Road Tips

Bumpa's - Charleston, SC

One evening during our stay in Charleston, my wife and I decided we needed a good ol' cheeseburger.  We did some checking on line to find who had a good burger in the city and we decided to go to an Irish pub that was located in the city's French Quarter, a family-owned place by the name of Bumpa's.  

Dan and Conor Sullivan grew up in Pittsburgh watching Cheers on Thursday nights.  They loved the fictional Boston bar and especially liked the bar's proprietor Sam Malone.  Dan Sullivan was the first one who said to his brother a number of years ago, "We're going to open a bar someday."  

As the brothers grew older, the talk about running their own bar became more serious. Both had gone into the corporate world after getting out of college.  But when they would get together at family gatherings they both worked on food menus their dream bar would serve.  After 10 years of prodding by his brother, Dan moved to Charleston in 2019 to look for a place they could use for their Irish pub.  

After finding a spot that was originally a warehouse built around 1830, the Sullivans hired a team of renovation experts to do a complete overhaul of the building.  The renovation took about 10 months from start to finish, but during the process the contractor discovered the original windows of the building that had been buried under layers of brick.  The building was completely stripped down to the original brick walls before the revisions began to turn the building into an Irish pub.  

Naming the Irish pub was a no brainer to the Sullivan brothers.  They named it after their paternal grandfather who was given the name of "Bumpa" by a cousin of the Sullivans.  The Sullivan's grandfather was a playful guy, a great story teller, and - according to Dan and Conor - a pretty good boxer.  

Nearing the opening date, Conor had moved down to Charleston, but kept his sales job.  The staff had been hired and were on board after training.  Their projected opening date was going to be March 17, 2020 - St. Patrick's Day.  Then - of course - the world stopped.  

During the early months of the pandemic, the Sullivans continued to pay their staff and gave them homework for the restaurant.  Other restaurants in the area worked with one another as support to keep everyone from going under while they couldn't be open to the public.  By May, to-go orders were allowed to help restaurants sustain some sort of business during the early throes of the pandemic, and by mid-June restaurants in South Carolina were allowed to open with distanced dining.  Bumpa's finally opened on June 22, 2020.  

Parking can be a pain in downtown Charleston, especially in the French Quarter, so we took an Uber from our hotel down to Bumpa's.  The driver let us off at the corner of E. Bay St. and Cumberland and we walked a few steps up Cumberland to the front door of Bumpa's.  (see map)  

Just inside Bumpa's, we found a refurbished space where the builders tried to stay true the original architecture.  The wooden ceiling slats gave the pub a rustic atmosphere.  There was an interesting mix of people sitting at the bar where just one television hung on the back bar.   Prominently displayed on an exposed brick wall near the bar was a portrait of the original "Bumpa" - Dan and Conor Sullivan's grandfather. 

We were seated at a high top table along a side part of the bar that had some booths.  After we had menus dropped off, our server came over to greet us.  Her name was Kassidy and she informed us a few moments later that she was a little uncertain about something we asked her about on the menu as it was just her 3rd day on the job.  But she actually did a good job while we were there.  

Looking over the drink menu, they had a number of specialty drinks and a list of beers on tap and in bottles.  Many of the beers they had on tap were from South Carolina breweries, but they also had beers such as Guinness, Pacifico and Miller High Life available on tap.  I ended up getting a Pixels hazy IPA from Seminar Brewing in Florence, SC.  

My wife ended up getting a Malibu rum with pineapple juice and a shot of Jaegermeister.  I sort of recoiled in mock horror when she ordered the drink.  "Hey," she said in a matter-of-fact manner.  "I'm on vacation, dammit!"  

We had pretty much made up our mind that we were going to get burgers for dinner, but the menu at Bumpa's featured some other interesting items such as a fried green tomato appetizer, traditional fish & chips, a crispy chicken breast sandwich, and a beer-braised short rib sandwich.  But the highlighted item at Bumpa's were their fries that I could categorize as poutine on steroids.  

The fries were offered different toppings and sauces, and available in two sizes - a "case" with two toppings included in the price that could be shared between two or three people; and a "keg" with three toppings that could be shared with a larger group.  And the toppings included sauces such as beef gravy (of course!), butter garlic, creamy mustard, barbecue, and truffle oil.  Veggie toppings included sautéed mushrooms, chopped onions, pickled jalapeños and bread & butter pickles, while meat toppings included chili, grilled chicken nuggets, braised short rib, and a spicy Cajun sausage.  Cheese toppings featured a melted beer cheese, parmesan, crumbled blue cheese, and cheddar cheese.  (But, somewhat surprisingly, no cheese curds.)  I got the photo on the right from Bumpa's Instagram page just to see what one of the concoctions would look like.  

Since we both decided on getting burgers before we went to Bumpa's, we stayed true to form with our choices from the menu.  My wife got the Southpaw burger - two smashed patties, topped with Bumpa's secret sauce, pickled red onions, lettuce, tomato, onion and your choice of cheese.  She asked Kassidy if she could substitute a side salad instead of the fries that came with the burger.  Kassidy said there would be an upcharge, but my wife said that was fine.  

I ended up with the bacon cheeseburger with a side of fries.  The burger came with a peppered fried egg and I asked Kassidy if the chef could make it hard.  I don't like the mess of an over-easy fried egg with my burger.  Pickled onions came on the side.  Our burgers were both fine, a bit over-cooked on the patties, but still good.  Bumpa's uses locally-sourced blended-beef for their burgers and grind the beef in-house.  

For what Bumpa's was, it was fine with us.  The restoration of the early 19th century warehouse was extraordinary and really added to the rustic ambiance of the pub.  They had a good list of craft beers and a full bar with a number of specialty drinks, and the burgers we had were good.  And even though it was only her 3rd day on the job, Kassidy was a wonderful server for us that evening.  For a nice little neighborhood pub to hang out at, Bumpa's would be a great place to visit when you're in Charleston.  

 

 

McCarthy's Irish Pub - New York City

In New York for a trade show recently, I had hit it pretty hard the night before and I needed a good greasy cheeseburger to set my stomach right.  I had walked past an Irish pub on my way back and forth between my hotel and the trade show venue and I thought it might be a good place to go there for lunch, plus catch some of the Iowa women's basketball game that was slated to start at 12 noon that day.  I snuck out of the trade show and went across Times Square and ended up at McCarthy's Irish Pub on W. 46th St.  (see map) 

McCarthy's is a relatively new restaurant/bar in the land of multiple Irish pubs in the five boroughs of New York.  It opened in April of 2022 and is owned by a group of investors headed by managing partner Kieran Greene.  A native of Falcarragh on the northwestern coast of Ireland, Greene and his partners are also involved in Gossip, an Irish-American bar located on 9th Ave between W. 49th and W. 50th streets in New York's Hell's Kitchen neighborhood.   

I got into McCarthy's a bit after noon and I was looking around at the long narrow space for a television that might have the Iowa women's basketball game on.  But each television had the Liverpool FC/Manchester City Premier League game on.  And soccer rules over any other sports in most New York City Irish pubs.  While the place wasn't packed, there were enough people who were into the game where I didn't think I could ask someone to change the channel on one TV.  I was able to get the women's basketball game on my DirecTV application on my smartphone, so I sat at the bar and watched it there.  

There were a trio of bartenders working that day.  The main bartender who first approached me had a heavy Irish brogue when he dropped off a menu and asked me what I wanted to drink.  McCarthy's had their own beers on tap - an IPA, an amber and a lager - in addition to the usual suspects of Guinness, Harp and Smithwick's along with about a dozen other beers on tap.  I thought I'd try the McCarthy's IPA and I got a pint of that.  It was OK, but for my second beer I went with Merman IPA from the Coney Island Brewery that was better than the McCarthy's house IPA.  

For food selections at McCarthy's, there were a number of Irish specialties such as Shepherd's Pie, an Irish Beef Stew, fish & chips, bangers & mash, and an Irish chicken curry dish with vegetables and rice in an Irish curry sauce.  Other entrees included a pan-roasted chicken breast, rigatoni pasta in a pesto cream sauce, grilled salmon in a lime/butter sauce, and lobster ravioli in a cream sauce.  Appetizers such as margherita flat bread, fried calamari, beef nachos and chicken wings were also on the menu.  

My stomach was still a bit queasy from too many beers the night before, but I needed something to eat to settle it down.  I figured a burger would be good, but McCarthy's basic burger - an 8 ounce black angus burger with lettuce, tomato, and onion with fries was $19 bucks.  I knew I was in New York City, but I just couldn't see paying $19 bucks for a basic burger.  They had a steak sandwich and a pastrami panini on the menu, but I went back to burgers.  I ended up getting the Gaelic burger with fries.  

The Gaelic burger featured an 8 ounce black angus patty topped with Irish bacon (basically ham or Canadian bacon) with sharp cheddar cheese and sautéed onions on a sesame-seed bun with fries on the side.  The ham/bacon was sort of dried out and the burger was slathered in cheddar cheese so much that it was difficult to taste the flavor in the beef.  The burger was just OK.  Even though I was in the mood for a burger when I ordered it, I really wished I would have gotten something else a couple bites into the burger.  

McCarthy's Irish Pub is one of hundreds of Irish pubs in New York City and it was fine for what it was.  Good beer selection, food was OK, lots of televisions tuned to soccer matches - it was your typical run-of-the-mill Irish pub.  It was really nothing special, but it was also nothing bad.  If you're in the Times Square area and in need of an Irish pub fix, McCarthy's Irish Pub would be a good stop.

Paddy's Public House - Newton, MA

On my first trip back to New England in about 30 years, I was going to be in the Boston suburbs but not in the city.  Before I went out, I told a former colleague of mine who had Boston as part of his territory when we worked together that I would be in the Boston area.  He said, "Nearly every time I went to Boston, I'd stop at this Irish pub west of downtown.  One time, I took (another colleague we worked with) there for lunch and it was so good he wanted to go back for dinner that night.  And we did!"  He was so enthusiastic about the place that I had to check it out when I was in the Boston area recently.  Here's the story of my visit to Paddy's Public House in Newton, MA.  

Curt O'Hara was born in Chicago and eventually found himself in the Boston area in the Coast Guard during the Korean War.  It was there that he met a young lady - Gretchen - whom he eventually married.  Curt O'Hara had previously worked for Sears Roebuck in Chicago and after the two were married they moved back to Chicago.  However, after a year, Gretchen convinced Curt to move back to the Boston area where they settled into the town of Waltham, MA where Gretchen was from.  Curt then took a job at the popular Finnerty's Country Squire restaurant in Wayland, MA in 1954.  Curt continued to work at the restaurant for the next 31 years, eventually becoming the manager of the restaurant.  

Curt brought in some of his sons to help out at the restaurant.  John O'Hara cut his teeth in the restaurant business at Finnerty's as did his younger brother Karl.  John eventually went to college, got his degree and had a job with International Harvester Credit Corporation until the company went out of business in 1985.  Curt O'Hara had always wanted to run his own place and with John and Karl he opened O'Hara's in Newton Highlands later that year.  In 2002, the former Troubadour restaurant in Newton became available and the O'Hara's jumped on the location to open their second restaurant - Paddy's Public House.  It was named after Curt's middle name Patrick (or "Paddy" in Ireland).  

While the names of the two O'Hara family-owned restaurants were different, they were basically the same restaurant.  People used to say the food was better at O'Hara's, or it was better at Paddy's - but the food menus were basically the same between the two places.  While O'Hara's drew in more of a professional crowd from businesses around their area, Paddy's drew more families as it was more in a residential section of Newton.

Pictured right - John and Karl O'Hara.  Picture courtesy Boston Voyager.  

Curt O'Hara had semi-retired from the restaurants in the early 2000's not long after Paddy's Public House had opened, but continued to come in from time to time to play the host and to see regular customers.  Curt O'Hara passed away in 2016 at the age of 84.  

John and Karl O'Hara continued to run both restaurants and oversaw an expansion to O'Hara's in 2012.  However, John O'Hara fell ill a couple years after his father passed and he also passed away in 2018 at the age of 61.  Karl O'Hara continues to oversee the two family owned pubs to this day.  

Years ago, I worked as an independent rep for three or four companies around the greater Boston area.  I was living in Newton, IA at the time and I remember a conversation I had with one of the ladies at one of the companies.  She asked me where I lived and I said, "Newton."  

"Newton," she exclaimed excitedly.  "I live in Newton!"  Well, it took us both a few moments to figure out that she lived in Newton, MA while I was living in Newton, IA.  So, I had wanted to go to Newton, MA at some point and going to Paddy's I got my chance.  

I had stayed up in Nashua, NH the evening before and drove down to Woburn north of Boston for a morning meeting.  I had an afternoon meeting down in Hanover south of Boston so it was almost halfway between the two meetings for me to stop into Paddy's to have lunch.  

Paddy's Public House is on Elm Street in Newton, MA just north of the Mass Turnpike and about a mile east of Interstate 95 just west of Boston (see map).  There is usually parking on the street in front of the restaurant, but they were redoing the sidewalk in front of Paddy's and they had the street down to just one lane with no parking on the west side of the street.  There was a Newton cop in front of the restaurant directing traffic around the workers.  There is a public parking lot just across the street from Paddy's and it cost something like 75 cents per hour to park there.  I ended up parking in there and paying at the kiosk just across from Paddy's.  

The front door was closed off at Paddy's due to the sidewalk work in front of the place, so I was directed by the cop to go to the side door which was the handicap entrance to the restaurant.  Upon entering that door, I found the main dining room with booths along the walls and tables in the middle.  Pictures were hung on the mahogany walls with a low mahogany accented ceiling with recessed lighting.  It was a cozy and comfortable place.    

I decided to go sit at the bar and there were a few people in there just as the noon rush was beginning.  Comfortable high-backed chairs were at the mahogany bar and a few booths were along the wall facing the bar.  After I sat down, I was greeted by Alaina who was bartending that day.  I heard her tell someone that she had gone to another restaurant over 20 years ago and shadowed a waitress on a shift.  "Then they never called me back," she said.  "I came over here and got hired and been here ever since!" 

Alaina dropped off a menu for me and asked me what I wanted to drink.  They had a full bar as well as a number of domestic and craft beers on tap.  I had a meeting later in the afternoon so I thought having a beer wouldn't be that bad.  They had a Clown Candy hazy IPA from Fam's Brewing Company (ironically out of Charleston, SC) on tap and I had a pint of that.  

My former colleague raved about the clam chowder at Paddy's when he was telling me about the place.  I started out with a bowl of the clam chowder.  Since it had been over 30 years since I'd been to Boston, I really hadn't had good New England-style fresh clam chowder for years.  This was very good. The clams were big and meaty, and the creamy broth with potato chunks was simply tasty.  It was a great start to what I hoped would be a good lunch.  

Looking through the menu, I found a number of things that I found interesting.  They had pan-seared haddock tacos with a sweet corn and black bean salsa, greens and a chipotle sauce on grilled flour tortillas.   The grilled blackened shrimp tacos also caught my eye as they were topped with a mango pico de gallo and a lime sour cream drizzle.  They had sautéed chicken curry medallions on the menu, as well as a Shepherd's pie.  Handheld offerings included burgers such as the Montreal burger which was seasoned with Montreal steak seasoning and topped with cheddar cheese and applewood smoked bacon.  A grilled reuben was on the menu as well as a tuna salad sandwich that was served on multi-grain bread.  I truly considered each one of those items on the menu.  

But in the end I got the O'Brien's sandwich - pastrami steamed in Guinness beer, topped with Swiss chees, sautéed onions, and a creamy horseradish sauce served on a roll.  I was a little leery as to what constituted a roll at Paddy's, but I was pleasantly surprised that it was a soft roll - more of a soft bun.  And it was piled high with the braised pastrami that was tender and fall-apart stringy.  And I mean it was piled high.  Bread and butter pickles came on the side.  I had a choice of either French fries or onion rings.  I couldn't really make up my mind and Alaina offered me a half-and-half of the fries and onion rings.  The fries were good, but the onion rings were better. 

The sandwich was delicious.  The pastrami was tender and was so flavorful.  There wasn't much of a horseradish flavor from the cream sauce, and the Swiss cheese was more of an afterthought.  But I didn't care - the pastrami was some of the finest I had ever tasted.  (I'm going to have to smoke a brisket at some point and then braise it in Guinness.)  It was a great sandwich.  

My friend didn't steer me wrong - Paddy's Public House was as good as advertised.  The pastrami sandwich was one of the better ones that I ever had, and the house-made clam chowder was also outstanding.  Alaina was a great server/bartender and I thought Paddy's would be just a great place to hang for more than just a meal.  I don't know how often I'll be back in the Boston area, but I found enough on the menu to make me want to go back to Paddy's to try something else.  There has to be hundreds of Irish bars/pubs in the greater Boston area but I don't know if many are much better than Paddy's Public House.  

The Playwright Irish Pub - New York City

When I was in New York City, there was still a lot of college basketball to be played and I was hoping to be able to watch some of the Iowa women's basketball game one night.  The University of Iowa I-Club has a number of chapters around the United States and I looked up on their web site to see if there were any Iowa game watch sites in New York City.  It turned out that there was an Irish pub about 10 blocks from my hotel that was a game watch site.  I would have walked to the restaurant, but it was spitting rain and rather cool out.  So, I took an Uber down to The Playwright Irish Pub on W. 35th Street between 5th and 6th avenues in Manhattan.  (see map) 

Frank Dwyer was born and raised in County Leitrim in the northern part of Ireland.  At the age of 19, he immigrated to the U.S. and settled in New York City working as a carpenter in building construction and renovations.  For the next 20-plus years Dwyer worked on a number of bars and restaurants in various places across New York City.  By the time he was in his early 40's, he decided that he'd rather run his own restaurant/pub that build them.  

Dwyer had just finished building two pubs for Pete Fitzpatrick near Times Square - McGee's Pub and Connolly's.  Dwyer let Fitzpatrick know that he was interested in having his own pub and the last restaurant he built for Fitzpatrick was going to be his first restaurant as a co-owner of a tavern/restaurant.  In 1995, Fitzpatrick and Dwyer opened the first Playwright Tavern and Restaurant at the corner of W. 49th Street and 7th Avenue.  Three years later, the two opened a second Playwright Tavern on 8th Avenue between 45th and 46th Streets.

From there, Dwyer and Fitzpatrick opened a number of other pubs and restaurants in New York - Jack Demsey's, McHale's, another Connolly's location, Legends, and Hurley's Saloon just to name a few.  Dwyer and Fitzpatrick also own a hotel near Times Square, as well as restaurants/pubs in New Orleans and West Palm Beach, FL.  And around the turn of the millennium, they opened their third Playwright Irish Pub on W. 35th St.  

My Uber driver pulled up in front of the restaurant/pub with a red facade situated underneath a series of scaffolds that seem to be omnipresent in New York City.  Walking into the bar, I found a two story facility with a packed downstairs bar area.  It was definitely an Irish/sports bar with multiple televisions on the wall behind the bar.  

In the back of the downstairs bar area was a smaller room with a low ceiling that was even more packed with Iowa fans getting ready to watch the Hawkeyes women's game.  There was no place to sit and I didn't feel like standing for the next two-plus hours, especially if I wanted something to eat.  I decided to check out the rest of the place.

I ended up heading upstairs and I found a large bar area with more televisions interspersed around the room.  There was a nice dark wood bar along one wall with a number of tables and chairs along the opposite walls.  It was much less crowded upstairs than down, and I ended up seated at the bar in front of a television set.  

The bartender that evening was Michael - at least, that's what I thought he said it was.  He had such a thick and genuine Irish brogue that it was sort of hard to understand him, especially with music by the likes of Republic of Loose, Måneskin and The Lumineers playing in the background.  Michael - I'll call him that - gave me a food menu to look over and he started to change the televisions for the Iowa women's game coming on in a bit. 

I ordered a Smithwick's on tap to start.  It tasted flat, but I ended up drinking it.  Later on, I got a Founders IPA on tap - and that tasted horrible.  I was able to choke it down, but it was pretty bad.  I've had the Founders IPA before and this one didn't taste close to the ones I've had.  Then I got a Goose Island IPA draft - and THAT tasted bad.  I finally said something to Michael and asked him if I could just get a Bud Light they had on tap.  And the Bud Light tasted bad - not because it wasn't a craft beer, but because it just tasted weird.  I figured out later on that they really needed to clean their lines out for the upstairs bar.  

Another couple came and sat down by me.  They were also from Iowa - from Altoona - and they were in New York for a long weekend.  They also wanted to watch the Iowa game and they did the same thing as me - looked up to see where a watch site would be and found The Playwright.  The lady ordered a Corona and her husband followed suit.   I saw that they had a number of bottled beers in an enclosed cooler under the bar.  I had already downed about the equivalent of 3 beers and I saw that they had Bud Light in bottles.  I figured that if I was going to sit there and watch a game, I'd better go to a lighter beer.  

We watched the Iowa women play - they won handily 95-62 over Penn State - and found that we had some friends in common since I grew up in Central Iowa and still had a bunch of friends there.  They were good people to hang with while we watched the game.

After the game finished up, I decided I wanted to get something to eat before I went back to the hotel.  It wasn't an extensive menu, but it had a number of appetizers, sandwiches, burgers, and salads available.  I thought about getting the wings for a moment; the burgers sounded good, but I wasn't in the mood for a burger; and the filet mignon sandwich that sounded more like a Philly cheesesteak sandwich with carved beef tenderloin.  

I got it down to one of two things - the pastrami and Swiss on rye, or the shepherd's pie.  I ended up going with the shepherd's pie.  

It was a traditional Irish casserole with a mixture of ground beef, peas, and carrots in a rich brown gravy topped by ropes of golden brown mashed potatoes on top.  This was the real deal in terms of a shepherds pie.  The dish was hearty and robust in taste.  The mashed potatoes - it looked like they had been placed in a tube and pushed out into little squiggly ropes on top of the ground beef mixed with the veggies and gravy.  This meal was a definite spot-hitter and more than made up for the crappy tasting beer they had on tap.

There are hundreds of Irish pubs in New York City, many of which are combination sports bars/Irish pubs.   And the Playwright Irish Pub didn't really do much of anything to distinguish themselves from any of the other places.  They really needed to clean out their beer lines going up to the second floor bar, but other than that it was a good place to hang out and watch an Iowa women's basketball game.  The shepherd's pie was excellent and the service I had from Micheal was good.  The Playwright Irish Pub was a good place to hang for a couple three hours watching sports and having some pretty good food.  

 

O'Donovan's Irish Pub - Minneapolis

I was staying in downtown Minneapolis earlier this summer as I had an appointment the next morning with a client in the immediate area.   The hotel I was staying at I had never stayed at before and I was sort of curious as to what was close to the hotel to grab something to eat.  There were a few options, but one place that stood out was an authentic Irish bar that had been around for a number of years.  I thought I had eaten there before, but when I walked into the place I realized that I had not.  Here's the story of my visit to O'Donovan's Irish Pub.  

