Stephanie Izard Chats About Duck Duck Goat On Opening Day

The build up surrounding Stephanie Izard's third restaurant, Duck Duck Goat, has only grew over the last couple months thanks to the fervor of the "Top Chef" alum's fans and media coverage. The general public finally gets their chances today when diners can try the soup dumplings and homemade noodles on Fulton Market.

In prep for today's opening, Izard on Wednesday answered a few questions.

What did you do with the extra time it took to open Duck Duck Goat?

I feel like the fact that it took a little while longer to happen gave us a reason to tweak the food a little more. In six months, we got a better understanding of what we wanted. Everything happens for a reason.

What kind of tweaks did you make?

Just little things. Today we just added a little bit more soup to the soup dumplings because one of my chef friends said it needed more soup.

What's the menu like?

I think it's a combo of things, things we experienced on our trip to China. You'll find things that folks would find more in American Chinatowns. It's a fun hodgepodge of things.

Talk about the noodles.

There's slap noodles, the glass noodles, silver needle noodles. Mung bean noodles, all the noodles are homemade. All the noodles have different textures, and all the dishes are extremely different. I'm expecting people to come in and have a hard time —especially a party of two on their first visit— in making decisions.

What item on the menu will become the fan favorite?

So far, for the past few nights we've hosted mostly industry friends from Boka. But we have an octopus salad...it's chilled with this awesome Chinese peanut sauce.

When will take out start? Before opening, you mentioned the take-out window.

As soon as we're up and running with dinner. In a few weeks.

Reservations are booked through June already. That's familiar to you, given the popularity of The Girl And The Goat. Does this mean it's going to be easier to get a reservation there?

You think about that when you open a restaurant with three restaurants close by, if it will pull people from the other spaces. But they're so different with their own feel.

Congrats on the pregnancy. There's much talk about women facing the challenges of motherhood while working in a restaurant. Do you think you could be a role model for other women?

I hope. I kind of want to in a way. I talk to friends in other business that may not have to work 15-hour days, how are you supposed to do all of this? I think you can do it all.

Duck Duck Goat, open 4:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Thursday and Sunday; open 4:30 p.m. to midnight on Friday and Saturday.