Goatober 2026 may be coming to an end, but Chef Nicole Brisson isn’t quite ready to stop celebrating one of her favorite proteins.
On Thursday, November 5, Brisson and Brezza Chef Kyle Johnson will host a Goatober Grand Finale at the Resorts World restaurant, featuring an assortment of goat dishes, specialty cheeses and drinks. The three-hour event will give guests one last chance to join a month-long culinary movement that promotes goat meat and the American farmers who raise the animals.
Launched in 2011 by Heritage Foods USA, Goatober began as an effort to create a market for male goats born on dairy farms. Female goats are valued for the milk used to produce cheese. Obviously, male goats are not. The answer is human consumption – if only people would realize how tasty they are.
Enter Goatober – a movement within the chef community that encourages consumers to embrace goat as a flavorful, sustainable alternative to more familiar meats, while supporting small American farms.
Brisson has long supported the campaign, incorporating goat dishes into her restaurants’ menus each October. This year, she expanded the celebration to both Brezza and her off-Strip restaurant, Amari, offering goat ragù at each.
“I was really impressed with how well it sold at Amari,” Brisson said during a recent interview on the Food and Loathing podcast. “Apparently the neighborhood loves goat.”
She also served goat skewers at the recent Picnic in the Alley event.
To end this year’s promotion, Brisson wanted to do something bigger.
“I wanted to really just do a blowout — a goat blowout at the end,” she said.
Rather than a traditional seated dinner, the November 5 celebration will feature food and beverage stations throughout Brezza, allowing guests to mingle with the chefs while sampling a variety of preparations. The menu includes whole-goat birria with handmade tortillas, salsa roja and traditional accompaniments; goat and farro stew with Castelvetrano olives and mint; and goat ragù cavatelli with orange zest, celery heart and pecorino.
Brisson is also utilizing the entire animal, making goat pâté from the offal (organ meat). She says she’s wanted to do that in previous years, but hasn’t had time to tackle it.
A substantial cheese and antipasti selection will showcase another side of the animal, with fresh and smoked goat cheeses, Pantaleo cheese, grilled vegetables and other accompaniments.
The event will also pay tribute to Anne Saxelby, the influential New York cheesemonger whose advocacy for American artisan cheesemakers and goat dairy farmers helped inspire Goatober. Saxelby died in 2021 at age 40, but her work continues to influence the chefs and farmers who participate in the annual celebration.
“The Goatober Grand Finale is our way of saying thank you to her and to every farmer who keeps that tradition alive,” Brisson said in announcing the event.
Brezza’s Goatober Grand Finale takes place Thursday, November 5, from 6 to 9 p.m. Tickets are $195 per person, including taxes, fees, wine, beer and spirits. Reservations are available at Brezza’s website.
Brezza is located at Resorts World Las Vegas, 3000 S. Las Vegas Blvd.
Hear the full interview with Chef Nicole Brisson on the October 30 episode of the Food and Loathing podcast.