Dermot Cowley was born in Dragheda, County Louth along the northeast coast of Ireland.  As soon as he was old enough, Cowley worked in restaurants near his home.  At the age of 18, he took off for America and got a job as a busboy at Rosie O'Grady's in Times Square in Manhattan.  He worked his way up the ladder and eventually became a bartender at Rosie O'Grady's (which closed earlier this year after 43 years in business).  

Nine months after coming to America, he found himself as a bartender at Smith & Wollensky at 3rd Ave. and 49th St. in Manhattan.  Cowley stayed at Smith & Wollensky for 11 years and while he was there he met a young lady from Minneapolis by the name of Laura Peterson.  Dermot and Laura eventually married and she convinced him to move back to Minneapolis for a change of scenery.  

Dermot Cowley had no problem finding work at an Irish pub on Nicollet Ave. - the Local - where he eventually became the manager.  (I realized after the fact that the Local is the place that I had been to years ago and thought was possibly the same place as Donovan's.)

Pictured right - Dermot Cowley.  Photo courtesy Heavy Table.  

In 1999, the owner of O'Donovan's Irish Pub was looking to get out of the business.  The interior of O'Donovan's was all imported from Ireland down to the tin ceiling panels and many of the light fixtures.  Cowley thought it was time for him to take the plunge into restaurant ownership.  He purchased O'Donovan's and that was the start of his small restaurant empire around the Twin Cities.  In addition to O'Donovan's, Cowley owns Lola's Lakehouse in suburban Waconia.

I got into town around 8:00 p.m. and was looking for a place that was close.  It turned out the O'Donovan's was a block away from the hotel at the corner of N. 1st Ave. and 7th Street, just across from the famed First Avenue nightclub which launched the career of Prince and has hosted a number of other Twin Cities area bands and artists such as The Jayhawks, Hüsker Dü, The Replacements, Soul Asylum, and Lizzo.  (see map)  

Walking into O'Donovan's is like walking into a pub in Ireland.  I've never been to Ireland, but I've been to England and the decor, vibe and ambiance is similar to some of the English pubs I've visited.  A stacked stone fireplace was the centerpiece of the restaurant which was actually a lot bigger than it looked form the outside.  There were two bars in the place (one was closed off as it was a slow night), and a handful of little rooms with various seating options were found throughout the pub.  I have to admit that I liked the place from just looking around before I took a seat to eat and grab a beer.    

I took a seat at the far end of the bar and I literally had my own order window for myself.  At first, I thought it was a server station, but there was a chair and sitting there and I sat down.  It wasn't longer until the bartender by the name of Nigel came over to drop off a food menu.  Nigel was one of those servers who is what I call "neutral".  He was neither welcoming, nor was he standoffish.  You run into those kind of "neutral" people at restaurants from time to time.  They had Smithwick's on tap and I ordered one of those while looking over the menu.  

I found the menu to be somewhat strange at O'Donovan's.  They only had four or five appetizers, a couple of salads that could be eaten as meals, and just a few Irish-style meals such as corned beef, fish and chips, shepherd's pie, and an Atlantic cod sandwich.  They had a burger on the menu, as well as a reuben sandwich, chicken curry with fries, and a grilled rack of lamb that had been marinated in balsamic vinegar.  

I thought about the shepherd's pie, and they also had corned beef and cabbage on the menu.  But I also saw that they had a corned beef poutine - fries topped with slow-cooked corned beef and topped with sautéed onions and a white cheddar cheese sauce.  I thought about it for a moment, then realized that it probably wouldn't have come close to the smoked meat (corned beef) poutine that I had in Montreal a few months ago.  

The only problem is that when I was ready to order, Nigel was nowhere to be found.  They have a patio in front and along the side of O'Donovan's, but there weren't many people sitting out there.  I finally saw Nigel walk in from the outside and I thought that he was probably working as a server for the patio, too.  But then I saw another young lady who was taking care of people on the patio, so I didn't know why he was going outside.  

When Nigel finally came back and hurriedly asked me what I wanted to eat, I told him I would take the third option on the corned beef page - the corned beef sandwich.   From the description on the menu - "Tender thick slices of hot corned beef served on a delicious pretzel roll, with sweet onions and whole grain mustard" - I thought that sounded pretty good.  

And it looked pretty good when it was set down in front of me.  But the first bite into the corned beef sandwich told me otherwise.  

First of all, the toasted pretzel bun was hard and dry.  The corned beef - while thick - was far from tender.  The meat was dry and lacking in flavor.  It was all I could do to choke down the sandwich, having to take a sip of beer with each bite to add some moisture to what I had in my mouth.

And within no time, I needed another beer.  But, once again, Nigel was gone.  I had a clear look at the front door and I noticed he was outside just standing there and talking to a couple people.  It was maddening.  There weren't a lot of people at the bar, but he seemed to be away from his post for an inordinate amount of time.  I had to stop eating the sandwich until I was able to get either another beer or at least some water, it was that dry.  

I will say, however, that the fries were pretty good.  They were the thick type with a crunchy outer shell and that soft, pillowy filling inside.  The fries were the saving grace for the meal.

Nigel finally did come back in and he saw that I had an empty glass.  "Another one," he asked again in a hurried manner.  I nodded my head and he poured another glass of Smithwick's for me.  When he sat the beer down in front of me, he didn't ask how my meal was.  If he did I would have told him this - the corned beef sandwich was one of the worst I had ever had.  The meat was way overcooked, tough and lifeless in taste.  

And that sort of summed up my visit to O'Donovan's.  The corned beef sandwich was subpar and the service wasn't the greatest.  For as much promise I saw in O'Donovan's when I first walked in, the food and service was beyond disappointing.  Maybe it was an off-night, but first impressions count and I certainly wasn't impressed with O'Donovan's on what was my first visit there.  And I probably won't be going back in the future.  

The Dubliner - Kansas City

During a trip to Kansas City earlier this year, I ended up staying downtown near the Power & Light District.  I really hadn't spent much - if any - time in the restaurant and entertainment district that opened its first restaurant over a dozen years ago.  One evening, I decided to walk up to the area to check out some restaurants near the Sprint Center.  Just across the street from the large arena was an Irish bar that caught my eye - The Dubliner.  I decided to go in and see what they had to offer for food.  

When The Cordish Companies - a Baltimore-based developer - proposed a mixed-use area in downtown Kansas City, it was met with civic enthusiasm to help revitalize an area that had gone downhill in the years leading up to the turn of the 21st century.  Named after the famed Kansas City Power & Light building that has stood majestically over downtown Kansas City for nearly 90 years, the Power & Light District became a $5 billion dollar project to bring restaurants, entertainment, housing and office space to a nine-square block area.  The Sprint Center opened in October of 2007 and a month later the first restaurant - McFadden's Sports Saloon - opened in the new Power & Light District.  The Power & Light District was soon filled with a number of national chain restaurants and entertainment venues that helped make downtown Kansas City a destination once again.  

One of the first restaurants that was opened in the Power & Light District was an Irish pub that was literally in the shadow of the Sprint Center - Raglan Road.  The 10,000 square foot restaurant featured two bars that were handcrafted from salvaged materials found in bars in Ireland.  The parent company was from Ireland and had a Raglan Road location in Orlando.  The restaurant - which cost a reported $2 million to build out - featured authentic Irish food and live Celtic music.  

After a couple three years, the new-ness of the Power & Light District began to wane - especially when there were no events at the Sprint Center to continue to bring people to downtown Kansas City.  Occupancy rates of condos that had been built for residents weren't as high as projected as the economy was struggling to get back to pre-2008 levels.  People who worked in downtown Kansas City weren't staying downtown after work.  Business fell off for many of the restaurants and venues.  Raglan Road was one who felt the pinch and they tried to mix things up with adding more types of live music other than Irish bands.  But it was evident that things weren't working and they soon got behind in their lease payments to The Cordish Companies.  

But that was happening to a number of other places in the Power & Light District, as well.  A number of restaurants and venues without major corporate financial backing were forced to file bankruptcy and shut down because they couldn't pay rent to the landlord.  Raglan Road's corporate arm was sued for back rent by The Cordish Companies in the summer of 2011.  But the end of August of that year, the corporation overseeing Raglan Road's operations was forced to declare bankruptcy and they closed the doors on August 31.    

Seeing an opportunity, a local investment group that called themselves Downtown Irish Pub took over the space that Raglan Road had left just months before.  The group reached out to KC Hopps, a local restaurant group that oversaw the operations of O'Dowd's - another Kansas City-area Irish pub - and other restaurants such as Barley's Kitchen & Tap, Blue Moose and the venerable Stroud's to help run the new restaurant.  The newly renamed Dubliner opened in time for the Big 12 men's basketball tournament in March of 2012.  

It was a bumpy 18 months for The Dubliner as they tried to find a niche in the market place.  More condos were being built and more people were living downtown, but The Dubliner was on the virtual far-end of the new high-rises being built in downtown Kansas City.  The group ended their relationship with KC Hopps (even though a couple of the investors with The Dubliner's corporate arm were still associated with KC Hopps) and brought in a new general manager to try and fix things.  More Irish foods were added to the menu, the new manager marketed the place as an Irish bar with something for everything, and business began to stabilize.  The Dubliner has held its own in a crowded restaurant and entertainment market in downtown Kansas City.  

I found The Dubliner at the corner of E. 14th St. and Grand Blvd. across the street from the west entrance to the Sprint Center.  (see map)  The modern brick facade on the building gave way to a front bar area with a lot of dark wood accents.  The front bar - which was dubbed the Whiskey Bar as they feature over 40 different types of Scotch and Irish whiskies - was sort of cluttered up with what appeared to be some sort of a remodel situation going on. 

I made my way through the restaurant and found a larger back area that featured a long bar and a two-tiered dining room.  It was a very ornate room that reminded me more of a German restaurant than an Irish one.  But it was certainly the fanciest Irish pub I'd ever been in.  High-top tables were in the main dining area with high-tops with banquette seats along the wall opposite the bar.  

There was an outdoor patio area at The Dubliner that featured a handful of tables.  The patio was next to a large courtyard that is actually known as KC Live!, the Power & Light District's main entertainment venue.  It's the main hub of a number of bars that face the courtyard that hosts live concerts from national touring acts, parties, and corporate events.  

I ended up going back inside and sitting at the bar.  A small crowd of afterwork people had come into the place, but the place was pretty quiet.  The bartender on duty, Elliott, came over to take my drink order and to drop off a food menu.  I got a Harp lager that they had on tap.

Traditional Irish food at The Dubliner included bangers and mash, shepherd's pie, fish and chips, and a Tipperary stew made with lamb and root vegetables simmered in a red wine.  They had a number of sandwiches and burgers on the menu, as well as a number of salad dishes and appetizers such as poutine (not very Irish, but still good) and fried artichoke hearts.  

For some reason, the corned beef and cabbage sounded good to me.  They also had a Guinness-braised brisket on the menu, but I went with the corned beef.  It featured chunks of corned beef brisket along with chunks of cabbage and sliced root vegetables.  They put a mustard sauce on the corned beef that was actually pretty good.

I didn't concentrate too much on the root veggies, but the cabbage was pretty good.  It didn't have a bitter taste like you can get with some cooked cabbage, and it cut pretty easily.  

However, the corned beef was sort of all over the place.  Some of the chunks of meat were tender and easy to cut - others were tough and very hard to chew.  I had to pull a couple pieces out of my mouth because I knew my teeth weren't going to win the fight.  But the pieces that were edible were actually pretty good.  It was just the ones that weren't that put a damper on the meal.  

My initial reaction upon leaving The Dubliner was one of "eh!"  It was all right, not bad, not great.   The corned beef was just all right. Elliott's service was fine.  It was a nice place with nice surroundings and decor, but I didn't get that intimate Irish pub-type vibe to the place.  I sort of wish I would have gotten something other than the corned beef and cabbage - maybe the Guiness-braised beef or the Tipperary Stew.  But I probably wouldn't search out The Dubliner again unless I was in the immediate area at some point and was looking for some Irish food.  

St. Brendan's Irish Inn & Pub - Green Bay, WI

Up in Green Bay earlier this year, I wanted to find some place unique for dinner.  Years ago, my wife and I went to a very good Irish pub in downtown Green Bay that has since closed up.  But an Irish pub sounded pretty good to me that night.  I did a quick check on the internet to see if there were any Irish pubs in the area and the search immediately took me to the web site for St. Brendan's Inn & Pub.  It was a combination boutique hotel and Irish pub on the Fox River not far from the hotel I was staying at in downtown Green Bay.  It was a cool evening and I decided to make the short drive down the way to St. Brendan's Irish Pub to check the place out.  

St. Brendan's Inn and Pub are part of group of hotels run by Harp & Eagle, Ltd. which is headed by Sheboygan native Cary James "Rip" O'Dwanny.  His first hotel - County Clare Irish Inn & Pub - opened in Milwaukee in 1996.  Other hotel/pub ventures popped up in Plymouth, WI and Kenosha before they bought the site of the old bus depot and public parking area in Green Bay in 2002 and built St. Brendan's Inn and Pub in 2008.

St. Brendan's Inn and Pub was located about six blocks from my hotel.  As I said, it was a somewhat unseasonably cool evening (we had a lot of those in the spring and early summer of this year) and I drove the short distance to the place.  (see map)   I pulled into the parking lot next to the large and stately three-story building that housed the inn and pub.  The entrance to the hotel takes you to a small lobby area, but the pub is off to the right side of the lobby.  

To the left of the lobby was a hallway that took you out to a patio area that looked out onto the Fox River.  It featured a number of metal woven tables and chairs, but it was way too cool of an evening to be sitting on the patio that night.  

The pub is segmented into a dining area and the bar area with a half-wall separating the two.  The dining room featured a wood ceiling with antique light fixtures hanging down.  But the most impressive part of the room were the large stained-glass windows that towered along the walls opposite the bar area.  It was elegant, yet somewhat homey in the dining room.

The bar area was modeled after a typical Irish public house with 15 beers on tap and a full bar featuring Scotch and Irish whiskies.  It was at the bar where I decided to park myself for the evening.  A couple bartenders were working behind the bar and one by the name of Luke asked me what I would like to drink.  I ordered up a Smithwick's to start out.  The other bartender asked me if I was going to dine with them and after answering in the affirmative, he gave me a dinner menu to look over.  

The food at St. Brendan's Pub was a fine offering of Irish culinary favorites - corned beef and cabbage, Shepherd's pie, a Guinness-gravy pot roast, and an Irish stew with braised beef and root vegetables.  They also had pork tenderloin medallions, as well as a lamb shank on the menu.  Sandwiches included a traditional corned beef reuben, a braised pot roast sandwich, a battered cod sandwich, and a black angus beef burger.  I literally had six or seven things that I was considering to have for dinner that night.  

The bar had a pretty sizable lip on the edge.  Just before my food was brought out, one of the bartenders set a plank down that was the same depth as the lip to allow me to bring my food closer.  I thought it was sort of a nice touch considering I've eaten at bars with similar features in the past and it's sort of a hassle to lean so far over to get to your plate that your face is nearly in the food.  

For dinner that night, I got the meat loaf with mashed potatoes and a vegetable combination of grilled Brussels sprouts, carrots, and zucchini.  Now, I broke my own rule of ordering meat loaf when I'm in a restaurant, but the description of the blend of meat they use - veal, beef and pork - was similar to how I make my meat loaf at home.  And my meat loaf is excellent.  But I should have known as this meat loaf was not as good as mine.  

The meat loaf was topped with a gravy sauce made with Worcestershire sauce and caramelized onions.  The gravy was good, but I needed more to go along with the meal.  Luke was able to bring some more out to me and it was needed.  The meat loaf was dry and sort of lifeless.  The mashed potatoes were rather lukewarm and sort of hard.  The Brussels sprouts were very sour in taste.  At least the Harp beer - which I ordered for my second beer - and the gravy kept the entire meal from spiraling out of control.  I was just kicking myself for not listening to my instincts and going with one of the other Irish-style favorites they had to offer.  

I know I ordered the wrong thing on my visit to St. Brendan's Inn and Pub.  The meat loaf was not that good, the mashed potatoes were cool, and the grilled Brussel sprouts were very sour in taste.  I'm sure that anything else I was considering - like the Shepherd's pie, the braised pot roast, or the corned beef and cabbage - would have been significantly better than the meat loaf.  Well, I HOPE that those offerings would be better than the meat loaf I had.  Oh, well.  At least the service and the beer selection was good.  And it was very difficult to beat the authentic Irish-style pub at St. Brendan's Inn.  If I make it back at some point - and I hope I can - I'll try something other than the meatloaf.  

Flannigan's - Coralville, IA

I have some old friends from my time at the University of Iowa that I get together with to grab a burger or sandwich, drink some beer, talk sports and man-gossip, as well as trying to solve all the world's problems over a two hour period three or four times a year.  We've been doing this for years and we had been meeting at a number of different places in the greater Iowa City/Coralville area.  But about three or four years ago, we settled in for our quad-annual gatherings at Flannigan's in Coralville, IA.  One of my friends said, "You know, you should write this place up on your blog."  And he was right.  Flannigan's did deserve a write-up in Road Tips.  

Flannigan's is the bar area for the venerable Iowa River Power Company located next to the Iowa River at the corner of First Avenue and 5th Street in Coralville.  (see map)  Housed in a building that dates back to the turn of the 20th century, the Iowa River Power Company was exactly that for a number of years.  The original dam and building were built in the mid-1840's as a grist mill.  For over 50 years, the mill churned out flour until a fateful day in 1899 when an explosion killed three workers and demolished the building.  The dam was still intact and local officials looked at using the site as a new hydroelectric power plant.  The building was quickly rebuilt and it began to power parts of Iowa City by 1902.   

The power plant was closed in 1968, but the dam remained - and does so to this day.   The building stood empty for about eight years before three local businessmen - Allan Johnson, David Koenig, and Gary Huysman bought the building and surrounding land in 1976.  They renovated the building into a restaurant concept with a great view of the Iowa River and opened the doors in October of 1977.  It quickly became the top restaurant in the Iowa City/Coralville area.  (Although some people may argue that The Lark in nearby Tiffin was the best in the area when it was still in business.)  

In 1988, Huysman and another partner, John Fisher, bought out the financial interests in the restaurant from Johnson and Koenig.  They did a renovation to the restaurant and added on to the main dining room.  By 1996, Fisher had left and Huysman had become the sole owner running the restaurant until declining health forced him to sell the place in 2002.  A young couple by the name of David and Danise Petsel who were running a restaurant in the Quad Cities bought the restaurant and implemented a few changes - including eventually turning the old lounge area into Flannigan's, an Irish-themed bar that, to me, doesn't really seem much like an Irish bar, but more like an upscale sports bar.

The lounge at the Iowa River Power Company was well-known as a haunt for many of the more high profile people in the Iowa City area during my years at the University of Iowa in the early-to-mid 80's.  I'll admit that poured back a few beers in the lounge a few times when I was going to Iowa when I didn't feel like "slumming" in some of my preferred drinking holes such as the Deadwood, Mumm's or The Vine.  It was probably the most classy bar in Iowa City in its hey-day.   

These days, it's sort of more homey than classy in Flannigan's.  After entering the main entrance to the building, you go down a hallway lined with a curious mix of portraits of famous people - like Abraham Lincoln, Clark Gable and Gene Kelly - hung on barn board walls to the inside entrance of Flannigan's.

The restaurant, itself, is big and open with a nice bar area, a step-up level along the walls with booths, and a step-up level in the back with low-top tables.  A D.J. booth is set up in the corner of the back area, but I'm not certain they have any dance music playing there any longer.  As I said, there isn't much of an indication that it's an Irish bar other than the name as there are a number of televisions throughout the place tuned to sporting events.  

Service is always prompt, but very laid back at Flannigan's.  After we got our menus, we ordered up a round of beers.  They have the usual domestic beers on tap as well as a smattering of imports and craft beers available.  The servers that we've had over the years - both young men or women - have always been easy-going in their demeanor and are more than amenable to changing something or adding something to the food orders.  

Most of the food on the menu consists of your standard bar fare - a long list of appetizers including fried pickle spears, chicken wings, jalapeño poppers, and a spinach-artichoke dip with chips are the first things you'll find on the menu.  Sandwiches, burgers, wraps and salads are also a main part of the menu items.  Entrees such as pasta dishes, a top sirloin steak, and a grilled tuna fillet with balsamic vinegar are also on the menu.  But for a more upscale menu, you'll need to go next door to the Power Company.  

The first time that I ate at Flannigan's, I had their Flanburger - a half-pound open flame grilled burger that starts at $8.95 for a basic burger.  From there, you can add cheese, bacon, sautéed mushrooms, fried onions, or a fried egg for an upcharge.  Fries, chips or a baked potato come at no charge as a side, but I always get the onion rings, also for an upcharge.     

Quite honestly, the only thing I've ever ordered at Flannigan's over the past few visits over the last four or five years has been the Flanburger.   It also comes with lettuce, a tomato slice, dill pickles and sliced red onions that are all very fresh.  The bun is light and airy, but stays together very well with everything going on the burger.  It's definitely a multi-napkin burger.  

We all pretty much get the same thing on our visits - the Flanburger.   Oh, maybe once in a while someone in our group has ordered a reuben or a pork tenderloin sandwich, but I honestly can't pinpoint when that would have been. The Flanburger at Flannigan's is thick and flavorful with the Swiss cheese I usually get oozing off the top of the patty with each bite.  The beef is so good with that chargrilled flavor that all the toppings and condiments don't overpower the beef flavor.  

And I like their onion rings at Flannigan's, too.  They have a rich and thick coating over wide-cut onion rings that just seem to melt in your mouth.  They're some of the better onion rings I've come across in my travels.  

There's a lot of good burger joints in the Iowa City/Coralville area, but I'll have to say that - by far - the most underrated of them all is Flannigan's.  I'd put their Flanburger up against all comers in town, I think it's just that good.  But there's other things about Flannigan's that keep us coming back - the good, but laid-back service; the cozy and homey feeling of the place; the good beer selection; and a pretty varied menu that I've never strayed from my choice of their burger on each of my visits.  I always look forward to our group getting together 3 or 4 times a year at Flannigan's, not only for the camaraderie, but for the great Flanburger and onion rings they have.

Seamus McDaniel's - St. Louis

I've been staying near the Clayton/Tamm area in central St. Louis for a number of years, but it's only quite recently that I've made an effort to find interesting places to eat in the neighborhood.  Also known the locals as Dogtown, the neighborhood has long been known as the original Irish enclave in St. Louis.  So, it's only fitting that one of the oldest and more popular Irish pubs in the city is located in the neighborhood - Seamus McDaniel's.  On a trip to St. Louis last fall for a dealer event I was working, I went to Seamus McDaniel's for lunch.  

