Valley Goat, the much-anticipated Bay Area debut restaurant from multi-hyphenate chef and food-world celebrity Stephanie Izard, will open its doors in Sunnyvale on March 31. Izard has been a known quantity in the restaurant world and on Food Network and Bravo for 17 years now, having become the firs t female chef to win Top Chef's fourth season in 2008. Her first Chicago restaurant, Scylla, had opened four years earlier, and she's gone on to open six restaurants with the Boka Restaurant Group, including her original Girl & the Goat in Chicago, a second Girl & the Goat in Los Angeles — where she now lives — and two locations of her Peruvian restaurant Cabra, in Chicago and LA. (The name Izard comes from a mountaingoat in the French Pyranees, hence the inspiration for the names.)Valley Goat, as we first learned last fall, is opening in the new Treehouse Hotel in Sunnyvale, which has just recently opened on the former Sheraton property on North Mathilda Avenue. The restaurant is big, with 250 seats, and the kitchen is anchored by a Josper grill — an enclosed grill that cooks at high temperatures and partially acts as a smoker.New dishes that don't appear on other Goat restaurant menus include a dish of wood-fired eggplant with tahini, carrot hummus and tzatziki; and some pork belly noodles with wood-fired pineapple.You can see the full food and beverage menu here, which showcases Izard's all-over-the-map, global cuisine, and penchant for bold flavor combinations. The wood-fired eggplant, left, and fresh pita bread. Photo by Nick PodrazaThe interior at Valley Goat. Photo by Nick PodrazaGoat makes its way onto this menu only in some goat empanadas, as a starter. Other smaller plates include Izard's signature grilled oysters with sausage butter, and her chickpea fritters with goat yogurt and herb chutney.There are only three dishes listed as "Bigger Plates," and those are a whole, wood-fired branzino with Thai sweet and sour sauce and pickled vegetables; a "sticky pork shank" with pickled cucumber salad; and the aforementioned wood-fired eggplant.Cocktails include a Goat Gibson, featuring fish-sauce brine and Monkey 47 gin; and a mezcal mule featuring passionfruit and Cynar, called the End of the Valley. An Old Fashioned variant called the Goat Fashion, features bourbon, banana liqueur, and cacao bitters.The reservation books are now open for Valley Goat, which will serve lunch and dinner starting Monday, March 31 — see the lunch menu here, under the Lunch tab. And the Sunnyvale Treehouse Hotel also features a Backyard Cafe, and a beer garden as well.Izard, who after Top Chef also achieved the title of Iron Chef on Iron Chef Gauntlet and Iron Chef America, is a fixture these days on the Food Network, appearing as both a competitor and a judge on shows like Guy's Grocery Games, Beat Bobby Flay, and Tournament of Champions — where, this season, she was unfortunately knocked out in the first round by chef Michael Reed. In 2013, she also became a James Beard Award winner, taking home the award for Best Chef: Great Lakes.Previously: Celebrity Chef Stephanie Izard Opening New South Bay Restaurant, Valley GoatTop image: Photo by Nick Podraza for Boka Restaurant Group ...read more read less