EXCLUSIVE: The Drunken Goat home revealed!

Stephanie Izard is the executive chef and co-owner of The Drunken Goat, set to open in early 2010. (Photo: Stephanie Izard)


An Ultimate Insider tells us The Drunken Goat—whose official location has been under a cloak of secrecy for four long months—is going into a former manufacturing building at 809-813 W. Randolph St. in the West Loop.

This is the first time a restaurant's gone into the heavy timber venue that's now undergoing a massive makeover to turn it into the glammed-out space everyone's expecting from the team behind it.

That would be past Top Chef winner Stephanie Izard and her partners Rob Katz and Kevin Boehm, best known for their trend-setting projects in Lincoln Park (BOKA, Landmark, Perennial).

We're, of course, expecting The Drunken Goat to be one of the biggest openings in 2010, so look for it when it debuts sometime in January or February.

Chicago chefs take on Julia Child

In homage to the late, great Julia Child, who's portrayed on the big screen in the upcoming Julie & Julia, the chefs over at BOKA and Perennial have recreated recipes right out of one of her cookbooks.

The Milanese-born Giuseppe Tentori (BOKA) met Child while working at Charlie Trotter's, and was enamored with her passion for cooking. Through Aug. 7, he's serving the recipe for Steak au Poivre, which comes from her Mastering the Art of French Cooking cookbook. He says, "She took what was once viewed as hoity toity French cuisine, and made it palatable to 'meat and potatoes' Americans." The dish costs $31.

Perennial's Ryan Poli first experienced the Cherry Clafouti Tart when he was working pastries at the famed Le Francais in Wheeling, Ill. When legendary chef Jean Banchet came to Poli one day with cherries, requesting he make a clafouti as a special the next evening, Poli had no idea what the dish was. So he immediately hit the cookbooks searching for clafouti. "It was Julia Child who had the recipe for me," he said, "so I thought a great way to honor her was to run a dessert she basically taught me." The cherry clafouti tart, at $8, also comes from Mastering the Art of French Cooking and is on the menu until Aug. 7.

Jamie Foxx hits up Roof and Sunda!

We've heard all about the crazy late-night antics of talented funnyman Jamie Foxx, but that wasn't the case Tuesday at Sunda, where we hear he was a perfect gentleman to the staff and customers:

"He was taking photos with a lot of the diners and a bunch of kids who were waiting outside for him," said our Ultimate Insider.

After a late night of wining and dining at Sunda, Foxx and friends took off for sky-high hot spot Roof, at theWit, and hung out for a few hours. Executive Chef Todd Stein said he was "nothing but great to the staff."