The building that houses Seamus McDaniel's - which sits just south of the corner of Clayton and Tamm (see map) - dates back to the 1920's.  After Prohibition ended, the spot became a bar and was in business for about 12 years before local politician Jack O'Shea bought the place toward the end of World War II.  O'Shea - a former state legislator in Missouri and a local Democratic Party operative - named the place O'Shea's Shamrock Pub and it became a popular watering hole in the neighborhood and a gathering spot for politicians.  It also became a rather notorious place in the 1950's as O'Shea kept a private poker room in one of the upstairs rooms.  One afternoon, an illegal high-stakes poker game with a number of men playing in the room was busted by St. Louis police officers.  O'Shea, who was downstairs in his bar at the time, along with five men who were unable to flee the room when the cops broke in were arrested.  

O'Shea retired soon after that episode and sold the place to Eddie Brady.  Trying to clean up the image of the place, Brady made the place a more traditional Irish pub and was instrumental in some of the first planned St. Patrick's Day celebrations in the neighborhood.  In 1966, Brady sold the place to novice tavern owner Norman Journey who kept the Jack O'Shea tradition of free corned beef and cabbage on St. Patrick's Day.  

However, in 1983, the Irish pub was sold to two brothers by the name of Burke who overhauled the decor in the place, turning it into a more modern bar with mirrored walls and a drop-down white ceiling while changing the name to Burke's Place.  Of course, that didn't go over well with the regulars and the Burke brothers were forced to close the business in 1985.

Jim Venincasa grew up in the neighborhood - just a block away from the original O'Shea's Shamrock Pub -and soon after he graduated from high school he started working in a restaurant kitchen.  After becoming a chef and working at a handful of restaurants in the St. Louis area, Venincasa and his good friend, Danny Liston (who was locally famous as a guitar player in Mama's Pride, a Southern rock band who had a some success in the early 70's) decided to buy Burke's Place.  They pulled down the stick-on mirrored walls, they pulled down the white drop-down ceiling to re-expose the original tin ceiling.  They found the original Anheuser-Busch ornate backbar that was in storage and re-installed it.  Turning it back into a cozy Irish pub, they renamed the place Seamus McDaniel's and opened in November of 1985.

Venincasa and Liston added a back dining room to the small bar just before St. Patrick's Day in 1986, and added a beer garden behind the building some time later.  In 1990, they took over a space next door to their pub that they leased out to an upholstery shop to expand their place even more.  The pub became known for their burgers, reuben sandwiches, and homemade potato chips.  And it was also a favorite place to gather before and after St. Louis Blues hockey games when they played at the old St. Louis Arena until 1994.  Seamus McDaniel's used to run a shuttle bus for fans to and from the nearby arena when the arena was open.  

Liston was a recovering alcoholic and owning a bar was always a challenge.  In 2002, he spearheaded a reunion of Mama's Pride playing some dates around the area.  By 2003, Liston was through with the bar business selling his shares to Venincasa and his wife, Susan.  The Venincasa's continued to run Seamus McDaniel's, but, quite tragically, Jimmy Venincasa died suddenly at the age of 56 in April of 2015, weeks after he and his wife were the co-Grand Marshalls of the Ancient Order of Hibernians St. Patrick's Day Parade held each year along Tamm Ave. in Dogtown.  Susan Venincasa continues to own and operate Seamus McDaniel's today.  

Parking along the stretch of Clayton and down Tamm can be pretty challenging most times, but an unseasonably early November snowstorm had blanketed the city with over six inches of snow the night before and the parking situation along the streets was sort of a mess.  However, Seamus McDaniel's has a small parking lot in back and even though there were piles of snow in some spots I was able to find an open parking space.  

Inside Seamus McDaniel's, the original bar area is just inside the front door.  The original tin roof ceiling and the original ornate back bar were very eye catching.  This was a great little neighborhood bar.  

In back of the bar area was the back room that added in 1986.  It featured dark walnut wall panels, a stone floor and a stone fireplace in the corner.  The room added about a couple dozen seats to Seamus McDaniels when it was open.  

Off to the side area from the bar was the addition that was opened in 1990.  This was a much bigger room with natural light coming in from windows on the south side.  This space more than doubled the number of patrons Seamus McDaniels could serve.  

In the far back of the place beyond the back room was an "L"-shaped all-seasons room that had garage-style doors that would open up to a back outdoor patio and to the parking lot.  The all-seasons room tremendously expanded the number of seats in the place.  If you just looked at Seamus McDaniels from the front, you would be surprised - as I was - at how big it really is in the place.    

I ended up seated at the bar and was greeted by Maria, the bartender on duty that day.  She gave me a food menu and asked what I'd like to drink.  They had all the good Irish beers on tap - Guinness, Smithwick's and Harp - as well as some domestic beers.  I decided to have a Harp while I looked through the menu.  

They had about a dozen appetizers on the menu including the St. Louis staple - toasted ravioli, as well as a garlic bread topped with provel cheese, breaded mushrooms, and chicken wings.  Soups and salads were also available, along with a number of burgers, sandwiches, and main entrees that ran the gamut from steaks to chicken dishes to pasta selections.  

Seamus McDaniels is famous for their burgers and their sandwiches.  I had a burger the day before or I probably would have signed up for their Swiss cheese and mushroom burger where you get your choice of either sautéed mushrooms or a mushroom gravy on the burger.  I probably would have got for the mushroom gravy.  Sandwiches included a roast beef sandwich with a choice of either au jus or beef gravy, a buffalo chicken sandwich topped with provel cheese, and an 8 oz. ribeye steak sandwich with sautéed mushrooms and sautéed onions.  

I ended up going with the reuben sandwich.  Instead of fries, I asked Maria if I could get a side salad with their house-made Greek dressing.  Maria said, "Oooo, good choice."  The salad was very good and I really enjoyed the tangy Greek dressing.  

The reuben featured thin-cut corned beef piled high on marbled-rye bread topped with Swiss cheese and sauerkraut.  Instead of putting the Thousand Island dressing on the sandwich, a small container of it came on the side.  That was fine with me as sometimes restaurants will put too much dressing on their reubens.  

The corned beef on this reuben was, well, in a word, fantastic.  Some of the best and most flavorful corned beef I've ever tasted.  The spices they use were very prevalent with each bite of the sandwich.  I asked Maria if they cooked it in-house and she said she wasn't sure.  She checked with someone else and came back and said that they do cook and slice the corned beef in house, however, they get the corned beef from a local food purveyor who seasons it in advance for Seamus McDaniels.  The marble-rye bread was thin, but held together very well with the moist sauerkraut and oozing Swiss cheese on the sandwich.  Occasional dips of the sandwich into the dressing made it a multi-flavored experience.   

I've been coming to St. Louis on a regular basis for business for over 30 years - about as long as Seamus McDaniels has been in business.  I seriously can't believe that I hadn't found the place until this visit.  It's not far from where I stay in St. Louis and I could see myself hanging out at Seamus McDaniels on future trips to the city.  The reuben sandwich was one of the best I've had, I thought it was a great value considering how much corned beef (and how good the corned beef was) they put on the sandwich, and I really liked the atmosphere of the place - which is surprisingly larger than it looks from the front of the place.  The service was prompt and friendly, and it really gave me the feeling of being in an authentic Irish pub.  Now that I found the place, they could be my home bar away from home when I go to St. Louis.

O'Rourke's Public House - South Bend, IN

Staying overnight in South Bend late last year, I decided that to try a German restaurant that wasn't far from the hotel.  The only problem is that when I pulled up to the place, it turned out they are closed on Monday and Tuesday nights.  Well, Plan B was going to be an Irish pub for that evening's food choice.  I had already tried Fiddler's Hearth last year in downtown South Bend (click here to read the Road Tips entry on Fiddler's Hearth), but my old neighbor who is a huge Notre Dame football fan told me after my visit there of an Irish pub literally across the street from the University of Notre Dame campus on the north side of the city.  I looked the place up and found the name - O'Rourke's Public House.  That's where I went for dinner and some beers that evening.  

Even though the O'Rourke's Public House is owned by a number of investors who went to school at Notre Dame, the backstory of how it got to South Bend is one of those "Only in America" kinds of stories.  It all started with a young guy by the name of Dave Magrogan who, along with two siblings, were raised in near poverty by their single mother.  Forced to move multiple times before Magrogan started high school, his mother always stayed positive with her outlook in life and eventually got her degree in nursing.  

Magrogan inherited much of his mother's positive "can-do" spirit and after college he looked at becoming a chiropractor.  He opened his first practice in suburban Philadelphia on a shoestring in 1996 and he quickly found that normal chiropractic techniques of multiple patient visits with fee scheduled payments wasn't working out.  Moving to a "Pay-what-you-can" philosophy, adding seminars, and giving patient discounts for referrals turned out to be the Midas touch for Magrogan.  Within a short time, he was seeing over 800 patients a week, opened a second clinic, and had a local weekly cable television program on chiropractic health where he was known as "Dr. Dave."

By 2003, Magrogan had grown bored with the practice of chiropractic medicine even though he was immensely successful with his business.  He started to look into starting a restaurant, even though it was a risky venture as a study found that nearly 60 percent of all restaurants fail within their first three years.  But, he had worked in restaurants since he was 12 years old all the way through high school, into college and through chiropractic school first as a busboy, then a waiter, then becoming a bartender to help get himself through college.  He focused his first restaurant - an Irish pub by the name of Kildare's - in the wealthy suburbs west of Philadelphia.  

By 2007, there were five Kildare's in and around the Philadelphia area and Magrogan drew the attention of Bernie Spain who, along with is brother Murray, sold their Dollar Express chain of dime-stores to Dollar Tree.  Bernie Spain was looking to invest his money and he was taken by Magrogan's entrepreneurial spirit.  He invested into Magrogan's plan to open 25 more Kildare's locations by 2010.

However, the Great Recession of 2008 put a large hold on those plans and Magrogan had to rethink his outlook.  He discovered that putting Irish restaurants in affluent suburbs wasn't the smartest thing because most people didn't like Irish food - they would end up ordering burgers, sandwiches and appetizers - and they would only have a couple beers since most people had to drive to and from his restaurants.  And beer was a huge money maker in restaurants.  He decided that focusing on Kildare's locations in cities near college campuses to help cater to younger crowds would be the answer.  

It was a group of 8 Notre Dame alumnus who entered into a franchise agreement with Magrogan's restaurant group to put a Kildare's in the new Eddy Street Commons just south of the Notre Dame campus.  The restaurant opened in August 2010, but it wasn't long before the group of investors began to splinter away from the Kildare's concept.  They broke their franchise agreement with the rapidly failing Kildare's concept and rebranded their restaurant as O'Rourke's Public House in the spring of 2011.  (Kildare's formally closed their last company restaurant in Philadelphia in 2016, but Magrogan continues to run other restaurants today.  He sold the original Kildare's in West Chester, PA to his manager there in 2015 and it continues to this day.)

Parking around Eddy Street Commons can be a little tricky, especially near O'Rourke's Public House situated at the corner of E. Angela Blvd. and N. Eddy St.  (see map)  However, there's a large public garage with free parking up to 2 hours most evenings just around the corner.  That's where I ended up parking that chilly fall evening.  

Inside O'Rourke's Public House, I found a nice open space with a long bar with a curved turn-out at one end.  Like the other Kildare pub's that were built before this place became O'Rourke's, the interior of the restaurant was designed and built by a company in Dublin, Ireland that was shipped to South Bend for installation.  The restaurant has five different Irish design themes depicted in the space - Victorian, Cottage, Brewery, Shop and Gaelic.  I didn't know which was which, nor did I bother to ask anyone for a tour.  It's an Irish pub, for god's sake!  Let's drink and not worry about various architectural themes!

I ended up seated at the bar and I was immediately greeted by one of the bartenders, Aubrianna.  She introduced herself to me, stuck out her hand and asked my name.  I've been noticing more places are doing that.  Actually, I sort of find it somewhat forced and canned on the servers part to do that, but I guess it's all right.  She gave me a food menu and I ordered up a Bell's Two Hearted Ale from the somewhat impressive craft beer tap list they had. 

Now, this was an Irish pub, right?  I thought it was sort of strange that they were playing country music over the sound system in the place - something that would drive my somewhat Irish pub-puritan ex-neighbor crazy.  (When I told him after the fact that they were playing country music in an Irish bar across from the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, he went apoplectic.)  

Well, it got better.  At 8 p.m. they switched the music to urban.  I just had to laugh over that.  It had to be the first time I'd ever heard hip hop in an Irish pub.  And at 10 p.m. that evening, they were going to have karaoke.  I thought it may be pretty late on a weeknight for karaoke.  

O'Rourke's Public House featured a number of sandwiches, burgers and entrees including Irish favorites such as fish and chips, and a Guinness beef stew.  Their pub burgers consisted of ground prime rib and available with five different types of cheese and a number of other toppings including Irish-style rasher - thin slices of bacon.  The Four Horsemen burger consisted of a prime rib burger topped with corned beef, sauerkraut, Swiss cheese and Thousand Island dressing.  It's for people who can't make up their mind between getting a reuben or a burger.

And I was sort of that way that evening.  I was contemplating between getting a sautéed mushroom/Swiss cheese burger and the reuben.  But the guy seated a couple seats down from me was just finishing up his Shepherd's Pie.  Aubrianna asked him how it was and he said it was very good.  I decided to go with the Shepherd's Pie that evening.  After I ordered, the guy said to me, "Good choice.  I was happy with this."

After getting a dinner salad that had too much other stuff on it than lettuce - it was covered in croutons and had too many sliced cucumbers and red onions on it, but the balsamic vinaigrette was very good - I was served the Shepherd's Pie.  It was served in a dish with a ton of mashed potatoes topped with broiler-melted cheddar cheese (a $1 add-on) and onion straws on top.  I certainly didn't need - or really want - that heavy layer of mashed potatoes covering the rest of the Shepherd's Pie.  The potatoes really got in the way of getting to the ground beef and veggies mixed in with the stout beer gravy.  It was good, but it was a lot of food.  I was able to maybe eat just over half of the Shepherd's Pie, picking around the potatoes where I could.  It was very rich, very filling and pretty good.  

Given that O'Rourke's Public House was my second choice that evening since my first choice was closed for the night, I can't say that I was disappointed.  The pre-fab Irish decor in the place gave it a true pub feeling, but the curious choices of blaring country music and then urban hip hop after 8 p.m. sort of destroyed any type of Irish ambience to the place.  Aubrianna's service was friendly and efficient, and while I had a couple quibbles with the food - too many toppings on the salad, and too much mashed potatoes on the Shepherd's Pie - I thought it was good for what I got.  They had a good selection of craft brews and there were enough flat-screen televisions to keep a single diner entertained for the duration of their stay.  O'Rourke's Public House wasn't the best Irish pub I've been to, but it was better than others that put up an Irish flag on a wall and call themselves an Irish bar.  

The Curragh - Chicago, IL

Staying out by O'Hare International Airport during my work visits to Chicago, I'm always looking for a good place to eat that's within a 5 to 10 minute drive from the hotel.  There's a number of restaurants along Northwest Highway in the far northwest Chicago neighborhood of Edison Park and one that I found recently is an authentic Irish pub by the name of The Curragh.  I went there one recent evening for dinner.

Actually, there are four Curragh pubs - 3 in the greater Chicago region and one in Holland, MI.  And after I had dinner at the one in Edison Park, I realized that my wife and I ate at the one in Holland during a short vacation we had in the area a few years ago.  (Click here to read about our visit to the Holland Curragh location.)  At that time, I knew there were sister restaurants in the Chicagoland area, but I can never remember names of some of the places we'd been to.  On my visit to this Curragh location, I never put two and two together that this was affiliated with the one in Holland until afterward.  

The Curragh (pronounced CURR-ack with sort of a phlegmy throaty emphasis on the "ack") is named after the home of flatland racing in Ireland, the Curragh Racetrack, a historic race track that hosts all five of the classic Irish horse races - including the Irish Derby - and has been around since the 1700's.  It's documented that chariot races were held on the grounds of the Curragh race track in the third century.  

The original Curragh Irish Pub opened in 1999 in Schaumburg, IL next to the massive Woodfield Mall.  But the roots of the pub go back even further to a Chicago area restaurant called J.J. Finnegan's that was started by Jim Leongas in 1984.  His son, Paul Leongas, was the managing partner for the first Curragh and they later opened a second Curragh location in Skokie.  (The original location in Schaumburg had to move due to development of a strip mall on the spot where the building stood.  They moved the original building, piece by piece, to its present day location on Northwest Highway in the Chicago suburb of Edison Park.)

Jim Leongas opened a J.J. Finnegan's in Holland, MI in 1988 and it was run by his daughter, Sophia.  Sophia and her husband, Dave Jurgensen, opened the third Curragh in Holland around 2006 and closed the J.J. Finnegan's restaurant in Holland in 2009.  

The Edison Park location actually is the original Schaumburg Curragh.  The Schaumburg location stood on a plot of land where a developer wanted to tear it down and put in a strip mall a number of years ago.  Rather than having the building torn down, the Leongas family decided to find a new home for their brick building.  They ended up dismantling the building - brick-by-brick - and moving it to Edison Park where they painstakingly reconstructed the building - brick-by-brick - to the present day Curragh on Northwest Highway.  (see map)

I was able to find a parking spot in a small municipal lot just down the street from The Curragh and made my way inside around 7:30 one somewhat warm and humid evening.  I walked into a small front room that was a cozy little public place with the Irish phrases Céad Mile Fáilte ("a hundred thousand welcomes") and Céol Agus Craic ("music and fun") on the wall.  Just past this little room was the bar area featuring a curved bar around a center island.

There's a back area just past the bar where the table are a little larger and more spread out.  A brick wall with a large fireplace were the features of the back wall of the restaurant.

I ended up seated at the bar and was met by Martina, a middle-aged lady with a quick smile and a heavy Irish brogue.  In talking with her later in the evening, she told me that she was an Irish ex-patriot who had lived in the States for over 20 years.  "Fell in love with a guy here, but that didn't last," she said.  She still had family back in Ireland and she was, in fact, heading back to see them in a couple days.  "I usually try to get back once a year, sometimes twice, if I can," she said in her Irish brogue.  She poured me a pint of Smithwick's, one of many beers they had on tap at The Curragh.  

Martina gave me a menu to look over and it was pretty extensive with a number of traditional Irish dishes such as Irish stew, corned beef and cabbage, and Shepherd's Pie.  But there were also a number of other items such as appetizers, sandwiches, and main entrees such as Romano chicken, and a Gaelic steak that featured a 16 ounce rib-eye with a mushroom marsala sauce.  I seriously thought about getting the corned beef on rye sandwich after Martina told me that they made all their corned beef in house.  

But I ended up getting the corned beef and cabbage boxty. A boxty is an authentic Irish dish where they stuff the contents into a potato pancake.  They also had a vegetable boxty on the menu, as well as a chicken boxty.  When I ordered the corned beef and cabbage boxty, Martina said, "Oooo, that's my favorite."

And I can see why it was her favorite. the corned beef and cabbage boxty came with a side of mixed veggies and mashed potatoes.  It was stuffed full of delicious and tender corned beef, the cabbage wasn't limp and overcooked, and the potato pancake - on its own - was outstanding.  This was a "stick-to-your-ribs" meal for a cold winter night, but it even hit the spot on an unseasonably warm early spring evening.  There was no way that I could eat the whole thing, but I put a serious dent into it.  When Martina looked at the remains on my plate, she asked if she could box it up.  "It tastes great warmed up," she said temptingly.  But I told her that I was traveling and even though I did have a fridge and a microwave in my room, I just didn't think I could properly bring it back to life as a leftover dish.  

I've now eaten at two Curragh locations - the one in Holland, MI and now the one in Chicago's Edison Park neighborhood - and both times I've walked away impressed with the food, the service, and the atmosphere.  The corned beef and cabbage boxty was outstanding and the friendly service I received from Martina at the bar that evening was all a single diner can ask for.  It's always great finding authentic Irish bars and The Curragh is a great place to get your Irish on if you're on the northwest side of Chicago. 

Fiddler's Hearth - South Bend, IN

A few years ago, my old neighbor and his wife - who are HUGE Notre Dame football fans - went to South Bend for a football weekend and spent one evening in what my neighbor said was the neatest Irish pub that he'd ever been to.  And my neighbor is one of those guys who despises pubs who open in strip malls, put an Irish flag up on the wall and Guinness on tap, and then call themselves an authentic Irish pub.  When I was in South Bend awhile back, I was looking for someplace where I could get a sandwich or some comfort food along with some good beer.  I found a place in downtown South Bend by the name of Fiddler's Hearth.  When I got inside, I texted my ex-neighbor and asked him if the place he loved was the same place.  "Yes," was his quick reply.  When I texted back that I was seated at the bar, I got a picture back from him of his wife who was flashing an obscene gesture at me.  I knew that I was in the right place.  

Terry Meehan was a native of the South Bend area, but his family lineage dates back to Ireland.  Meehan is the direct descendant of the first non-native child born in the area after his forefathers moved from Ireland to northwest Indiana in the 1800's.  His wife, Carol, grew up in California, but came from a family with deep Scottish roots.  Their son, Sean, is an accomplished bagpiper.

The Meehan family were members of the St. Patrick Church in downtown South Bend.  The church was in need of restorations and the Meehan's organized the first what turned out to be a number of fundraising "celli's" - a traditional Celtic food and dance party.  During one of the celli celebrations, Meehan realized that in the city that is home to the Fainting Irish - sorry, Fighting Irish (old habit from being a University of Iowa football fan) - that there was no Irish public house in the city.  

Pictured at right - Terry, Carol and Sean Meehan.  

He set out to find a location that they could transform into an authentic Irish pub complete with music.   The Meehan's found a spot on S. Main just south of Colfax and they put in a small bar, an authentic hearth and a stage for live music.  Fiddler's Hearth opened on October 1, 2002.  

I was able to find parking in a parking garage just across the street from Fiddler's Hearth that allowed me to park for free for the first two hours.  (see map)   Entering Fiddler's Hearth, I found a small and cozy space that was filled to the rafters with people in there having dinner.  True to form, there was an old fashioned fireplace with two high-backed winged chairs in front of it.   The lighting was subdued and the place had a welcoming vibe.   

The dining room featured a number of tables with Irish paraphernalia on the walls.  A small stage was at one end of the dining room and some musicians were setting up instruments on the stage.  (Fiddler's Hearth has musical entertainment seven nights a week.)  This was truly a traditional Irish pub in my friend's overall criteria  of what a true Irish pub in America really is. 

