6 questions for Stephanie Izard

Breaking news: “Top Chef” winner Stephanie Izard makes green bean casserole on Thanksgiving just like the rest of us!

Oh, and there’s more exciting news: Izard’s sharing early details about Drunken Goat, the restaurant she’s opening next year with partners Rob Katz and Kevin Boehm of Boka Restaurant Group (Boka, Landmark, Perennial). She says they’re “leaning toward” a Wicker Park location for the dinner and late-night spot (weekend brunch is also in the plans) but nothing has been finalized.

We dropped her a line to find out more about the restaurant—and snuck in a couple of questions about the current season of “Top Chef” and what’s on the menu for Thanksgiving.  

How did you come up with the name, Drunken Goat?

It all started with my last name, Izard, which is a type of mountain goat that resides in the Pyrenees Mountains. Take that with my love of cheese—drunken goat being a Spanish goat cheese—and my love of great beer and wine and the name just came to be.

Tell us a little more about the place. What kind of food will you be doing?

The atmosphere and menu are meant to be fun and funky—a lively vibe with a menu of shared plates focusing primarily on Spanish and Italian flavors.

Any plans to put a winning “Top Chef” dish or two on the menu? (A side of braised pistachios with every entree, perhaps? Ted Allen will be there every night!)

I am sure pistachios and other elements of dishes from the show will find their way to the menu from time to time, but I [don’t] think any dish, as a whole, from the show will be on the menu. Things tend to turn out a little different when the pressures of Tom, Padma and the red time clock are not around.

The question everyone will be asking … when will we get to eat there?

It is hard to give an exact date right now, but we are hoping for some time in 2009.

You’re blogging about the new season of “Top Chef” on Bravo’s Web site. Do you have any early predictions for us?

I am leaning toward Stefan and Jamie, but it is way too early to tell.

What are you doing for Thanksgiving—and what’s on the menu?

I am getting together with a bunch of friends for a potluck … not sure what all I am bringing, but green bean casserole with my cream of mushroom soup is a certainty.

-- M. Kathleen Pratt