Las Vegas Weekly

Chefs Stephanie Izard and Rick Moonen team up for a special dinner

Stephanie Izard says she likes making guests “eat pig face and animal tongues” at Girl and the Goat.

Photo: Anthony Tahlier

It was the best thing I ate at Vegas Cochon: a pork face banh mi sandwich, equal parts meaty richness and bright herbs stuffed between chewy bread and handed over with a smile. Chef Stephanie Izard goes through 60 pig heads a week at her Chicago restaurant, Girl and the Goat, so she knows a thing or two about making odd cuts of animal taste disturbingly delicious. If you weren’t convinced by her Top Chef win or her being named one of Food & Wine’s Best New Chefs in 2011, take it from me, the girl’s got skills.

Normally, it’d be tough for Las Vegans to taste those talents. After all, Izard cooks in Chicago, and her restaurant is a notoriously tough reservation. But on January 9, Rick Moonen and RM Seafood are bringing the Midwestern chef to you at a special “Surf & Turf” benefit dinner in support of Three Square and Share Our Strength.

The dinner, which kicks off at 7 p.m. with a cocktail reception, will feature five courses of food direct from the pages of Moonen’s cookbook Fish Without a Doubt and Izard’s Girl in the Kitchen. Each course will be paired with a beer, cocktail or wine, and guests who spring for VIP ticket will take home autographed copies of both books.

Reservations for a limited-seating dinner like this are likely to go fast, so if you’re hungry for what Moonen and Izard are cooking, reserve your spot by calling 632-9300 or emailing Melissa@rmseafood.com with the subject line “SURF & TURF.”