I was able to find a seat at the small L-shaped bar in the back corner of the restaurant.  The stools they had weren't all that comfortable, but I knew I wasn't going to get a table for as busy that it was.  One of the bartenders, a young lady by the name of Emily, was multi-tasking when she greeted me as I sat down.  She asked if I needed a menu.  She grabbed the menu and sat it down in front of me before she hurried off to drop off a couple of drinks at the waitstaff station.  She finally settled down enough to come back to see what I wanted to drink.  They had a number of craft beers to choose from on their beer menu, but I ended up getting a good ol' Smithwick's that they had on tap.  

The menu at Fiddler's Hearth featured a number of Irish and British Isles specialties including Scotch Eggs and Welsh rarebit as part of their appetizer list.  They had boxty (grated potatoes - sort of an Irish potato pancake) that was stuffed with a choice of smoked salmon, steak, barbecued pork, chicken or vegetables.  Traditional meals such as fish and chips, bangers and mash, lamb stew, and shepherd's pie were also on the menu.  Fiddler's Hearth also had a number of sandwiches and burgers on the menu, as well.  

I ended up getting the Steak and Guinness pie with a side of mashed potatoes and broccolini.  The Steak and Guinness pie featured a puffed pastry on top covering a mixture of chunks of steak, mushrooms and onions in a beef broth/Guinness beer gravy.  The steak tips were tender, the mushrooms added an earthiness to the taste, there was a hint of onions on the flavor, but it was all tied together with the wonderful beef stock/Guinness gravy.  The only quibble I had was that the portion was pretty small for $15. 

I was able to dip some of the mashed potatoes into the gravy and that helped with their somewhat bland taste.  And the broccolini was overcooked and lifeless.  That was OK with me as I really didn't care if I had a green vegetable on my plate that evening.  After I finished, Emily tried to tempt me into getting their white chocolate bread pudding with a whiskey cream sauce.  As good as it sounded, I was fine with what I had.  

As I said, my old neighbor is a stickler when it comes to categorizing what is and what isn't an authentic Irish pub in America.  And it's no wonder he liked the ambiance at Fiddler's Hearth.  Warm, friendly, cozy, an inviting atmosphere - these are all the things I experienced during my visit.  Along with a good craft and Irish beer selection, the food featured at Fiddler's Hearth was good, authentic Irish and British Isles fare.  This was one of the better authentic Irish pubs I've found in all my travels over the years.  Fiddler's Hearth is definitely a place to visit if you get to South Bend.  

The Harp and Fiddle - Park Ridge, IL

One evening on a fall night when I was staying in Chicago, I was sort of in the mood for some good comfort food at an Irish pub - something like a Shepherd's Pie or a good braised corned beef reuben sandwich sounded really good to me.  I got on line to see if there were any Irish pubs that served food near the hotel I was staying at near O'Hare Airport.  One immediately popped up in my search that I wasn't familiar with - The Harp and Fiddle in nearby Park Ridge.  I checked out their website and decided that I wanted to give the place a try.

It took nearly six years from the time partners Declan Stapleton and Ed Berry first came to Park Ridge city officials with their plan to open an Irish pub - originally to be named O'Reilly's - to the point where they were actually able to open their doors.  In 2010, they had found a space along a block of old buildings in downtown Park Ridge and immediately procured a liquor license.  Hoping to get into the space sooner than later, the two found that the building had some environmental hazards during the rehab and they had to stop the renovations of the new pub and the dream of opening Park Ridge's first Irish pub was put on hold.

But the dream never died and when a space that used to house a drug store became available in 2015, Berry and the Irish-born Stapleton jumped on the property.  Things got even better when a small grocery store next to their space closed up and they bought that spot to make their pub even larger.  In May of 2016, the Harp and Fiddle opened their doors bringing Park Ridge residents a "modern bar with an Irish flair."  

The Harp and Fiddle is located along Main St. in downtown Park Ridge, next to the Metra tracks that run diagonally through the heart of the town.  (see map)  There were some parking spots along Main and I was able to get in there around 7:30 that evening.  

Entering the Harp and Fiddle, I found a nice comfortable and cozy pub with wooden floors and wood accents on the ceiling.  The lights were more pronounced along the walls giving the place a laid back atmosphere.  There was a smaller room off to the side in the front of the place.  

Along the walls were a number of paintings and artwork done by Irish artists.  Most notably shown was a collage painting of musician Elvis Costello and a large portrait of the Irish band U2 over the mantle on the fireplace.  On weekends, the Harp and Fiddle features live music in their dining area.    

The Harp and Fiddle also has a nice patio on the side of the main building.  It was a cool fall evening and there were a lot of people on the patio, but it looked like it would be a popular place in the summer months.  

I ended up seated at the bar and I had to stop for a moment to admire the workmanship of the woodwork on both the bar and back bar area.  Accent lights were built into the bar, and both recessed and hanging lights added lighting from above.  Three large flat screen televisions were hung on the back bar wall.

I was greeted by James who was working with Eric behind the bar.  James was new to the Harp and Fiddle and Eric was showing him the ropes of where everything was placed.  James was obviously a seasoned bartender as he was on top of things with me all during my visit.  He gave me a menu to look over and I ordered up a Smithwick's, one of the two dozen craft and import beers that they had on tap.  They also had over three dozen craft, import and domestic beers available in bottles.  

The menu consisted of a number of interesting entrees including a bourbon glazed pork chop, three beef tenderloin medallions served with mashed potatoes and a vegetable, a chicken curry dish, and a house-made meatloaf that caught my eye.  They also have a number of burgers and sandwiches, as well as soups, salads and appetizers such as a charcuterie board, quesadillas, wings, and tacos with either chicken, steak or fish.  

They also had a number of Irish specialties on the menu including a Shepherd's Pie, bangers and mash, fish and chips, and what I ended up getting - the Guinness Stew.  It featured chunks of braised beef along with carrots, potatoes and onions served in a hearty Guinness gravy.  Three pieces of toasted bread came with the Guinness Stew.  

The stew was a definite spot-hitter for me.  I was in a stretch of travel where I was getting burned out on some foods and I knew I didn't want a burger or a corned beef sandwich at that time.  The Guinness Stew was rich and tasty, the braised beef was tender and flavorful.  The gravy offered a nice full taste and it was wonderful on the bread which I dipped into the stew.  

There are other things on the menu that will make me go back to the Harp and Fiddle and try out at some point.  With a great beer selection, and a cozy and laid back atmosphere that was welcoming, the Harp and Fiddle is one of the better Irish pubs I've encountered.  Service was good, the Guinness Stew I had really hit the spot for me, and I felt comfortable in there as a single diner.  I had no issues with my visit to the Harp and Fiddle and would have no problem recommending the spot for anyone looking for a nice casual place to eat in the near northwest suburbs of Chicago. 

 

Patrick O'Shea's - Louisville

My wife and I got into our hotel in downtown Louisville much later than we anticipated thanks to an hour-long traffic back-up on the bridge that took us over the Ohio River.  Tired and hungry, we asked the front desk staff of a place that was close by that we could grab a sandwich and a beer.  They suggested one place that sounded good and we went over there.  However, when we walked in, we were told that they closed the kitchen at 9 p.m.  "There's Patrick O'Shea's right next door," the server who gave us the bad news told us.  "Their back door is just back up the stairs and to the right."  We found the door, but ended up traveling up too many flights of stairs before we went back down and finally found the (unsigned) back entrance to Patrick O'Shea's Public House on the first flight level behind a door that wasn't marked.  It was a confusing start to our first visit to this Louisville Irish pub.  

Mary Pool was born in Oklahoma in 1904 and was raised there on a farm with her nine siblings.  Not wanting to continue the hard life of working 10 hour days, six days a week, Mary ended up moving to Chicago at the age of 19 and found work in restaurants and diners around the city.  She loved the fast pace of the big city and her work ethic she learned growing up helped her advance in her jobs.  

Mary married Tom O'Shea and had two sons, Kevin and Tom, Jr.  The family moved to Louisville where the O'Shea's opened Mary's Chateau Lounge, a cabaret-style place that had live entertainment and was a popular watering hole for many Louisvillian's.  (Is that the correct term for people from Louisville?)  All four members of the family were involved in the business, and eventually their grandchildren started to work at the lounge.  

In the early 80's, Kevin O'Shea took over the Mary's Chateau Lounge, turned it into an Irish pub and gave it the new name of O'Shea's.  However, Kevin O'Shea passed away in 1986 and his four children - sons Tom, Kevin, Tim and daughter Kelly - found themselves in charge of the restaurant/pub.  By 1994, Tom and Kevin were involved in the business and they had taken on a partner, Dave Zimmerman.  They moved to a new location in the Highlands neighborhood of Louisville that same year and have been there ever since.  

O'Shea's Irish Pub immediately became a hit with the college crowd and the O'Shea's and Zimmerman wanted to have a place that catered more toward the burgeoning craft beer movement.  Not far from O'Shea's Irish Pub, they found a space to put in their new concept - Flanagan's Ale House - that featured a more eclectic mix of beers on tap.  

In 2006, two partners - Joe and John Murphy - joined the O'Shea's and Zimmerman in the businesses and they opened Brendan O'Shea's in the St. Matthews area of Louisville.  In 2010, the group opened their showcase Irish pub - Patrick O'Shea's Public House - in downtown Louisville.  And in 2016, the O'Shea's opened H.M. Frank's: An O'Shea's Pub across the river in Jeffersonville, IN.  The pub was named after the original dry goods store owned by Homer Monroe Franks and is housed in a building that dates back to the late 19th century.  (In 2012, Brendan O'Shea's was bought by another group who wanted to put a new restaurant in its place.)  

Patrick O'Shea's is situated in a long, narrow building along E. Main St. that dates back to either the late 19th century or the early 20th century.  (see map) There was a back room that we walked through that opened into a larger room with the bar area along the east wall.  The ornate woodwork throughout the bar area was pretty impressive.  There was a large party in the bar area and it was sort of loud in there.  

We took a seat in a booth along the opposite wall and we were soon greeted by our server, Janelle.  She assured us that their kitchen was, indeed, open for a couple more hours as she dropped off a couple menus for us.  Asking us if we wanted anything to drink, I ordered a West 6th IPA from the West 6th brewery in Lexington, KY.  My wife got a Deschutes Fresh Squeezed IPA to take the dust of a long day's travel out of her mouth.  

Most of the items served at Patrick O'Shea's is the typical pub fare - sandwiches, burgers, and appetizers.  They also had a handful of entries such as fish and chips, short ribs, shrimp and grits, and a Southern-style shepherd's pie that featured meatloaf and barbecue sauce mixed in with mashed potatoes and smoked gouda cheese.  We really didn't want a big meal as it was well past 9 p.m., so a sandwich was going to be fine with us.  

I ordered the reuben sandwich and it came on thick pieces of grilled swirl rye bread.  The corned beef was thick cut, tender and tasty.  For a side, I was happy to see that they had tater tots as an option.  The sandwich was very good and very filling.

My wife got the grilled chicken sandwich that was topped with Swiss cheese, bacon slices and guacamole.  She asked Janelle to leave the bun off the sandwich and that's how it came.  She got fries for her side.  My wife thought the grilled chicken was cooked perfectly and wasn't hard or overdone, and the combination of the Swiss cheese, bacon and guacamole offered an array of flavors.  She thought her meal was just perfect for a late evening choice.  

About the only hiccup for the meal was that Janelle was the only server in the place and she was trying to keep up with the large table of people that were toward the front of the restaurant.  I had run out of beer and wanted a second one, but she was nowhere in sight.  She was nice, though, and we did cut her some slack when she came back about 15 minutes after she had brought out our food to check on us.  

Other than getting somewhat lost when we came in the back door and that our server was overworked that evening, we both felt our food at Patrick O'Shea's was very good for what it was.  I thoroughly enjoyed my reuben sandwich and the tater tots were a nice surprise as a side dish.  My wife's bun-less grilled chicken/Swiss cheese/bacon/guacamole sandwich was also a spot-hitter for her.  Patrick O'Shea's wasn't our first choice, but we're glad that we were able to go there for a late light dinner in downtown Louisville.

Olde Brick House - St. Cloud, MN

St. Cloud, Minnesota has a number of good and quite interesting restaurants that I've found during my travels there over the years.  My dealer there was telling me about a new place - an authentic Irish pub - in downtown St. Cloud where he had installed the audio/video system.  As I left his place around 4:30 p.m., I decided to stop by the Olde Brick House for a late lunch/early dinner.   

The building at the corner of 1st Street South and 6th Ave. South (see map) that houses the Olde Brick House dates back to 1890 when it was opened as a saloon.  Over the first 10 years of its existence, the tavern had an unsavory reputation as the upstairs was a gambling hall and a house of ill-repute.  Local authorities raided the upstairs a couple times over the years and by 1900 the saloon had its liquor license revoked.  

Starting in 1903, the building had been a "tied" house - a tavern owned by a local brewery, then a Moose Lodge, and then a cafe.  By 1964, a new owner moved in and started a bar - the Corner Bar - that was famous locally for their hot beef sandwiches.  In the 70's, the bar turned into the Aspen Corner Bar, then a few years later it was renamed the Dick Titus Watering Hole.  But by the early 1990's with the country music/line-dancing/boot-scootin' craze full in gear, it became Charlie's Wild Wild West.  When that era ended with a thud, it was rechristened First Street Station to try and hold on to the country crowd.  When that didn't work, the owners renamed it Rum Runners.  Rum Runners had a reputation for bringing in a tough crowd and when the city didn't renew their liquor license in 2013, the place closed down.  It sat vacant for nearly 3 years.

Local restaurateur Steve Letnes - already somewhat of a restaurant mogul with regional chains Boulder Tap House (click here to read about the Road Tips visit to Boulder Tap House) and Grizzly's Wood Fired Grill - got together with restaurant industry veteran Pete Poepping to buy the empty space in September of 2015.  Not knowing exactly what they wanted to do with the old building, the two brainstormed over a missing niche of restaurants in St. Cloud.  They came up with the concept - an authentic Irish pub.  

Pictured right - Pete Poepping and Steve Letnes.  (Photo courtesy St. Cloud Times.)

The partners consulted Kieran Folliard who once owned four Irish pubs in the greater Minneapolis/St. Paul area until he sold his shares in 2011.  Folliard came to look at the space and he said that the building would be a perfect space for an authentic Irish bar - it had a lot of space and it could accommodate multiple bars like many pubs have in Ireland.  From there, Letnes and Poepping took off to tour pubs in Ireland before coming back to St. Cloud to begin a complete transformation of the building, gutting the interior down to the brick walls.   60 full-sized roll-off dumpsters hauled off furnishings, old supplies, fixtures and woodwork by the time they were ready to transform the space into an Irish pub.   

To capture the authenticity of an Irish pub, Letnes and Poepping hired an Irish company - Ol' Irish Pubs, Ltd. - which specializes in building out authentic Irish pubs around the world - to design and build the fixtures for the restaurant.  The original bar in the building - which dated back to the early 1900's - was painstakingly restored and after four months of building the fixtures in Ireland, the company came over to install the rest of the woodwork, fixtures, and furnishings.  Olde Brick House opened in January of this year.  

I found parking on the street in front of the building and went inside.  Just inside the front door that sits on the corner was a small bar area.  I'm guessing that it was the original bar with an ornate back bar with a walk-thru to another bar behind it.  This is known as the Old Head Bar, a traditional greeting area for patrons at pubs in Ireland.

The bar behind the front bar was where I parked myself.  There were not many people in the place - given that it was 4:45 in the afternoon - and I was greeted by a woman by the name of Tess who had a cheery attitude and a friendly demeanor.  She gave me a menu to look over and I ordered up a Smithwick's - one of the many Irish beers they had on tap - to start out.  The Smithwick's was fresh and tasty.  Olde Brick House claims they have over 150 different types of Irish, Scotch and American whiskies to choose from and from the number of bottles along the wall on the back bar, I'd say that was a conservative number. 

The main downstairs dining area features a number of high top tables and booths with a soothing honey yellow color on some of the walls with exposed brick along one wall.  

The menu at Olde Brick House features a number of traditional Irish favorites including Guinness-battered fish and chips, corned beef and cabbage, bangers and mashed, and Shepherd's pie.  They had a Celtic meatloaf on the menu that featured a slice of grilled meat loaf on a bed of champ potatoes, then topped with creamed cabbage, fried onion straws and gravy.  I thought about that for a moment before I started to look for something else.  For more American tastes, the Olde Brick House featured steaks, seafood and pasta on the menu.

The sandwich side of the menu featured a handful of burgers and sandwiches including a meat loaf sandwich (the meat loaf keep calling my name) that was topped with onion straws, cheddar cheese and gravy and served on a toasted baguette, as well as a cheese steak sandwich topped with a Guinness cheese sauce, onion straws and wine-sautéed mushrooms.  They also had fish tacos - your choice of broiled or battered Atlantic cod - and they had a burger that was topped with cheddar cheese and brown sugar bacon.  But I decided to go with the Olde Brick House's signature reuben sandwich.  

The reuben came on toasted dark rye topped with Swiss cheese and sauerkraut, and came with a creamy housemade sauce called Dublin sauce.  Plump pub chips - basically steak fries - and a small container of cole slaw came on the side.  

The corned beef was thick cut and piled high in between the dark rye bread.  There was a lot of meat in the sandwich and it was tender and flavorful.  It was a messy sandwich - I had to ask Tess for more napkins twice.  But it was wonderfully messy and the taste was very good.  It was one of the better reuben sandwiches I've encountered in my travels.  While I didn't try any of the cole slaw, I did have a few of the steak fries that were cooked perfectly with crispy shell on the outside and a soft flaky consistency inside.  The sandwich was more than filling and I was definitely full when I finished the last bite.    

After finishing my late lunch/early dinner, I took the time to run upstairs to take a look at the renovated second floor.  There were a couple of private reception/dining rooms - one larger than the other - up there, but the largest room on the second floor - the Music Room - featured a large rectangular old fashioned bar in the center of the room.  It featured large murals on the walls and a tin ceiling with antique style lighting around the room.  Large windows allowed for a lot of natural daylight to come into the room.  While I thought the downstairs dining area was quaint, I really liked the second floor bar area.  It was the kind of place where I could sit for a couple hours unwinding while enjoying a beer.   

 

The Olde Brick House is an exceptional Irish Pub.  From the intricate detail on the decor, to the large selection of whiskies, to the number of Irish beers on tap, to the traditional Irish food found on the menu, there's not many places like the Olde Brick House that I've come across in my travels across the Midwest.  The rueben sandwich was exceptional in quality and taste - the corned beef was thick, juicy and piled high on the dark rye bread.  And Tess' service was professional, friendly and prompt.  People who live in St. Cloud are fortunate to have an authentic Irish pub like the Olde Brick House in their community.  I wish we had one just like it where I live.  

 

 

The Grafton Pub - Chicago

A shout-out today to Larry L. who sent me an e-mail last summer telling me that I really needed to try the food at the Grafton Pub in Chicago.  While I was in Chicago late last year for some meetings, I decided to seek out the Grafton Pub for lunch one day.  It turned out it wasn't that tough to find.  

Malcolm Molloy was a native of Dublin, Ireland who moved to the United States in the 1990's.  Ending up in Chicago, he met a young lady from Texas whom he eventually married.  Malcolm Molloy had always wanted to open an Irish pub in Chicago based upon some the famous pubs on or around Grafton Street in Dublin.  

In 2001, Malcolm Molloy, his wife Andrea, and a silent partner acquired Winners, a sports bar in the Lincoln Square neighborhood of Chicago.  It took them nearly a year to remodel the place into what they called a contemporary Irish pub.  The Grafton Irish Pub and Grill opened in late 2002 and almost immediately established a loyal clientele.  

Within four years of opening the Grafton Pub, Malcolm and Andrea eventually bought out their silent partner and set their sights on doing their own craft brewery somewhere.  Digging into the Irish craft brewery scene, Malcolm discovered that there appeared to be a dearth of craft breweries in his home company.  In 2010, Malcolm, Andrea, and their three children moved back to Ireland and landed in Wexford on the southeast Irish coast about 90 miles south of Dublin.  There, they established the Drew Fox Brewing Company which brews the Clever Man Irish craft beers.  The Molloy's continue to run the Grafton Pub flying back and forth between Chicago and Ireland to oversee their interests in both countries.  

The Grafton Pub is located along N. Lincoln Ave. in an area in Lincoln Park that houses a number of restaurants, bars and grills.  (see map)  I was able to park on the street just down from the Grafton.  The outside of the place has a definite Irish/English pub-type look to the place with accents around the windows and 5 round-shaded lights shining down on the facade at night.

Inside, the Grafton is a long, narrow space that features booths along the wall, a long and elegant bar, and a back room for overflow during busier times.  It had a tin ceiling and antique-style lights hanging from the ceiling over the bar.  The attention to detail to make this as close to a true Irish bar as possible was impressive.  Late 60's and early 70's classic British rock and roll was playing in the background.  Sunday thru Wednesday - and sometimes on Thursday - the Grafton hosts live music with Sunday evenings featuring Irish music.  

I ended up seated at the bar and was greeted by the bartender that day, a nice young lady by the name of Melissa.  She gave me a food menu and asked what I would like to drink.  I saw that they had the Founders Centennial IPA on tap from their ever-changing beer menu and I ordered up one of those.  (They also had a pretty impressive list of whiskeys from Ireland, Scotland, Japan, Canada and America, as well.)  

Larry had told me that the burger at the Grafton was very good, but they also had some other interesting items on the menu such as the grilled chicken sandwich topped with a bacon-leek puree; a chilled smoked salmon BLT; an Irish lamb stew; and a traditional Shepherd's pie.  I came about *that* close to ordering the Shepherd's pie.  

But I decided to get the Grafton burger made with 100% USDA-certified black angus choice beef.  (They also had a grass-fed beef burger on the menu for a slight upcharge.)  I had a choice of eight different cheeses to choose from and I got the Swiss cheese to go on my burger.  From there, you have a handful of toppings available and I ended up getting roasted red peppers and sautéed mushrooms on the burger.  I ordered up the slightly salted fries as a side.  

The burger came with lettuce leaves and a tomato slice that I pulled off and put on the side before I ate it.  It was served on a pretzel bun that did not hold up very well with all that was going on with the burger.  Between the juiciness, the thick Swiss cheese, the chopped red peppers and the sautéed mushrooms, the bun literally disintegrated within four or five bites.  

But the taste of the burger was delicious.  It was cooked a perfect medium with a hint of pink in the middle.  The sautéed mushrooms, roasted red pepper slices and the Swiss cheese all heightened the taste of what was already a great burger.  After the bun fell apart, I used my fork to eat the rest of the burger.

The lightly salted fries were just all right.  They tasted a tad oily like they hadn't changed their fryer oil for awhile.  But I wasn't really interested that much in the fries as the burger was good sized and very filling.  

