Stephanie Izard knows how to keep the buzz going.

It's been two years since the Top Chef-winning chef whetted everyone's appetite with plans for her own restaurant. It was going to open last spring. It was going to open in January. It was going to be called The Drunken Goat.

Delays are par for the course in the restaurant world. But rather than fade into the background while mucking through all the red tape, Izard has smartly kept herself very much in the scene, cooking at various charity events and trade shows, holding "Wandering Goat" dinners and so on.

And so, The Girl and the Goat, as it has been re-christened, is opening -- really, truly, Izard says -- in mid-June on West Randolph. And Izard isn't yet done building up the anticipation.

Her latest promotion is a button giveaway. She has 1,000 of these cute little goat buttons, each numbered on the back, that she's already started giving away. On May 24, she'll draw 25 numbers and post them on her site. Those winners (and their plus-ones) will get to eat at a preview dinner before the restaurant's opening.

Izard will be handing out buttons at 11:30 a.m. Saturday at the Green City Market, and at her 11:30 a.m. Demo on May 22 at the 61st Street farmers market.

Two other ways to finagle a button: buy local products (Milk & Honey granola, Three Floyds Beer, Prairie Fruits Farm cheese, etc) at Whole Foods, 1550 N. Kingsbury, Saturday through May 22 (bring your receipt to customer service), or buy a local beer at Rootstock, 954 N. California, and a button is yours.