

Final thoughts on Giacamo's:
Food - Good down home Italian fare.  Super large portions so a great value.
Service - We went to Giacamo's on a Saturday night. It was super busy and even with a reservation we had to wait a bit. (We think there was a bit of an "after-mass" effect due to the time we were there on a Saturday night.) We were sat at a table right in the middle of the dining area.  So despite the service being good we felt like we kept getting bumped into by other people getting to their tables.
Atmosphere - family owned restaurant.  Most of the other diners seemed to be regulars. It was very full (elbow to elbow) when we were there.