I liked everything about my visit to the Grafton Pub.  Great atmosphere, great beer and whiskey list, and they had a very good and delicious burger that was part of an interesting pub-style menu.  I would like to make it back at some point to try their Shepherd's pie or their tenderloin beef and stout stew at some point.  My former neighbor who had deep Irish roots in his family would very much approve the Grafton as an authentic Irish pub. 

Kelly's Irish Pub - Davenport, IA

I've lived in the Quad Cities for over 25 years and I've made a number of great friends during that time.  One of the more well-known families in the area are the Kelly's whose patriarch Jerry Kelly was the long-time owner of one of the more popular watering holes in Davenport, the Circle Tap.  I've known Leo and Bob Kelly for about 15 years working festival stages with them in their band Wicked Liz and the Bellyswirls.  From the friendship with the brothers, I've gotten to know their mother Nancy, as well as their other brothers Dan, Dave and Jerry, Jr. pretty well over the years, and I've met their sister Kate a handful of times.  Unfortunately, I never really got the chance to know Jerry Kelly, Sr. as he passed away in 1999.  

Two of the sons - Dan and Dave - followed their father into the restaurant business.  Dave managed and owned restaurants in northeast Iowa before moving back to Davenport to help start Van's Pizza (click here to read the Road Tips entry on Van's) and Dan opened the family namesake restaurant - Kelly's Irish Pub - in 2006.  Dan got hold of me sometime last year as he knew I had a blog and he wanted me to come in and try something new on his menu - the audaciously named Quad Cities Best Burger.  I told him I would, but it was months later before I was able to make it in one evening to give it a try.  

Dan Kelly was working in the Quad Cities not really knowing what he wanted to do in life when his wife Elizabeth landed a job in Dallas as a registered nurse.  The Kelly's moved down to Texas and he found work in number of bars and restaurants including a barbecue restaurant that did about $5 million in annual sales.  Dan learned from his father that if you do something that you really love, you'll never work another day in your life.

Pictured right - Dan Kelly.  Photo courtesy Quad City Times.   

Dan started to get the itch to run his own place and he and Elizabeth moved back to the Quad Cities around 2004.  With the help of long-time friend Marc Van Severen - the "Van" in Van's Pizza, as well as the owner of a handful of other bar/restaurants around the Quad Cities - and a couple three silent investors, Dan was able to open Kelly's Irish Pub in August of 2006.  Dan Kelly eventually bought out Van Severen and the silent investors and is the sole proprietor of Kelly's Irish Pub today.  

Kelly's Circle Tap, as it was known when Jerry, Sr. ran the place for 21 years, was famous for their baby back ribs.  The fall-off-the-bone ribs were the favorites of many people in the Quad Cities.  Dan does the same ribs at Kelly's Irish Pub, but I don't particularly care for the way they prepare them.  They either parboil or bake the ribs - possibly both - then they put them on an open fire grill to char the outsides before they slather them with a sweet smoky sauce and send them out to the masses.  There's no smoker at Kelly's Irish Pub, nor is there one at the Circle Tap which continues to make the same style of ribs to this day.  And both places continue to serve dozens of racks of ribs each week.  (I will say that I do like the barbecue sauce that both Kelly's and the Circle Tap uses.)  It's sort of like Quad City-style pizza - people who grew up in the Quad's like that style of pizza, just like people who grew up in the area like Kelly's and/or the Circle's ribs.  Me?  Well, let's just say I don't care for either.  

Kelly's Irish Pub is also famous for the large party they throw on St. Patrick's Day.  Carrying on the tradition of his father's place, Dan Kelly only does it on a bigger scale.  He has large tents put up in the parking lot to house tables for people partying and enjoying corned beef and cabbage (they go through over a ton of corned beef over the St. Patrick's Day period), they have live bands in the tents, and they have skydiving leprechauns.  Well, actually, they're skydivers who dress up in green suits, but it's still quite the sight.  They'll easily have over 10,000 people at Kelly's on the day of the Grand Parade held the closest Saturday to St. Patrick's Day.  

I had stopped into Kelly's Irish Pub a couple three days after St. Patrick's Day this year and I tried to order the Quad Cities Best Burger.  But I was informed that Kelly's was still serving off of its St. Patrick's menu and the Quad Cities Best Burger wasn't available.  I didn't stick around for corned beef and cabbage or a grilled pork tenderloin sandwich, but I did finally make it back after I got home from a recent three day trip.  My wife had gone to an art exhibit in downtown Davenport with our neighbor, so I decided to head up to Kelly's on 53rd Ave. for dinner.  (see map)

Kelly's Irish Pub is located in a strip mall and the space its in is spacious enough.  However, my former neighbor - who is of deep Irish heritage - sniffed at Kelly's calling themselves an Irish Pub saying that putting up a couple Irish flags and serving Guinness on tap doesn't necessarily make a place an Irish bar.  While I tend to agree with him, Kelly's is still a nice place on the inside.  It features a large bar area, a couple of dining areas, and a number of flat screen televisions throughout the place that offers any number of sporting events.  If I couldn't categorize Kelly's as an Irish bar, I'd call them an Irish/sports bar.

There weren't many people in Kelly's when I went in around 7 p.m.  Dan Kelly is usually there, but he wasn't this evening - which sort of relieved me since I really just wanted to see how the kitchen would deal with a person coming in off the street ordering the Quad Cities Best Burger, rather than Dan overseeing the preparation.   I saddled up at the bar and got a menu from one of the bartenders.  The cover of Kelly's menu is drawn by Leo Kelly, who - in addition to being a very good guitar player - is an outstanding caricature artist who draws at events and festivals, and who has become the Sunday Editorial Page artist for the Quad City Times.  The menu cover changes regularly and features caricatures of celebrities - both pop culture and local celebs - as well as some of the regulars of Kelly's and a few creatures from time to time.  

The food served at Kelly's is your typical pub fare.  In addition to their signature ribs, they also have a number of appetizers, sandwiches, burgers, wraps and salads.  It's nothing fancy and the food is all right.  They have a good beer selection at Kelly's Irish Pub and I ordered up a large mug of Sam Adams OctoberFest.  

I did order the Quad Cities Best Burger and I got a side of cole slaw to go along with it.  The burger was presented to me with a steak knife sticking out of it - one of my largest pet peeves at a restaurant.  If you need to keep the bun on top of the burger, do it with a long toothpick.  

The burger was on a toasted bun topped with Swiss and American cheese, mayonnaise, bacon, shredded lettuce, sliced tomato, red onions and pickles.  The 1/2 pound patty was thick and chargrilled to a medium temperature.  

And the burger was good, as in well above average good.  The burger had a nice beefy taste, it was juicy and flavorful.  The key to a good burger is the bun and the bun on the Quad Cities Best Burger was light, spongy and held up very well with all that was going on with the juiciness of the meat and the condiments on top.  Could I call it the best burger in the Quad Cities?  I would probably put it up over many other similar bar/pub burgers I've had in the area.  But I'm not certain it's the best in the area.  

I've been apprehensive doing a review on Kelly's Irish Pub as I'm a friend of the Kelly family, but Dan invited me in to try his Quad Cities Best Burger knowing that I'd give it a fair review.  And the burger was good, probably not the best I've had in the Quad Cities, but it was still in the mix with some of the better ones I've tried.  Kelly's Irish Pub is quickly becoming an iconic watering hole in the area, and with their annual St. Patrick's Day festivities it gains more popularity each year. Their food ranges from OK to good, service is always friendly and prompt, and it's a great place to meet up with friends.

(Update - I was informed that after 13 years of business Kelly's Irish Pub closed their doors on or about August 21, 2017.  They've taken down their web site and have taken down their Facebook page.  No word on why they closed, but a number of people in the Quad Cities are bummed that they'll no longer have a place to celebrate St. Patrick's Day.)

Jameson's Public House - Waterloo, IA

I was driving through the Waterloo area coming back from the Twin Cities last fall and it was around the lunch hour.  I was thinking about going to a brewpub or a similar type of place for a couple beers and a sandwich.  I did a quick search on my GPS to see what was around and I saw a place called Jameson's Public House come up.  I thought that sounded sort of interesting, so I took off to see what Jameson's Public House was all about.  

It turns out that Jameson's has been around since February of 2006 (it says it was established in 2005 on the logo, but it didn't open until a couple three weeks before St. Patrick's Day in 2006) and features a combination of American and Irish dishes along with a number of beers and whiskey available.  I mean, any place named after the famous Irish whiskey should have a good selection of whiskeys on hand and Jameson's Public House features over two dozen different types of Irish whiskey to choose from.  

The pub is housed in a building in downtown Waterloo that was built in 1890 and originally housed an Odd Fellows Lodge.   By the 1980's and 90's, downtown Waterloo had seen an exodus of businesses and many of the buildings had been vacated and run down.  That's where a local civic leader by the name of Buck Clark came into the picture.

Buck Clark had been a Waterloo police officer for 18 years before retiring in 1998 and getting into private business.  In 2001, Clark successfully ran for local office as he was elected to a four-year term as an alderman to the Waterloo city council.  While on the city council, he saw opportunities in the downtown area and after his four-year term was finished, he opened places such as Monica's Cigar Bar, Cu and the Cellar, and Jameson's all within a couple of years.  In 2009, Clark ran for mayor of Waterloo and won in a close three-way race.  Clark was easily re-elected to two more terms in 2011 and 2013 before he decided in 2015 not to run for a fourth term as mayor.  

Clark changed Monica's from a cigar bar to an upscale piano when anti-smoking laws were becoming more common place about 10 years ago.  The concept never caught on and Monica's closed in 2008.  (Monica's reopened as the Volks Haus German pub in 2010 under new ownership.)   Clark sold Cu and the Cellar - right next door to Jameson's Public House - last summer, but the place hasn't reopened.  

Jameson's Public House is located on E. 4th St. in downtown Waterloo.  (see map)  I was able to find parking on the street in front of the Volks Haus (I almost went in there, but decided I'll have to go back at some point.) Jameson's was easy to spot with the bright green facade over the brick front of the old building.  

The decor at Jameson's is what I would call rustic.  It's not like some places that put up a couple Irish flags and call themselves an Irish Bar.  It had sort of an old world Irish feeling to the place.  The Irish greeting céad míle fáilte is over the entry way from a small front dining area to the larger dining area in the back.

The long narrow space features a number of high-top tables and standing bars with a number of pictures and maps of Ireland.  The ceiling features exposed wood beams and there is an upstairs area in the back of the place.  It was cozy and inviting.  Jameson's also hosts live music on Friday and Saturday nights.

I sat at the bar and was greeted by Shaylin, the bartender/day manager for Jameson's Public House.  She dropped off a menu and asked if I wanted anything to drink.  They have nearly 20 beers on tap at Jameson's and I ordered up a Smithwick's.  Unfortunately, it was pretty flat in taste.  Shaylin tried the Smithwick's out of the tap and she said, "Hmmm...  Doesn't taste that flat to me."  But it was flat - I know how Smithwick's is supposed to taste.  She offered me another beer and I took and IPA they had on tap.  That, too, tasted a little flat for an IPA, but I just decided to keep it and move on.  I got to wondering after a bit if possibly they needed to clean their lines out, but I didn't say anything.  

The menu at Jameson's is a mix of American and traditional Irish fare that includes sandwiches, appetizers, burgers, soups, salads and entrees such as a traditional Shepherd's Pie, a home-style meatloaf platter, bangers and mash, baby back ribs, and an Irish stew in a Guinness gravy.  Sandwiches include a fried pork tenderloin sandwich, a meatloaf sub, and Jameson's signature Dubliner sandwich - roast beef and smoked bacon topped with Swiss and cheddar cheese, and a spicy English-style mustard all served on wheat berry bread.  They also featured a handful of burgers on the menu including the Buffalo burger that was topped with blue cheese, onion rings, jalapeños and a spicy cream sauce; the Hawaiian burger that had grilled pineapple rings, sliced ham, Swiss cheese, a fried egg and house-made sweet chili mayo; and the Mac - they fry up some of the house-made mac & cheese into a patty and top it with cheddar cheese, chipotle mayo and and applewood smoked bacon.   

I was thinking about getting their reuben sandwich when I walked into Jameson's - the place looked like it would have a killer reuben - but then something on the menu jumped out at me.  They had a hot beef sandwich on potato bread served with mashed potatoes with chopped scallions and topped with a stout beer/onion gravy.  Comfort food was just what the doctor ordered after being on the road for the prior four days.  

The sandwich was large, but cut in half with the mashed potatoes in the middle.  The beef was braised and shredded on the potato bread slices.  It was a full helping of potatoes with a generous pour of the stout/onion gravy over everything.   There was a lot of food on the plate, as well.  They definitely didn't skimp on the offerings.  

Not only did it look delicious, it WAS delicious.  The beef was tender and juicy, the mashed potatoes had a great down-home flavor, and the stout/onion gravy tied everything together with its rich taste.  Shaylin asked me how my lunch was and I told her it was a "spot-hitter".  

I always have great hope for the food at Irish pubs that I visit in my travels.  Walking into Jameson's Public House, I thought that the place had potential.  Other than the somewhat flat beers I was served, I thought the food I had at Jameson's was very good.  The hot beef sandwich was an excellent choice for someone needing comfort food at that point in the week.  It's nothing fancy at Jameson's, but it's cozy and friendly.  And that's all you should look for at an Irish pub like Jameson's. 

Maggie O'Brien's - St. Louis

On a trip to St. Louis earlier this spring, I got a great deal on a room at the Union Station Hotel which is part of the historic St. Louis Union Station shopping and entertainment complex on the west end of the downtown area.  The Union Station Hotel had been a Marriott property for a number of years and had recently changed to a Doubletree property under the Hilton Hotels umbrella.  The hotel - which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places - featured a number of updated rooms and, of course, the lovely and ornate Gothic beauty of the Grand Hall (pictured above).  

While I can't say enough about how nice the hotel was, the adjacent Union Station shopping and entertainment facility has fallen on hard times.  Once one of the premier shopping and restaurant destinations in St. Louis, over half of the spaces available for retail or restaurants at Union Station are now closed.  On a nostalgic walk through the place, of the remaining retail spots I counted no less than four different stores that sold baseball-style hats and urban t-shirts. Union Station is a far cry from the retail and entertainment center that it was when I first came here over 20 years ago.  Pictured at left is the Midway at Union Station.  There were only two stores that were opened in this area when years ago it featured probably four times that many.  However, I understand that the Doubletree is looking to expand into parts of the Midway beginning later this year.

It had a been a long day of travel when I got into the hotel around 6:30 p.m.  I didn't feel like heading out anywhere far away from the hotel to get something to eat.  Most of the remaining dining places in Union Station were of the fast food variety or national chains that I had no interest in visiting.  I remembered there was an Irish pub just down the street from the hotel that I'd been to with a friend of mine a few times a number of years ago.  The place - Maggie O'Brien's - is still open.  I walked the block and a half from the hotel to the restaurant on a beautiful St. Louis evening to get some dinner.  (see map)  

Maggie O'Brien's has been in business since 1979 and is owned by brothers Pat and Eddie McVey.  They bought the business a few years ago from original owner Harry Belli, who also owned the Harry's Restaurant and Bar just up Market Street to the west (as well as two other former Harry's locations in greater St. Louis).  Maggie O'Brien was named in honor of Belli's great-grandmother, Winnie O'Brien.  It's a popular place to stop before and after events at the Scottrade Arena just three blocks to the east.  

The restaurant also has a recent sad past - a bartender was shot to death during a late night robbery attempt in 2009. One of the two would-be robbers was also shot to death, inadvertently it turns out, by the other robber.  A former long-time employee of Maggie O'Brien's was sentenced to jail for masterminding the robbery attempt, as were the robber and the look-out.  It put a damper on the spirits of bar patrons for a few weeks after, but it's in a relatively safe and high traffic area of St. Louis.  Like I say, I walked to and from the bar from the Doubletree.    

Maggie O'Brien's hadn't changed much, if any, from the last time I was in there probably 8 or so years ago.  Actually, the first time I had been in the place was around 1997 when I went there with my-then-boss and another colleague to check on a Runco projector that was acting up in one of the big rooms in the back that was used for parties, meetings and receptions.  The company I was working for at the time was representing Runco.  I remember not caring much about what was wrong with the projector, I was much more interested in the selection of beers they had to offer.

Years later, an old roommate of mine from my days at the University of Iowa would meet up with me at Maggie O'Brien's from time to time for a few beers and some food.  He's since moved out to the far southwestern suburbs of St. Louis and we see each other sporadically now.  So, it was sort of nice to see the dark wood walls and the old Irish pub-style bar area again.      

I took a seat at the bar and was greeted by the bartender, Paulie.  I asked him if I could get a Smithwick's that they had on tap.  I then asked him if he could change the channel on the television in front of me to a game I wanted to watch.  He grabbed a remote and did just so.  A few moments later, I got his attention and asked if I could get a menu.  He quickly said, "No!"  I was sort of taken aback, but then he said, "You've asked for too much already!"  And he handed me a menu.  I immediately liked the guy.  

The menu at Maggie O'Brien's is your typical Irish pub fare - appetizers, soups, sandwiches, and entrees such as fish and chips, Irish stew, corned beef and cabbage, and something called the "O' Hen-essy" which was a deep friend chicken breast topped with a lemon butter sauce and cheese.  They also have burgers, wraps and St. Louis-style pizza with provel cheese instead of mozzarella.  I'll eat a St. Louis-style of pizza from time to time, but I'd rather have mozzarella than provel.  

They also have something on the menu Fat Eddie's Big Boys - four sandwiches that include a reuben, a brat burger and something called Paddy Babe's original smoked corned beef.  They pile the cornedbeef high on a Kaiser roll and top it with pepper jack cheese, cole slaw and horseradish mustard.  I didn't look at the menu any further.  After finishing my first Smithwick's of the evening, Paulie came over to get me another and I ordered up the corned beef sandwich, as well.   Fries came with the sandwich.  I could have cared less about the fries.   

The sandwich was placed in front of me about 15 minutes after I ordered.   Sweet marinated cole slaw - the kind of cole slaw that I love - was slathered across the top of a pile of smoke corned beef.  The pepperjack cheese was underneath the meat.  Thick, succulent slices of corned beef poked out from underneath the cole slaw.  I took a couple bites of the cole slaw on its own and determined it was very similar to the marinated cole slaw my wife and I simply go nuts over at the Belgian Village back in Moline, IL.  (Click here to see my entry on the Belgian Village.)  I even pulled a couple chunks of the corned beef out from under the slaw to give it a try.  The meat was flavorful, tender and juicy.  

Putting the lid down on the sandwich, I was a little worried that all the taste sensations would counteract each other.  But the first bite diminished any trepidation I had originally.  The taste of the cole slaw, the pepperjack cheese, the great corned beef - even the bun - was exceptional.  I couldn't believe that I'd never had this before - or maybe they didn't have it on the menu when I had been in years ago.   I didn't even bother with the fries - they were sort of cold and lifeless, like they'd been sitting in a bin under a tepid heat lamp for a couple hours.  I honestly can't tell you anything about the other food on the menu, but the Paddy Babe's original smoked corned beef was simply outstanding.  

It was good to reconnect with a place like Maggie O'Brien's.  My sandwich was great, Paulie did a good job of taking care of my requests, and the bar still had that old Irish Pub feeling to it.  I don't know if I'll get a good deal on a room at the Doubletree on future visits to St. Louis, but for a good corned beef sandwich just a short walk from anywhere on the west end of downtown St. Louis, Maggie O'Brien's is tough to beat.   

Micky's Irish Pub - Iowa City

While going to school at the University of Iowa in the early 80's (that sounds SO long ago), I had a handful of "haunts" that I'd go to for beers or some food.  Places like The Mill, The Airliner, Gabe's  and Deadwood were on my list of regular places that I hung out.  But one that seemed to be at the top of my "go-to" list was Micky's Irish Pub.  And it still is today.  About three or four times a year, three or four friends and myself get together at Micky's to discuss sports and catch up with one another's lives over one of Micky's signature sandwiches - the Conglomeration.  I thought it was time that I brought Micky's to Road Tips.

Micky's is under the umbrella of Fresh Food Concepts, an Iowa City corporation that oversees the operations of a handful of restaurants that includes Mondo's (click here to see my entry on Mondo's), Joseph's Steakhouse, Bread Garden Market, and Mondo's Saloon.  Jim Mondanaro is the head of the company along with his wife, Maureen (Mo).  Mondanaro was a native of Ottumwa who spent three years at Iowa State University in the early 70's.  Figuring that he'd eventually go to law school, an opportunity to own a restaurant in Ames presented itself.  Mondanaro took some of his student loan money and bought a place that he called Mondo's.  

Mondanaro then set his sights on Iowa City and he bought the old Copper Dollar on Iowa Ave.  He owned it for two years before selling it and returning to Ames.  However, in 1980, Mondanaro returned to Iowa City and bought Micky's in late August.  Micky's had been open since the 1940's when Mondanaro bought the place. Other restaurants Mondanaro was involved with in Iowa City, Cedar Rapids and the Des Moines area came and went, but Micky's remained as a constant in his restaurant life.  

While going to school at Iowa, I remember one of the things about Micky's was the long mahagony and oak bar.  Years ago, there was a story on the menus at Micky's about how Richard Nixon had drank at the bar.  It turns out it may - or may not - be true.  Mondanaro bought the bar from a place in Ottumwa that had gone out of business.  During World War II, Richard Nixon was stationed at the Naval Reserve Air Station outside of Ottumwa for just over six months.  When I asked him about it years ago, Mondanaro surmised that Nixon possibly drank at the bar when he was stationed at Ottumwa.  Yeah, it's plausible.  We'll go with his story on that. 

After running Micky's for 30 years, the Mondanaro's sold the establishment to Micky's chef and manager, Robert "Louis" de Blois.  de Blois ran Micky's until May of 2012 when he closed the business and walked away.  Mondanaro still owned the building and entertained offers from others to buy the business, but he decided to do a major facelift of the interior of the place including new a new kitchen, upgrading the downstairs bathrooms that needed upgrading badly, and spiffing up the dining area.  He reopened Micky's on Aug. 28, 2012, 32 years to the day he originally opened Micky's. 

There was also an upgrade to the menu at Micky's, but about the only thing that we all order when we go for our little get-togethers is the Conglomeration.  Actually, Micky's Conglomeration is basically a grilled ham, turkey, Swiss and cheddar cheese sandwich served with ranch dressing on the side.  They used to have Conglomeration specials on Tuesday nights when I was going to school - a sandwich and fries were $2.95.  We ate many a Conglomeration on Tuesday nights in the early 80's.  That's exactly what the four of us ordered this particular evening.  However, two of my friends got them with fries, my other buddy and I got them with onion rings for a one dollar upcharge..  

It doesn't take long for a Conglomeration to get the table.  A couple things we noticed right off the bat.  Since this was the first time we'd eaten at the "new" Micky's after Jim Mondanaro reopened the place, the onion rings were house-battered and not the frozen onion rings they used to get from a food purveyor.  And the second thing was something we all noticed - the Conglomerations were REALLY small.  Much smaller than the ones we had gotten for years.  One of my friends sort of looked at the sandwich and said, "Really?  You've got to be kidding me.  These are like finger sandwiches!"  But the ham, turkey and cheese were piled high on the sandwich like they've been in the past and the sandwich had the nice grill taste to it that we all remembered.  

The onion rings were very good.  The crinkle-cut fries at Micky's are rather pedestrian, but they were better than the onion rings at times.  About half the time I'd go for fries, the other half the o-rings.  I just happened to hit the lottery on my visit this time with the new battered onion rings they now serve at Micky's.  

Although we were all somewhat disappointed they made the sandwich smaller, the Conglomeration was still as good in taste as it has been over the past 30 years that I've been coming into Micky's.  Most of the other food on the menu at Micky's is your typical Irish pub food with burgers, sandwiches and appetizers, as well as Irish entrees and pasta dishes.  Micky's also does breakfasts on Saturday and Sunday morning.  We've made a drive a couple three times over the years over to Iowa City to have breakfast at Micky's, but it's been awhile since we've done that.  I'm guessing the breakfasts they have today are as good as the ones they had years ago.  Micky's is an Iowa City tradition with thousands of people and even though we were disappointed in the size of the "new" Conglomerations, my buddies and I will be back later this year for more.

Five Roses Pub - Rosemont, IL

A few weeks ago, there was a high-end audio show held at a Doubletree Hotel in Rosemont, IL, a suburb of Chicago next to O'Hare Airport.  Rosemont is sort of a convention city with the large Donald E. Stephens Convention Center and a number of large hotels in the area.  They've also built an entertainment district that has a number of night spots, a large movie theater and some restaurants.  After unpacking some of our products for the day, my colleague, John, who had flown in for the show, and I decided to go out and get some dinner.  We ended up at an Irish pub - the Five Roses Pub. (see map)

Former Mayor Donald Stephens built somewhat of a small kingdom during his 50+ year run as Rosemont's first mayor.  Stephens was the president of a homeowners association when they voted to incorporate Rosemont as a city in 1956.  Stephens was elected the first mayor and re-elected an unprecedented 13 times before he passed away in 2007.  (His son, Bradley, succeeded him as mayor.)  The city grew from a population of 85 in 1956 to over 4,000 people with the bulk of Stephens work going into the convention center that bears his name, the Rosemont Theater and the Allstate Arena (formerly the Rosemont Horizon).  City taxes that are paid by guests in hotels and for use of the convention facilities puts tens of millions of dollars in the coffers of Rosemont each year.  

Boston-area entrepreneur and entertainment czar, Patrick Lyons, is the man behind the Five Roses Pub, the first business to open in what is known as the Park at Rosemont.  Working with Bradley Stephens and other village officials, he named his Irish pub Five Roses in deference to Donald Stephens over five decades as the town's mayor.  (Lyons also owns the Kings Bowl bowling and entertainment facility at the Park in Rosemont, as well as a number of restaurants, bars and clubs in the greater Boston area.)  

Actually, John and I tried to get into the new Hofbrauhaus, the newest of the United States franchises of the famed Hofbrauhaus in Munich.  However, the large dining hall was about half full of people and there was a band in there that was pretty loud.  It was late in the day, we were tired from the work at the show and we just wanted a quiet meal and some beer.  We weren't going to get a quiet meal at the Hofbrauhaus.  We had spotted Five Roses across the way and ventured over there instead.  

They had live music in Five Roses that night - a troubadour playing guitar - and we asked to sit somewhere away from the music.  The hostess put us at a table in the corner in the bar area and dropped off some menus.  Later on, when the music started, it turned out that we were seated below a small P.A. speaker that blared the music from the young man singing and playing guitar.  We sort of laughed at our misfortune, but soldiered on with the evening.  Besides, it was nowhere as loud as the music at the Hofbrauhaus.  

 
The interior of Five Roses is very reminiscent of an authentic Irish pub.  In fact, all the woodwork was made in Northern Ireland and shipped over to Rosemont to be installed in the restaurant.  It's quite obvious they spared no expense in making the interior of Five Roses appear to be one of the finest and authentic Irish pubs found anywhere.  (Click here for more pictures of Five Roses interior.)  

Five Roses Pub tries to capture the ambiance of an authentic Irish pub with having traditional Irish entrees on the menu.  They featured items such as Irish stew with soda bread, fish and chips, sausage and mash with beans, and an authentic Irish breakfast - Irish bacon, white & black pudding, breakfast bangers, Batchelors baked beans, grilled tomato, fried eggs, toast & marmalade - that is served all day long.  

After John got a Guinness and I grabbed a Smithwick's from our server, Haley, we ordered up some food.  I didn't want anything heavy since it was well past 9 p.m. by that time and I didn't want it to sit in my stomach while I tried to sleep.  I decided I was just going to get a sandwich and I was torn between the Irish dip sandwich - which is basically Five Roses answer to a French dip sandwich - and the corned beef sandwich.  I decided on the corned beef sandwich.  I got an order of chips (French fries) to go along with the meal.  And I saw underneath the chips on the menu that they had a number of sauces or dips to go along with them.  I ordered a side of brown gravy to go with the fries.  Yes, I know.  I said I didn't want anything heavy to lay in my stomach before I went to bed, but fries with gravy are SOOOOO good. 

John ordered up one of Five Roses signature dishes - the Lansdowne Pie.  It's sort of like a Shepherd's pie, only with made with chicken.   John said, "It was either that or the Shepard's pie, but the Lansdowne pie with chicken sounded interesting.  

Our food came out about 15 minutes after we ordered.  We had finished our beers and got a couple more with our meals.    

 
John's Lansdowne pie featured a large homemade bagel half that sat on top of the concoction in his bowl.  He pulled the bagel off the top of the Lansdowne chicken pie for me to get a picture before he dug in.  (Above right)  It had chunks of chicken, potatoes and other vegetables in a creamy broth.  Two thick half-slices of soda bread sat on the plate.

My corned beef sandwich came with toasted bread and an ample amount of corned beef.  The chips were large steak-style fries that had a crispy outer shell, but a nice potato taste to the middle.  The gravy was a nice little treat to dip the fries into. The corned beef sandwich was good, exactly what I was looking for to eat in a late day meal.  But there's not a lot you can do to distinguish one corned beef sandwich from the next.  

John said that his Lansdowne chicken pie was "fine."  He said, "Honestly, I wasn't expecting much coming in to this place, but my meal is fine."   

It does take a lot for me to have an authentic Irish pub literally knock my socks off when it comes to the quality and taste of food.  I'd call the sandwich I had at Five Roses as average for an Irish-style pub.  Our server, Haley, was pleasant and attentive, and you couldn't overlook the ornate interior of the place.  John actually went back with our colleague, Todd, a couple nights later and he reported that his meal was pretty much the same as the night we were there.  Not spectacular, but far from bad.  (Todd told me the Guinness was flat as they were having trouble with air in their beer lines.)    If you're looking for an Irish pub near O'Hare Airport, Five Roses Pub would be the place.  The experience was OK - not great, but not bad.  

Three Lyons Pub - West Fargo, ND

I did a less than favorable review for the burgers at JL Beers in Fargo last year (see that entry here) and I heard from a couple people who suggested that I try a place called Three Lyons Pub, an English Pub on the West side of Fargo.  (Actually, I don't know where Fargo ends and West Fargo begins.)  I had been out in Western North Dakota for a couple days and took a direct hit to my windshield from a rock that was kicked up by a truck in front of me.  A major crack developed in my windshield, so I made an appointment at a Safelite Glass location in Fargo to get it repaired.  I had some time to kill before I could get my car in and since it wasn't far away from Safelite Glass, I decided to go to Three Lyons to get a burger for lunch.

Three Lyons Pub is located in a strip mall on the south side of 13th Ave. E. in West Fargo (see map).  The owner, Blair Thoreson, opened the doors of the place in 2005.  Thoreson wears many hats - not only is he the owner of the Three Lyons Pub, he is also a medical program writer for Microsoft in Fargo (the largest Microsoft campus outside of the Seattle area is located in Fargo), and he has also served the Fargo area as a North Dakota state representative since 1998. Because he is so busy with other endeavors, Kent Larsen runs the day-to-day operation for Three Lyons Pub.  He's helped out by Michael Anderson who runs the kitchen, and Liz Swanson and Ryan Ellingson who co-manage the bar area.  

Blair Thoreson - pictured right  

I was a little apprehensive when I saw the exterior of Three Lyons Pub.  As my old neighbor, George, used to say about some Irish pubs, "They put up a couple Irish flags in a strip mall building and call it an Irish Pub."  I was afraid that Three Lyons may fall under that description, only as an English Pub in this case.  But I was pleasantly surprised when I entered to find a spacious dining area with high wooden tables with sturdy metal high back chairs, a long wooden bar to the left and a homey, pub style decor down to the pictures of Winston Churchill on the walls.  Ornate antique style lamps hung from the ceiling over the bar area. The back wall was made of brick and featured three flat screen televisions.  In fact, there were flat screen televisions located throughout the place.  

 

I had my pick of seats in the place as it was after the lunch rush, so I just decided to sit up at the bar.  One of the young ladies working the bar came over with a food menu and asked if I wanted anything to drink.  Since really all I had left that particular day was to get my windshield fixed, I ordered a pint of Smithwick's, one of nearly 20 beers Three Lyons has on tap.  Their beer menu is extensive with a number of domestic, import, craft brews, and cider beers available.  I've never been a big fan of the cider style beers, but they had six different ones to choose from at Three Lyons.  

Although I was told to try the burger at Three Lyons, they had a very interesting menu that included a dozen appetizers, three soups - including a corned beef and cabbage soup that sounded interesting to me, salads, sandwiches and a bevy of main entrees called "Her Majesty's Finest" which included Wellington Sliders - three small beef Wellington pastry puffs served with garlic mashed potatoes and Guinness beer gravy; Pasties - two puff pastry shells filled with ground beef with rutabagas and onions; Bangers and Mash - two pork sausages served with the Guinness gravy and garlic mashed potatoes; and a Shepherd's Pie - ground beef, carrots, onions and celery topped with garlic mashed potatoes and cheddar cheese.  The beef Wellington pastry puffs sounded very interesting to me.  

They also had a hot beef or hot turkey sandwich that was paired with garlic mashed potatoes and topped off with the Guinness gravy.  That actually sounded good to me - after a week of travel and eating all different types of food, some comfort food would have been welcome at that point.  They also had a London Broil sandwich featuring thin slices of steak on a French bread bun with your choice of two toppings that included sauteed mushrooms, sauteed onions and peppers, horseradish sauce, and jalapenos.  One other interesting sandwich was the Messy Jessy - pulled pieces of turkey topped with a homemade barbecue sauce, cheddar cheese and your choice of either pickles or jalapenos.  But, nope, I was there for a burger.

And their burger menu was rather interesting, as well.  You can get a regular hamburger or a turkey burger and build your own by adding cheese, veggies, bacon, etc.  But they also had a number of "signature" burgers including the "Klaus" - a burger with sauteed onions, jalapenos, bacon and cheddar cheese (jalapenos were very prevalent on many items on Three Lyons menu); the "Helle" - topped with, once again, jalapenos, bacon, pepperjack cheese and then sprinkled with the hot Chinese Sriracha sauce; the "Reu-burger" which wasn't a burger at all, but featured grilled corned beef and sauerkraut with Swiss cheese and 1000 Island dressing.  They had a blue cheese/bacon burger, a burger with American cheese and barbecue sauce, and a patty melt burger.

But the burger that caught my eye was the Mushroom Swiss cheese burger.  When the bartender asked me what I wanted to order, that's what I told her I wanted.  Except I also asked if I could get some bacon on the burger, as well.  For a dollar upcharge, she said it would be no problem.  Kettle potato chips come with the sandwich, but she told me for a small upcharge I could get a side of fries with a side of the Guinness gravy.  I quickly signed up for that.

It wasn't that long of a wait for the burger and fries to come out.  The burger patty was covered with Swiss cheese and an ample amount of mushrooms - canned, not fresh - and sat on the bacon.  The bun was big and fluffy, but it was a little dry and didn't really add much to the overall taste of the burger.  While the burger was good, I couldn't call it outstanding.  The bacon, cheese and mushrooms helped zip up the taste of the beef which was average, at best.  

The fries were also average, but the Guinness gravy was worth the price of admission.  Thick, savory and flavorful, it was better than dipping the fries in ketchup.  I even dipped the burger in the gravy for a couple bites.  The Guinness gravy was outstanding.  

While the burger at Three Lyons was all right, I don't know if it was better than the one I had last year just down the street at JL Beers.  It seemed to be a bit more flavorful, but still not one that I'd deem as excellent.  But for pub fare, the burger was fine.  As was the service from my bartender.  Three Lyons Pub is a nice little place with a pretty good - but not outstanding - burger.  If I were to make it back at some point, I'd want to try some of their more traditional English fare.   

Blarney Stone Pub - Bismarck, ND

I stopped in Bismarck earlier this summer to call on one of my long-time dealers in town and to take him out to lunch.  A couple three years ago, I had been up to Grand Forks and found a nice place called the Toasted Frog (see that entry here).  I heard that they had opened a location in Bismarck and I suggested we go there.  My dealer said, "Sure!  That sounds good.  I've been there a couple times and it's pretty good."  

We went to The Toasted Frog and found that it didn't open until 4 p.m.  Just across the street from The Toasted Frog was The Pirogue Grille, a place we had eaten at one time a few years ago.  (See that entry here.)  However, my dealer said, "Well, we're in the same boat with The Pirogue Grille.  It doesn't open until late afternoon, too."

He stood there for a moment and said, "Ah!  I know a place we can go.  It's just around the corner."  We walked down N. 4th St. to Main and took a left.  In the middle of the block was an Irish pub by the name of the Blarney Stone Pub.  (see map)  

(Disclosure - I didn't bring my phone with me, so the pictures I have in this blog were courtesy of the Blarney Stone's Facebook Page.) 

Thanks to a boom in oil and gas drilling in Northwest North Dakota, a number of cities and towns in the area are going through some major changes.  Some of the changes are good, but some are bad.  Bismarck is benefiting the most out of the oil and gas boom in North Dakota as it has become the favored place for oil company executives to live.  There has been an upscale housing and office space boom in the area and a handful of restaurants have popped up over the past couple three years.   The Blarney Stone is one of those places and they've been open for just under three years.  The pub is owned by a group consisting of Matt and Kelly Geiger, who own a construction company in Bismarck; Jim and Nicole Poolman (Jim Poolman is the former State Insurance Commissioner for North Dakota and is currently a consultant in Bismarck); Bil and Michele Rydquist (Bil Rydquist owns a heating and refrigeration business in Bismarck); and Russ Wanner, who is the managing partner at The Blarney Stone.  The group worked together to make decisions on the downtown location, the decor of the restaurant, and the eventual menu.  

The inside of the Blarney Stone is very reminiscent of an authentic Irish pub - heavy on the brick work with a large ornate wood bar in the main room as you walk in.  There's a large upstairs area for private parties and overflow dining.  

Off to the side of the main dining room/bar is an ornate and elegant dining room called the Grand Room with a large fireplace with a beautiful wooden mantle.  And through a large brick arch was a hallway with a handful of private booth dining areas, each with their own arch entry way.  The Blarney Stone would have been classy even in a much larger city.

We were escorted by a hostess into another dining area through the elegant room.  This was the Blarney Stone's "courtyard" dining area.  Actually, it was a long dining room with its own bar, and a number of high tables with what amounted to a large open garage door on the south end of the room.  We sat at a high table near the garage door and the hostess left off menus for us to look over.  Ricky was our server that day and he took our drink order while we took a look through the menus.  

Each day through the week, the Blarney Stone has a lunch special from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.  Since it was on a Wednesday when we were there, the special that day was a half smoked Sicilian sandwich with a bowl of cheesy chicken tortilla soup.  The Sicilian sandwich on its own piqued my interest - it consisted of smoked ham, pepperoni, and bacon with mozzarella cheese sitting on a bed of Spring lettuce, black olives, balsamic marinated tomato slices and sliced sweet onions, all sitting in between slices of grilled focaccia bread.  Marinara sauce came with it on the side.  I came into the place thinking a reuben would be pretty good, but this one jolted my taste buds.  

They also had a number of entrees, appetizers and burgers including something called the Haystack McFarland.  Named after a fictional Irish wrestler, this sandwich is Blarney Stone's "challenge" meal that consists of five different Blarney Stone signature burgers (such as the Rosemary O'Reilly, the Irish Mexican, and the Hot-Headed Irishman) along with two pounds of waffle fries.  It costs $48 bucks and you get 30 minutes to down the burger and fries or you have to pay for the burger.  You also get a free t-shirt if you win the challenge.  This is a somewhat disturbing trend I'm seeing in restaurants, primarily because of Adam Richman and his "Man vs. Food" food challenges on The Travel Channel.  Now, I love the Man vs. Food show, but I'm getting a little bored with these challenges.  Pictured at left is a young guy who is getting ready to take the challenge.  (He lost...)

My guest was thinking about getting one of the Blarney Stone's salads for lunch.  When Ricky came to take our order for food, my dealer had a question regarding the "angry sauce" that the Blarney Stone used on their Angry Chicken Caesar Salad.  Ricky said that it was a variation of a Buffalo wing sauce that they made in house.  "It's spicy, but not that bad," he told my dealer.  So, that's what my dealer ordered.

Even though the Smoked Sicilian sandwich was still at the top of my list, I couldn't help but notice a number of other items on the extensive menu.  The Shepherd's Pie looked very interesting, as did the corned beef and creamed cabbage platter.  There was also the Blarney Dip - sliced roast beef on a grilled hoagie bun, topped with melted Swiss cheese and garlic Aioli.  It came with a Rosemary Onion au jus gravy to dip the sandwich in. Oh, man!  It was between that and the Smoked Sicilian, but when it came my time to order I went with my original gut instinct and go the Smoked Sicilian - a whole without the soup - and waffle fries.  Ricky asked if I wanted any of the Dublin sauce to go along with it.  When I asked him what Dublin sauce was, he said, "It's mayo with pureed artichoke..."  I forgot what he said after that.  I immediately signed up for some of that, as well. 

As we waited for our lunches to show up, we talked a little business and how the oil and gas boom has been affecting my dealer's business.  He said, "Our retail traffic is still mediocre, but the number of homes that we're involved with doing home theaters or whole house systems is what's driving our overall business.  The housing boom is getting to the point that if someone calls up a builder and asks to talk to them about building them a home in the area, the first thing the builder asks is, 'Do you have a plot of land?'  If they don't, the builders won't even talk to them.  'Get a plot of land first,' the builders will say. 'Then come back and talk to me.'  I'm telling you, it's just crazy."

He was also telling me that with the boom, it's also brought some hardships to areas of North Dakota.  "Our infrastructure can't keep up.  The big trucks are tearing up our roads out west, we don't have enough state troopers to patrol the roads, crime is up in some of towns out west (that was confirmed later in the day by my dealer out in Dickinson).  The east side of the state isn't seeing this economic boom, but they have the most population.  None of the state legislators from out east aren't willing to earmark money for the problems that are starting to arise out west and they control most of the voting.  Even though I'm benefiting from it, I don't think this boom is good for the state as a whole."    

His salad and my sandwich was brought out to us and the sandwich was much larger than what I bargained for.   They actually had a picture (albeit not a good one) on the Blarney Stone Facebook page of the Smoked Sicilian sandwich with waffle fries and marinara on the side - exactly what I ordered.  The sandwich was piled high with the smoked ham, bacon and pepperoni, sitting on the bed of lettuce, tomatoes, olives and onions.  The focaccia was lightly toasted and crisp.  I had to cut it in half just to be able to handle it.  

The Smoked Sicilian was very good.  Years ago, T.G.I. Friday's used to have a similar sandwich - the Hot Sicilian - but they took it off the menu.  It was the only reason I would go into a T.G.I. Friday's to eat.  Every once in a while I'd find a T.G.I. Friday's that would still be able to make their Hot Sicilian sandwich, but it's been years since that last happened.  Which also directly correlates to the last time I can remember being in a T.G.I Friday's.  But the Smoked Sicilian at the Blarney Stone was every bit as good as the Hot Sicilian at T.G.I. Friday's.  And it was a lot of food.  I was having trouble eating the second half of the sandwich and I told my dealer, "Geez, I should have gotten the half sandwich and soup combo. This is a big sandwich!"

The waffle fries were all right, but they were helped with the Dublin sauce.  It had sort of a peppery taste to the sauce and it was very good.  I was extremely impressed with my meal at the Blarney Stone.  

My dealer was happy with his Angry Chicken Caesar Salad.  There were a lot of small chunks of grilled chicken that had been dipped in the spicy sauce before it was placed on the Caesar Salad.  He said that the waiter was right, the sauce wasn't all that spicy.  "This is very good," my dealer declared.  

I had been looking through the beer list earlier during our visit and I was impressed with the number of beers they had to choose from at the Blarney Stone.  I told my dealer that I'd like to come back some night and take the other guys who work for him out to dinner and to have a few beers at the place.  And the food prices were very affordable.  The Smoked Sicilian was $9.99 and the waffle fries came with it.  It was a lot of food at a great value.  

(Since my original visit to the Blarney Stone earlier this summer, I was just in North Dakota on business last week with a factory guy from Focal Loudspeakers.  We stopped at the Blarney Stone for lunch on our way out to Dickinson, ND and I had the Guinness Irish Stew - slow-roasted beef cubes with carrots, potatoes, mushrooms, onions, garlic, thyme and rosemary in a hearty Guinness beer broth served in a miniature pot.  The guy from Focal, Jean-Philippe, had the Hot-Headed Irishman burger - a 1/2 pound burger topped with jalapenos, blue cheese dressing, pepperjack cheese and Blarney Stone's "Angry" sauce.  He said the burger was outstanding and I have to say the Guinness Irish Stew was equally as good.)  

I was very impressed by the Blarney Stone.  As my old neighbor, George, used to say, "I hate places that put up a couple Irish flags and call themselves an Irish pub."  The Blarney Stone was far from that.  The ornate brick and woodwork throughout the place, along with the old world Irish feel, and the great food and beer menu would have worked for the Blarney Stone had it been in a city like Milwaukee, St. Louis or Indianapolis.  I don't get up to Bismarck all that often, but I have a place that has risen to the top of my list of "revisits".  And the way my business is growing in North Dakota, I need to get up there more often.  

Curragh Irish Pub - Holland, MI

One evening when we were in Western Michigan for our little long weekend trip earlier this year, Cindy and I decided that we wanted to keep it low key and eat at one of the more casual establishments in downtown Holland.  (Have I said how nice of town Holland is and how great their downtown shopping and restaurant area is?)  We had our choice between two - the New Holland Brewing Company and Curragh Irish Pub right across the street.  Cindy liked the idea of eating at an Irish Pub, so we decided upon eating at Curragh that evening.  (See map)

Curragh (pronounced CURR-ack with sort of a phlegmy throaty emphasis on the "ack") is named after the home of flatland racing in Ireland, the Curragh Racetrack, a historic race track that hosts all five of the classic Irish horse races - including the Irish Derby - and has been around since the 1700's.  It's documented that chariot races were held on the grounds of the Curragh race track in the third century.  

The original Curragh Irish Pub opened in 1999 in Schaumburg, IL next to the massive Woodfield Mall.  But the roots of the pub go back even further to a Chicago area restaurant called J.J. Finnegan's that was started by Jim Leongas in 1984.  His son, Paul Leongas, was the managing partner for the first Curragh and they later opened a second Curragh location in Skokie.  (The original location in Schaumburg had to move due to development of a strip mall on the spot where the building stood.  They moved the original building, piece by piece, to its present day location on Northwest Highway in the Chicago suburb of Edison Park.)

Jim Leongas opened a J.J. Finnegan's in Holland, MI in 1988 and it was run by his daughter, Sophia.  Sophia and her husband, Dave Jurgensen, opened the third Curragh in Holland around 2006 and closed the J.J. Finnegan's restaurant in Holland in 2009.  They hired an Irish ex-patriot, Glen Behan, to run the day-to-day operations at the Curragh.

My old neighbor, George, is half-Irish and he used to scoff at an establishment that called itself an "Irish pub" when it would put up a couple Irish flags in the place and have Guinness on tap.  George wouldn't have any trouble with Curragh calling themselves an Irish pub - the place is Irish, through and through.  The inside of the bar has an old Irish feeling down to the wooden bars (two of them) in the place.  A number of televisions are interspersed throughout the place and Curragh Irish Pub is the unofficial soccer headquarters for Western Michigan, showing games from Europe on satellite sports channels.  Flags of all the European countries are on display, hanging from the ceiling.  In fact, there was no other sports on television other than soccer that evening.  

There is an seating area at Curragh that features open air seating or seating under an awning.  When we checked in at the outside hostess stand, we were asked if we wanted inside or outside seating.  Clouds were moving in and rain was forecast for later in the evening, so we sort of hemmed and hawed for a moment before we decided on sitting outside at one of the wrought iron tables with similar chairs.  The patio was about a third full that evening - a Sunday night - not a big night in Holland.  They've only had Sunday beer sales available in the town for about four years.

We were given menus and Kelly, our server for the evening, came over to take our drink order.  I ordered a Smithwick's and Cindy got a Bass.  (I later found out that they had Magic Hat 9 on tap, as well.  I was kicking myself because Cindy would have liked that better than she likes Bass.)  

While we were looking through the menu, I began to kind of notice that the clouds to the west were churning up rather quickly.  I got out my smartphone and punched up Weatherbug to see the local radar.  There was a rather large storm that was just off the western coast of Michigan not far from Holland.  When I showed it to Cindy, I said, "I think maybe we'd better move inside."  

She looked over at the seating under the awning, hoping there would be an open table under there.  But there wasn't.   When Kelly came out with our beers I showed her the radar image on my phone.  I said, "You know, this looks like it's coming in sooner than later and I would rather not have to interupt my meal to pick up and go.  Is there a possibility that we could move inside now?"

Kelly said, "Oh my gosh!  Well, yes!  Let's move you inside."  She left our beers and delivered two more to another table before she came back.  She picked up both of our beers, beer coasters and menus and put them back on her tray.  We protested that we could carry all that ourselves, but she wouldn't let us.  We asked if she would be taking care of us inside and she said that she could.  Kelly got a good tip that evening for being overly accommodating.

Most of the food on the menu at Curragh is your typical Irish pub fare - shepherd's pie, fish and chips, Irish stew, cottage pie.  They also had some steaks, seafood, burgers and sandwiches on the menu.  We had eaten a late lunch earlier in the day, but it was after 8 p.m. when we were seated inside the Curragh.   Cindy was on a seafood kick and I was looking for a good hearty dinner.  

The shepherd's pie and the corned beef with cabbage were suddenly at the top of my list, but my eyes wandered down the menu and saw something called "Galway Bay Seafood Fleadh".  (Fleadh is Gaelic for "festival".)  It featured a north Atlantic pollack filet, stuffed with shrimp, crab meat and marscapone (a very rich Italian-style cheese), then baked in an oven.  It was served with a lime hollandaise sauce, griddle fried potato-crab cakes and vegetables.  Ooooooohhhh!  That sounded great!   But I wasn't in the mood for seafood that evening.  (As I write this, my stomach is doing jumping jacks.  If we get back there at some point, I'm getting that.)

I also was looking at the Sea Salt and Herb-rubbed beef tenderloin filet - an 8 oz. seasoned filet, grilled then drizzled with a sweet lemon ancho chile butter that would give it a little sweet and smoky bite.  Mmmmm.... Decisions, decisions.  

I was trying to get Cindy to get the Galway Bay Seafood Fleadh (mainly so I could have a couple bites), but one of the specials that evening was a salad that featured sea scallops, greens and chopped veggies.  Cindy thought that would be good to get.  She also ordered a cup of the Guinness cheese soup - a mixture of sausage, potatoes and onion with a cheddar cheese/Guinness beer base - for us to share.

When Kelly asked me what I wanted, I was still torn.  I thought the North Atlantic stuffed pollack would be great, but it also sounded pretty rich.  Shepherd's pie is also pretty rich and I wasn't THAT hungry. When I heard myself say, "Corned beef and cabbage", I still didn't know if that was what I really wanted.   

When Kelly brought out the "cup" of Cindy's Guinness cheese soup, I remarked, "Geez, Cindy!  I'm glad you didn't order the bowl!"  

Kelly said, "Oh, we just have one size for the soup.  It's sort of in between a bowl and a cup." 

And you want to talk about rich!  Hoo boy, that soup was almost a meal in itself.  It featured large chunks of potatoes (I couldn't really tell if there was sausage in there or not) in a very rich cheese base.  It was good, but I didn't want to eat much more than about three spoonfuls of the stuff.  I was afraid it would spoil my dinner.

As we pushed what was left of the soup away from us, we noticed that more people were coming in from the outside.  A couple of ladies who were seated near us came by our table and one of them said, "You guys were smart coming in when you did!"  

Cindy asked, "Is it starting to rain?"

The lady said, "Well, not yet, but the wind's come up and it's gotten cooler.  It looks like it's only a matter of moments before it will start to rain."  

Not long after that, Kelly brought our food to the table.  The corned beef and cabbage featured only a few small cuts of corned beef with a couple scoops of mashed potatoes, both topped with a horseradish sauce.  A generous amount of cabbage came with it, but I concentrated primarily on the corned beef and potatoes.  The corned beef was very tender and flavorful, and I really enjoyed the creamy horseradish sauce on the top.  I should have asked for fresh ground horseradish, come to think of it.  But it was good enough as it was.  But quite honestly, I don't think there's not much you can do to corned beef and cabbage to make it any different from restaurant to restaurant.  

Cindy's salad was exactly what she wanted.  It was light and tasty with some greens, chopped carrots, peppers and sprinkled with herbs.  She offered me one of the scallops and they were plump and cooked perfectly - not overcooked to where they're rubbery, but not undercooked where they're kind of squishy in the middle.  

I know Cindy really liked the Curragh Irish Pub a lot. "We made the right choice," she said, meaning that we could have had dinner across the street at the New Holland Brewing Company.  We did say that the next time we come back to Holland that we'd have to try the brewpub, but we'd also have to come back to Curragh at some point, as well.  The food was good for an Irish pub, the service was impeccable, the decor and ambience of the place made it feel like you were in a true Irish pub back in the homeland.  We couldn't do anything but recommend Curragh as a must stop when you're in Holland.

Peggy Kinnane's - Arlington Heights, IL

To mix things up a bit, I've been staying at a new Hampton Inn in Mount Prospect on my recent trips into Chicago.  Although it's not quite as convenient as the Hampton Inn in Addison in terms of getting there from anyplace around the Chicagoland area, it is close to my largest dealer, Abt Electronics.  Plus, it's in the middle of the Randhurst Village Shopping Center and there's a number of newer and established places to eat in the immediate area.  Arlington Heights is just down the road and they have a handful of interesting places to eat.  I decided to try an Irish pub by the name of Peggy Kinnane's one evening.     

Peggy Kinnane's opened in 2001 and is owned by Irish ex-patriot Derek Hanley.  Hanley comes from a long line of pub owners. His grandfather, John Joe Kinnane, had been a noted goalie for an Irish football (soccer) team before he opened Setright's Pub in Cratloe, County Clare.  John Joe's son - and Derek's father - Jack Hanley, was a band leader who played in many pubs across Ireland before he opened his own place in Templemore, County Tipperary.  Jack Hanley married an Irish lass by the name of Peggy Kinnane, hence the name of Derek Hanley's establishment in Arlington Heights.  

Derek Hanley (pictured right) came to the United States in 1985, settling first in New York City, then he moved up to Boston after a couple of years where he met his wife.  Hanley and his wife moved to Los Angeles, then to Denver, then back to his home in Tipperary, before finally moving to Arlington Heights around the turn of the 21st century.

While Peggy Kinnane's is located in a revitalized area of downtown Arlington Heights (see map) the inside of the building is rather unique.  The stone walls are all imported stone from County Clare in Ireland.  The woodwork and the long curving bar were all constructed in Ireland and shipped to the United States.  And all of the knick-knacks - known as bric-a-back in Ireland - on display on the walls and shelves of Peggy Kinnane's are all authentic items from Ireland, many items that were passed down through the family that were once on display in both his grandfather's and father's pubs.  The only thing Americanized about Peggy Kinnane's is the modern brick facade on the side of the building that houses apartment/condos above the restaurant.

It was around 8 p.m. when I got into Peggy Kinnane's.  A young hostess greeted me and asked me where I wanted to sit.  She suggested the bar area, but it was a little busy in there and there wasn't much room at the bar.  I looked around the corner at a table with a bench seat against the wall, but realized that I'd be the only one seated alone in the area.  I wandered around with her before settling on a spot near the elongated end of the bar that had curved around into the dining area.  She dropped off a menu and my bartender server for the evening - who went by the name of "Smith" - came over to greet me.  I ordered up a Smithwick's and took a look through the menu.  

I had been on the road for a couple days up to that point and I wasn't overly certain what I wanted to eat that evening.  The menu at Peggy Kinnane's features a slew of appetizers, soups and salads, burgers and sandwiches, as well as Irish staples such as Shepherd's Pie, Irish Lamb Stew, fish and chips, and boxty - a thick potato pancake-like concoction that can be served with vegetables, grilled chicken, and/or seafood.  I've had boxty once a number of years ago at a place in Minneapolis and I remember it as being good.  

The menu is so extensive at Peggy Kinnane's I was having a tough time trying to figure out what to get.  I was hungry, but I really didn't know what I was hungry for.  I was thinking about getting one of their burgers - the "Ulster" featured Swiss cheese, bacon and sauteed mushrooms with their "Emerald Isle" sauce (basically 1000 Island dressing.  But I didn't know if I wanted to try a burger that evening.  The reuben looked inviting, as did their cold-served corned beef sandwich.  But, once again, I wasn't overly certain I just wanted a sandwich.  The Shepherd's Pie and the boxty with a sauteed chicken breast, mushrooms, tomatoes, and scallions in a white wine cream sauce both sounded good, but it also sounded too rich for my stomach that evening.  I was in a quandary and decided to hold off and have a couple beers before I ordered up my meal. 

After about a half hour of trying to figure out what I wanted, I  got Smith's attention and ordered up the Peggy Kinnane's meat loaf - a piece of meat loaf slathered in a Jameson whisky glaze sauce, grilled lightly and then topped with a mushroom gravy.  It also came with a side of mashed potatoes and fresh vegetables.  When he brought it to me, I knew there would be no way I'd be able to finish off the whole meal.  The meat loaf was a large slab over a half-inch thick topped with the mushroom gravy.  The vegetable medley featured an abundant amount of sliced carrots, broccoli and cauliflower.  The mashed potatoes were just a scoop off to the side.  

The meat loaf was all right - it had an OK flavor to it and I would have liked to have had more of the mushroom gravy on the top, but it was fine.  The potatoes were rather pedestrian as I only had a couple small bites of those.  However, the vegetable medley was very fresh and cooked perfectly.  They weren't mushy, nor had the taste been cooked out of them.  Whoever cooked the vegetables at Peggy Kinnane's knew exactly what they were doing.  

I left about a quarter of the meat loaf, nearly all of the potatoes and a smattering of sliced carrots on my plate.  Smith asked me if I wanted to have it wrapped up, but, no, there was no way I'd eat this as a leftover even if I were taking it home with me.  

After I finished up paying my bill, I took a walk around Peggy Kinnane's just to see the place.  There's a nice little backroom near the restrooms that featured a fireplace and a nice place to hang.  The dining area was rather spacious and they also had an outdoor seating area.  It had a great feeling to the place.  It definitely wasn't the type of place where someone put up a couple Irish flags and called the bar an authentic Irish pub.  

As I said earlier, the bar snaked around the north and west sides of Peggy Kinnane's.  The woodwork and stonework throughout the place were elegant and impressive.  I got the two pictures above off of Peggy Kinnane's web site because the pictures I tried to take inside the low-lit restaurant didn't turn out very well from my phone camera.  

I thought my food was pretty good at Peggy Kinnane's, but like corned beef and cabbage it's tough to add pizazz to meat loaf.  I did think the food was rather high in price - $15.95 for a meat loaf platter. (Burgers were a minimum of 10 bucks and other menu items seemed to be rather high priced, as well.)  But Smith provided good service for me and I really had little to no complaints about the place.  Peggy Kinnane's is a unique experience and one that I'm glad I found in Arlington Heights. 

J K O'Donnell's - Fort Wayne, IN

During a trip to Fort Wayne to do a presentation for the staff at Sweetwater, one of the largest dealers of products for professional and amateur musicians in the nation, my colleague Simon set up a get-together for some of the sales staff at an Irish bar called J K O'Donnell's.  He'd taken some of the staff there before and they were sequestered in a partyroom where they had a fixed menu of appetizers and entrees.  Oh, and unlimited beer.  Simon got it set up for another night of food and beer when we were there just before Christmas last December.

Downtown Fort Wayne is not unlike many mid-sized Midwestern communities that has suffered from an economic downturn over the past 10 to 20 years.  With an urban flight of both people and businesses, store fronts have closed up, people are living away from the center of cities, and downtown areas have become ghost towns after 5 p.m.  A number of business people saw the need for a revitalization of the downtown area and one of those men was Scott Glaze, the owner of a company that made medical grade wiring in Fort Wayne.  Glaze traveled often for his job, both across the United States and to foreign countries.  He was struck at how some similar sized cities had a downtown area with shops and restaurants that he didn't find in Fort Wayne.  He wanted to begin a renaissance of the downtown area, but knew he couldn't do it alone.  

Glaze got a group of what he called "crazy entrepreneurs" on board for his vision of a downtown revitalization in Fort Wayne.  He knew it wouldn't happen overnight, but he had to help get the ball rolling in regard to bringing the downtown back to a vibrant destination.  Along with his wife, Melissa, Glaze wasn't certain if he wanted to open a retail shop or a restaurant for their part of the revitalization project.  They just knew they wanted to do something. 

It was during one of his trips to Castlebar, Ireland to a facility that worked with his company, Glaze found himself in a quaint Irish bar that he fell deeply in love with.   The Irish pub gave him the inspiration to open an authentic Irish pub in Fort Wayne.  Along with partners Dennis and Jeremy Rohrs, and managing partner Kim Jacobs, the Glaze's opened J K O'Donnell's in August of 2007.  Two years later, they expanded into a building beside the business and made that an overflow/party room with extra restrooms.   

The main dining room consists of a quaint three-sided bar with a highback bar area that goes from ceiling to floor centered in the middle of the room.  Regular tables and high tables like you'd find in an Irish pub were throughout the room.  You have to walk through the dining area to get to the party room in the back corner of the restaurant.  

Simon had invited about 25 of the top Focal Pro loudspeaker salesmen to the little soiree that snowy evening.  Like before, he settled on a number of appetizers and a fixed menu for dinner.  As many of the Sweetwater people made it into the room, the appetizers were brought in and a waiter went around taking drink orders.  

The beer list at J K O'Donnell's is pretty extensive with a mix of domestic and imported beers.  They had a number of very good Midwestern microbreweries to choose from including the Three Floyds brewery out of Munster, IN.  (Click here to read about my visit to the Three Floyds brewpub.)   For my first beer of the evening, I went with a Three Floyds Alpha King pale ale, a very forward and hoppy pale ale that I like to drink from time to time.  

The appetizers were set on a table and they consisted of chicken wings, an artichoke dip served with toasted bread slices, homemade potato chips (that were way over-cooked) and Simon's favorite - fried pickles.  Here's a picture of Simon taking a bite into the fried pickles at J K O'Donnell's.  Quite actually, the fried pickles were the highlight of the appetizer spread with the artichoke dip a close second.  The fried pickles weren't dill spears like you normally will see with that type of appetizer, but rather dill chips covered in a beer batter that was very tasty.   

I had finished my Three Floyds Alpha King and decided that while I was in an Irish pub, I'd better get an Irish beer.  I ordered up a Smithwick's the second time around.  But when the waiter brought it to me I found it to be very flat.  So much so that I didn't even finish it.  I got the waiter's attention and told him that I wanted something else.  I ordered up a Bell's Two Hearted pale ale and stuck with that the rest of the evening.  

The fixed menu we had that evening had a number of items off of J K O'Donnell's regular menu including fish and chips, Irish stew, an authentic corned beef and slaw sandwich, as well as a corned beef and cabbage entree, and bangers and mash.  Actually, Simon had talked up the Shepherd's Pie before we got there and I was disappointed to not see it on the fixed menu.  Even though both the corned beef and cabbage and the corned beef and slaw sandwich sounded good, I ended up ordering the Irish stew which was the closest thing to Shepherd's Pie without the mashed potatoes on top.  (A late arriving Sweetwater person actually ordered the Shepherd's Pie.  Had I known I could have done that, I would have.)

Our meals began to show up and a couple people at the table I was seated at got the fish and chips (below left).  The fish looked a little dark and both people said that it was a little overcooked.  Like the homemade potato chips, the fish was darned near burnt from the fryer on the outside.  It was like the oil in the fryer was too hot and they should have taken the fish out a minute earlier.  The fish was a little rubbery, it was reported to me by those who had it, probably from the overcooking.  

My Irish stew was actually pretty good.  It was thick and hearty with a very robust taste.  It had large chunks of all-natural beef along with a potpourri of vegetables in a dense gravy/broth.  A side house salad came with the Irish stew that went well with the meal.  A guy at a table next to me got the corned beef and cabbage.  And while it did look very good, I was overly happy with my Irish stew.  It was a good "stick-to-your-ribs" meal on a cold winter evening in Fort Wayne.  

Many of the Sweetwater gang began to filter out before 9 a.m. as they had a 7 a.m. sales meeting the next morning.  I settled up the bill with the waiter and it was actually pretty reasonable for the amount of food and drinks that we had.  I'd have to say J K O'Donnell's did a fine job in capturing the essence of an authentic Irish pub with the food, the extensive beer list and the decor throughout the place.  The wait staff was quick and efficient, and it was a pleasant evening all around.  Simon does these little parties from time to time when he comes out to Fort Wayne to deal with Sweetwater.  Now that I've been indoctrinated into the Sweetwater culture I'm sure I'll be back to J K O'Donnell's at some point quaffing a few beers and hopefully getting the Shepherd's Pie.   

McBob's Pub and Grill - Milwaukee

One of my dealers in Milwaukee, Ultra Fidelis, moved out to Wauwatosa on North Avenue a little over a year ago. North Avenue is sort of a mish-mash of funky stores, little restaurants and blue-collar bars. One of the guys at Ultra Fidelis was telling me that there was this great little neighborhood bar on North Avenue a couple miles away from their store - McBob's Pub and Grill - that had one of the best corned beef sandwiches in Milwaukee. "Maybe even the world," he exclaimed. "It's a great sandwich." One evening with nothing to do in Milwaukee, I decided to seek out McBob's and give their sandwich a try.

McBob's is one of those old time neighborhood taps that permeate the Beer City. It has more of an Irish theme to the place, one a number of Irish pubs in Milwaukee. (For a city that is heavy in German heritage, they have an awful lot of Irish-style pubs in Milwaukee.) Of course, St. Patrick's Day is huge at McBob's with corned beef and cabbage, Guinness and bag pipes all mixed in.

McBob's is the nickname for the McRoberts family who started McBob's a number of years ago. However, for the 20 or so years, the place was run by Bob Rubner (pictured right, courtesy of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel), and his wife, Christine McRoberts (the daughter of the previous owner). In 1995, Brian Hunter came to work for Rubner and McRoberts and later became a partner in the place.

This is where the back story about McBob's turns a little strange.

In 1988, Bob Rubner was living in Vienna, Austria and he happened to come back to a family gathering at McBob's. There, he "re-met" his first cousin, Christine McRoberts, who was seven years younger than Rubner. According to McRoberts, it was love at first sight and two years later they were married in California - a state where it is legal for first cousins to marry. They came back to work at McBob's, eventually taking it over.

Rubner was instrumental in turning the place into a nearly authentic Irish/Scottish pub. He began to cook and came up with their famous corned beef sandwich. He also came up with a number of soups and the McBob's Chili which, I understand, is some of the best in the city of Milwaukee. Rubner also started making Irish breakfasts at McBob's. His "McRobert's Plaid" entree is pretty unique for breakfast - it's 3 eggs topped with peppers and onions, then topped with Swiss and American cheese in sort of a plaid pattern.

Rubner had a great sense of humor and told many stories about a mischievous fictional character "Seamus". Nearly every day, Rubner would come up with a new story regarding the exploits of Seamus. And he was a treasure trove of jokes that he would share with his customers.

Unfortunately, Bob Rubner was also an alcoholic which led to many physical issues. In March of this year, just before his beloved St. Patrick's Day, Rubner couldn't take it any longer and committed suicide. He was 58 years old. McRoberts and Hunter continue to run McBob's, but it's apparent that Bob Rubner is missed by all.

I found a parking space just across the street on busy North Ave. (see map) Like the neighborhood surrounding McBob's, the clientele is a diversified group of ethnic and socio-culture individuals. Young families, older families, young guys and girls with piercings and tattoos, yuppie couples enjoying a beer - McBob's was a literal melting pot of people from all walks of life. I immediately liked the place.

Like most Irish-style pubs I've been to, McBob's has a plethora of signage - both lighted and unlighted - and other paraphernalia on the walls. The lighting is subdued, but still good enough to allow me to read a copy of the Journal-Sentinel in the dining area. The bar took up the east wall of McBob's and it was evident that a number of the regulars were holding those places that evening.

Taking a table along the back wall of the place, a waiter came over to drop off a menu and to take my drink order. I ordered up a Smithwick's and looked over the menu. McBob's is also somewhat famous for their homemade tacos - made with beef or chicken in a 10" soft flour shell, then topped with cheese, onion, sour cream, lettuce, tomato and your choice of three different temperatures of salsa. It sounded tempting, as did the hot roast beef sandwich - comfort food on a chilly and rainy Milwaukee evening.

But I decided to get what I went there for - the corned beef sandwich. Actually, McBob's reuben sandwich isn't much different as they add Swiss cheese and sauerkraut to the corned beef. I had my choice of either marble rye or light rye bread. I took the marble rye. And since it was a Wednesday night, I could get a "deluxe" corned beef sandwich. That meant that I could get a side of french fries with a pickle spear, and a cup of soup. (They have their "deluxe" sandwiches on Monday, Wednesday and Friday's at McBob's.) The featured soup that evening, in addition to their chili, was a creamy chicken and rice - one of the soups that Bob Rubner came up with years ago. While I decided against getting fries, I did order up a cup of the soup.

The soup came out first and it was very good. It had large chunks of chicken and the creamy broth was very tasty. It was a nice start up to the meal.

Not long after I finished my soup, my waiter came out with my sandwich and fries. A generous amount of horseradish mustard was on top of the corned beef which was slow roasted, overly moist and literally falling apart on my sandwich.

The marble rye bread was a little dried out and it didn't take long for the juices from the corned beef to get sopped up in the bread. Because of that, the sandwich suddenly became a mess of soggy bread that was falling apart, large chunks of corned beef that dropped into the basket on top of the chips, and horseradish mustard oozing onto my fingers. I looked for my waiter to get a fork, but he sort of forgot about me. I did my best to not look like a medieval barbarian as I picked up chunk after chunk of corned beef by my fingers and put it in my mouth. By the time I was finished, the waiter finally came around. He asked if I needed anything else and I said, "Yeah! Napkins!"

But the corned beef was simply out of this world. I like a good corned beef sandwich from time to time and this was one of the best I had, exploding bread notwithstanding. The beef was succulent and flavorful. What ever they do to their corned beef at McBob's, I wish I could do with corned beef at home.

With a couple beers, tax and tip, my meal came to just over $22 bucks at McBob's that evening. The corned beef was as good as advertised, the soup was delicious, and while the service (I thought) was a little sub par, it was fully understandable as the waiter was a busy guy with a lot of people coming into McBob's to get food. As a place to hang out and have a beer with friends, McBob's would be a great place to do so. But the food is what makes the place unique. And even though he is no longer with us, the spirit of Bob Rubner lives on at McBob's.

McGurk's Public House - O'Fallon, MO

When I used to work for my old company out in St. Peters, MO up to 2002, one of the places my ex-boss liked to take us to for a casual lunch or dinner was McGurk's Public House in downtown O'Fallon, MO (see map). Whether it was for a good sandwich or a nice meal, McGurk's Public House was sort of the defacto place to go since it was relatively close to my ex-boss' house in O'Fallon.

 

McGurk's Public House is closely related to John D. McGurk's Irish Pub and Garden in Soulard, one of the most authentic Irish pub's I've ever visited in the United States. Patrick Holloran, the son of McGurk's founder Jim Holloran, teamed up with Matthew McGuire, who was the principal owner of the former King Louie's restaurant on Chouteau Ave. in St. Louis, to open McGurk's about 11 years ago out in O'Fallon. The building that houses McGurk's Public House on S. Main in O'Fallon has been a watering hole for years and years. Holloran and McGuire fixed up the old building and put in an outdoor seating area out back, similar to the garden area at McGurk's Irish Pub.

 

It was a lovely Friday afternoon when I stopped into McGurk's Public House for a quick bite before heading back home. The outdoor seating area was packed with people enjoying the early spring sunshine and there was going to be a short wait if I wanted to sit out there. I decided not to wait and took a seat at the ornate bar at the very front of the restaurant. I looked over a menu knowing that I was probably going to get the reuben sandwich - always one of my favorites at McGurk's Public House - but wanted to remind myself of what else they had to offer.

 

My trip to McGurk's brought back a lot of fun memories of my time working for the company out of St. Peters. I'll never forget the night that we were having dinner there before Christmas and I had forgotten the Christmas present back in the Quad Cities that the company employees had all chipped in on to get for my ex-boss. My wife dutifully drove all the way back to the Quad Cities - four hours each way - to retrieve the present, an etched-stone decorative rock that was made special for the entrance to his home in O'Fallon.

 

Everyone knew that she had gone back for it, except my boss, and they were all doing their best to keep him out of the loop when he kept asking where my wife was, considering she brought me to the office earlier in the day and had come in to say "Hi" to everyone. She finally showed up at McGurk's Public House to a chorus of cheers and wild clapping from my former colleagues, everyone overly appreciative of the effort she did in being on the road over 8 hours that day to retrieve the present that I forgot to pack in the trunk. Even though we didn't give the present to my boss until two days later, my wife was "Queen for a Day" that night with everyone. We had a great time and a LOT of drinks at McGurk's Public House that evening.

 

And even though it had been a number of years since I was last in McGurk's Public House, I do remember the food being pretty good. I remember a very good rib-eye served at McGurk's, topped with their homemade steak butter. They also had a wonderful grilled Iowa pork chop that was served with a side of smoked bacon and gruyere cheese au gratin potato dish that was just out of sight. And from looking at the menu, I remember that they had a very good wedge salad that was unbelievably great for the price - $3.95 - that was a nice sized wedge served with Maytag Blue Cheese. I thought to myself that I needed to come back to McGurk's for dinner at some point.

 

But I was there for lunch and wasn't looking for a huge meal. While the McGurk Burger is pretty good - especially with Swiss cheese and bacon added - and the Dubliner sandwich (roasted pork with white cheddar cheese and Guinness braised onions) is also very good, I went with what I remembered to be one of the best reuben sandwiches I've had at a restaurant. I got a side of McGurk's onion rings to go along with it. I enjoyed a Smithwick's (or two) along with my lunch.

 

A waitress brought my sandwich out and I was ready to eat. The corned beef was cut thick and the Swiss cheese and sauerkraut was slathered on top. I like to order an extra side of 1000 Island dressing to dip my sandwich into. Honey mustard dressing was also served on the side to dip the onion rings into.

 

As I remembered, McGurk's Public House reuben sandwich was just outstanding. It was almost too much food as I couldn't finish the last couple bites of the sandwich and left a good portion of the onion rings on the plate. The corned beef was tender and flavorful, and the homemade swirled rye bread was just wonderful. It truly is one of the most outstanding reuben sandwiches I've ever had.

 

It had been too long since I'd been back to McGurk's Public House in O'Fallon. I don't get out that way all that much any longer, but I may have to make a special trip for dinner at some point. If you're out in St. Charles County and want a good meal at a good Irish bar, it's tough to beat McGurk's Public House.

The Claddagh Irish Pub - Middleton, WI

Claddagh (pronounced "CLAW-duh) Irish Pubs are a chain of upscale authentic Irish pubs with 15 locations throughout the Midwest.  About four years ago, I had a brief entry on Road Tips about the original Claddagh in downtown Indianapolis (see that entry here).  I've had beers at a couple three Claddagh's during my travels and had always meant to eat at one, but had never gotten around to do so even though I've certainly had the opportunity to do so.  It was a cold evening in Madison and I didn't feel like venturing far from the hotel that evening.  The Claddagh Irish Pub was a short journey from my hotel and I figured some good ol' Irish comfort food would be in order that evening. 

One of the big reasons the Claddagh pubs appear to be authentic Irish pubs is that they were started by an Irishman and an American who lived in Ireland for a time.  Kevin Blair was an Cleveland-area native who worked for a number of years for the Taco Bell corporation when it was owned by Pepsi.  He was hired in the mid-90's to go to work at the Supermacs fast food chain in Ireland.  During Blair's stay in Ireland, he loved the feel of the Irish pubs and the many friends that he met while frequenting those pubs.  The Irish have a term - craic (pronounced "crack") that describes a place that is fun, lively and friendly.  Blair decided that the United States needed authentic Irish pubs with "craic".

Blair talked Supermacs chairman Patrick McDonagh to help him start a chain of upscale Irish pubs in the Midwestern United States.  In 2001, the first Claddagh Irish Pub opened in Indianapolis.  Both Blair and McDonagh were looking at aggressive growth during the first few years growing the chain to nearly 20 locations.  However, like most partnerships, this one went sour with McDonagh withholding funds to keep the company from expanding while trying to force Blair to sell his shares.  McDonagh had already invested over $20 million dollars into the Claddagh chain and wasn't willing to invest more money for expansion.  Lawsuits and court dates ensued and the chain eventually declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy.   McDonagh's CDG Acquisitions group came in and bought the assets for $10 million dollars in 2008, about an estimated third of the value of the Claddagh chain.

By the way, the Claddagh Irish Pubs get their name from a small fishing village - Claddagh - that was legendary for the friendliness of the people who lived there.  Many writers lived in Claddagh over the years (Claddagh is now part of Galway, Ireland - home to Pat McDonagh) and they wrote about the hospitality they received from the townspeople during their stay. 

Each Claddagh Irish Pub has a dining area, a bar and a handful of small rooms that feature overstuffed chairs giving the place sort of a cozy feel, allowing patrons to sit down with friends in a comfortable setting and enjoy a Guinness or a Jameson whiskey.   The dark wood walls and broad-beamed ceilings give Claddagh pubs an authentic Irish pub look.

I rolled into the parking lot of the Greenway Station shopping center in Middleton where the Claddagh is located (see map) around 7:30 p.m.  The Claddagh is located next to Cheeseburger in Paradise, the Jimmy Buffett-owned chain of upscale burger joints (click here to see my entry on Cheeseburger in Paradise) and the parking lot in front of the businesses were full of cars.  I was able to find a spot and I went in to get a seat at the bar.

The first thing I noticed behind the bar at the Claddagh was where there should have been bottles of different types of liquor, there were nothing but bottles of Jameson whiskey.  Yes, I was definitely in an Irish pub!  The bartender came over and asked if I wanted a menu.  I got a Smithwick's as I perused through the selection they had at the Claddagh and glanced up at a football game and a hockey match they had on the flat panel televisions behind the bar. 

Claddagh Irish Pubs have a wide selection of authentic Irish food including Shepherd's Pie, fish and chips, corned beef and cabbage, and Irish beef stew.  They also have some American-based foods with an Irish twist such as the Guinness barbecued ribs made with a Guinness bar barbecue sauce, the Jameson burger that's topped with a Jameson sauce, along with the normal staples - steaks, chicken and a couple of pasta dishes.  

I needed a "stick-to-my-ribs" dinner as it was cold and I was having trouble warming up.  I thought about the Chicken Kildare - a garlic encrusted chicken breast filled with spinach, mushrooms and Irish rasher (a type of Irish bacon).  The bangers and champ sounded good, too - Irish sausages served over Irish champ (baked potatoes) and topped with an onion gravy.  But what I ended up getting was the old fashioned meat loaf, topped with a sweet glaze and then served with mashed potatoes and gravy and a side of vegetables.   For a starter - and to help warm me up - I got a cup of the Guinness onion soup, basically a French onion soup that is made with a Guinness beer stock. 

I was seated next to a guy from Indianapolis who was in Madison on business and we got to talking.  He was a really nice guy, in his mid-to-late 30's, I'm guessing.  He said, "We've got three Claddagh's in the Indy area.  When I go on the road to Columbus, Cleveland or Cincinnati I always go to the Claddagh's there.  It's like a home away from home."  He said this was his first trip to Madison and he was surprised to find a Claddagh near his hotel.  Some people like that familiarity with their restaurants, I would rather explore.  Although, I have to admit that it's getting tiresome to find new and exciting places in some locations. 

The Guinness onion soup was very good - a large crouton was on top along with an ample amount of Swiss cheese.  Large onion chunks were in the broth that had a hint of a taste of Guinness to it.  Actually, a bowl of the soup alone would have been a good meal.

The bartender brought out my plate to me and I sort of looked at it funny.  It certainly didn't look like meat loaf to me - and it wasn't.  It was the Irish beef stew.  It looked very good, but it wasn't what I ordered.  I got the bartender's attention and pointed out that I think I got the wrong meal.  He said, "You had the beef stew, right?"  I said, no, I had the meat loaf.  "Ah!  Yes, the meat loaf!"  He said he'd get me the right meal straight away.  That's the problem with people who don't write down your order - they space out from the time they take your order and then enter it into the system.  But he did give me a free beer for waiting.

And the wait was worth it.  I was served two large slices of meat loaf that had a nice smoky glaze on top the slices.  There was a little bit of a heavy beef gravy on the slices of meat loaf, but the mashed potatoes were swimming in the gravy - just as I like it.  The vegetables were a medley of broccoli, cauliflower and carrott slices.  

Everything was very good - the meat loaf was flavorful and hearty, the mashed potatoes were real and the rich, thick gravy was a great compliment to the meat and potatoes.  The vegetables were also cooked perfectly with a little bit of a crunch with each bite.  The meal was exactly what I was looking for - generous portions of good ol' comfort food on a cold late fall evening.

The guy from Indy next to me had the Shepherd's pie.  "I've tried the meat loaf before," he said.  "I like it, but I think these guys make about the best Shepherd's pie I've ever had in the States." 

After I finished what I could of the meal, I sat at the bar savoring my meal, watching the football game and enjoying one more Smithwick's.  The guy from Indy had polished off his Shepherd's pie and had ordered the bread pudding for dessert.  On the menu, the bread pudding comes under the heading of "split to share" desserts.  And it was huge, easily covering an 8" dessert plate.  And this guy was going to eat the whole thing!  And he did!  I said, "Jesus, buddy!  You need to watch it!  I was your size one time and when I started traveling on the road that's when I started to gain weight.  When you have a company credit card and you're in a city far from home, it's not hard to over-indulge." 

He said, "Oh, I know it.  I've gained 15 pounds over the past couple of years.  This (pointing at the bread pudding) doesn't help, but it's so darned good that I have to indulge myself every once in a while." 

I'm glad I finally got to try the food at one after stopping in for just the beer on my previous visits.  The meat loaf was very good, the portions were generous, the Smithwick's was great (any place that has Smithwick's on tap is OK by me) and the service - other than screwing up my order - was adequate.  There are Claddagh Irish Pubs in four of the cities that I travel to and now that I know that the food is very good, I'll go back at some point when I just need the feel of some comfort food in my tummy. 

D'Arcy's Pint - Springfield, IL

I had a meeting with a potential dealer in Springfield, IL recently and afterward I decided to grab a bite to eat at a place I'd heard about for quite sometime, but had never been to before - D'Arcy's Pint on the west side of the Capitol City of Illinois.  (See map)  D'Arcy's is a large Irish bar/restaurant that is famous for one of the culinary treats in Springfield - the horseshoe sandwich.  More on the horseshoe later. 

D'Arcy's Pint began in 1998 when co-owners Glenn Merriman and Hallie Pierceall opened in a shopping center on MacArthur Blvd. - the main North-South road through Springfield.  It quickly became one of the best places in the area to get good food and a cold beer in a fun and inviting environment.  It became so popular that just seven years after they opened they moved to a larger location in a building that features two bars and two dining areas along with an outdoor beer garden. 

D'Arcy's Pint features a full menu, but they claim to have the best horseshoe sandwich in Springfield.  The horseshoe sandwich is indigenous to Springfield as the history of the food dates back to the late 1920's.  Legend has it that a Springfield man, Steve Tomko, came up with the idea of the horseshoe.  But historians around Springfield refute his claims and say that a chef by the name of Joe Schweska came up with the idea - or actually, he got the basic idea from his wife.

Schweska was the chef at the old Leland Hotel in downtown Springfield.  He was talking to his wife about coming up with something new to put on the lunch menu at his restaurant in the hotel.  She suggested doing something that used a Welsh Rarebit sauce on top.  Schweska cut a piece of ham into the shape of a horseshoe, placed it on a couple pieces of bread, then topped it with potatoes and the cheese, mustard, Worcestershire sauce that is the basis for a Welsh Rarebit sauce.  (Picture courtesy of Roadfood.com)

Schweska eventually moved away and Tomko began to take credit for creating the horseshoe sandwich.  But older people remember Tomko as a dishwasher in the kitchen where Schweska was the cook.  Nonetheless, wherever Tomko went to work at a restaurant in Springfield, he served a horseshoe sandwich.  They were so popular that a number of restaurants around Springfield came up with their own horseshoe sandwich.   D'Arcy's Pint is no exception.  

But I didn't think I'd care much for a horseshoe sandwich.  It is sort of like a "slinger" in St. Louis and a "Magic Mountain" in the Quad Cities - a bunch of stuff thrown together on a plate and served with a cheese sauce.  Some places use a white cheese sauce on their horseshoe sandwiches, others will use a cheddar cheese sauce.  It just didn't appeal to me at all.  No, I wanted something much different than a horseshoe sandwich that day.

It was about 1:30 when I got into D'Arcy's Pint that afternoon and I was surprised to find the place packed with people.  As I said, there are two dining areas in the place and both the west and east dining areas were full.  There was a handful of people waiting to get a table.  The hostess told me there was a spot at the bar in the east dining room if I wanted to eat there.  I had no problem with that and I took the last chair available at the very ornate bar. 

 

The menu at D'Arcy's Pint features a number of appetizers, soups and salads for starters.  The bulk of the menu is typical bar food that you'd find at an Irish-themed restaurant - pot roast sandwich, cheese steak sandwich, fish and chips, and reubens.  They also featured a number of burgers and grilled chicken sandwiches.  D'Arcy's Pint also served pizzas and after 4 p.m. they had a dinner menu that featured Irish fare such as Shepherd's Pie, corned beef and cabbage, and a traditional Irish "boxty" - a potato pancake that is stuffed with things like corned beef and cabbage and grilled in a pan.  They also have steaks, seafood and chicken items on the dinner menu, as well. 

I was torn between the reuben and the Irish-American B.L.T. Darcy's had on the menu.  When my bartender asked me if I was ready to order, I told her that I was torn between the reuben and the B.L.T.  The guy next to me - obviously a regular - turned and said, "Oh, buddy.  Get the reuben.  It's the best around." 

An unsolicited recommendation is always welcome.  I went with the reuben.  The bartender asked me if I wanted to upgrade from chips to french fries for $1.50.  Sure, what the hell.  I also ordered up a Smithwick's to go along with the lunch.

When my sandwich showed up, I was pleasantly surprised to see a lightly grilled, swirled marble rye reuben on my plate.  The french fries were nothing special and probably not worth the $1.50 up charge.  The sandwich was good sized and full of tender corned beef.  As I usually do, I asked for a side of 1000 Island dressing to go along with the sandwich.  Some reubens don't have enough 1000 Island dressing on them and I like to dip the reuben into more dressing.  I was surprised to find that I was charged - I believe - 50 cents for a 1 oz. container of 1000 Island dressing.  I found it somewhat amusing and perplexing at the same time that they charged me for the small amount of dressing they gave me.

 But that minor experience didn't take away from the taste of the sandwich.  The guy sitting next to me didn't steer me wrong - the reuben at D'Arcy's Pint was as good as he said it was.  The corned beef was lean and flavorful, there was a generous amount of sauerkraut and cheese on top, the bread was just fabulous - I'm hoping that it was homemade or - at the very least - made by a local baker for D'Arcy's Pint.  The bread was thick and held together even with all the moist fixings inside.

Before I left, I had to use the restroom.  I took a look inside the west side dining room and saw that it was equally as large as the one on the east side.  However, the bar was much smaller with a short three-sided bar with high backed chairs.  I found out later that this particular bar was originally in one of Springfield's original ice cream soda shoppes - the Sugar Bowl - that was in business from 1927 to 1959.  I found it rather interesting and sort of neat that they were using an old time ice cream shoppes counter as a bar.  

My reuben sandwich, the beer and a tip for the bartender came to just a bit over $15 bucks.  Sort of expensive for lunch, but it was a large sandwich with a lot of meat.  I'm still sort of amused that they charged me for extra dressing, and the fries weren't worth the $1.50 up charge.  But, overall, it was not that big of a deal.  I don't know if I'll land that dealer in Springfield, but at least I know of a good restaurant/bar to grab a quick sandwich while I'm in town.  D'Arcy's Pint did not disappoint. 

Irish Rose Saloon - Rockford, IL

There's an American TV store in Rockford that I needed to train for both Focal loudspeakers and Cambridge Audio electronics earlier this summer.  I got into town around 8:30 p.m. and looked for a place to get a bite to eat.  I found this little place - Irish Rose Saloon - near the downtown area of Rockford.  (see map)  I decided to stop in and give it a shot. 

Even though I've lived about 90 minutes from Rockford since 1991, I think I've been to the city - maybe - four times.  I've called on a couple of independent dealers there with no success.  I've passed Rockford countless times on my way to Milwaukee and points north in Wisconsin, but there's really been no reason to stop.  So finding the Irish Rose Saloon was sort of a pleasant surprise. 

Mike Leifheit, a gregarious 60-something man, is the owner of the Irish Rose.  This is a picture of Leifheit with his daughters Kat and Kara.  The restaurant features a nice little outside dining area, an old time bar and a wonderfully furnished dining area complete with linen table cloths, artwork on the walls, and sort of an antique feel to the place.  

I got into the Irish Rose around 8:30.  There were a number of people out in the beer garden with Mike Leifheit holding court talking to a number of friends who were enjoying a nice evening.  A few people were seated at tables in the dining room.  There was no one seated at the bar.  The Irish Rose doesn't have any televisions in the place, so I couldn't pass the time watching television while waiting for my dinner.  

I asked the hostess if it was too late for dinner and she said, "Well, it may be.  Let me check with the chef." 

She went back into the kitchen, then came out a minute later and said, "Yeah, you just missed the cut off.  If you want, you can eat off the late night menu."  She gave me a menu to look over and while there were only a few things on the menu, a couple things caught my eye.

I sat at the bar and ordered up a Smithwick's beer while I looked through the menu.  The late night menu begins at 8:30 p.m. - it was 8:35 according to my cell phone - and it consists of a 1/2 hamburger, grilled goat cheese salad, linguine with fire roasted marinara, sirloin steak and woodfired, grilled pork chops.  And the prices were relatively cheap, but the catch was that you had to have at least one cocktail or beer.  If you didn't have alcohol, it was an extra $2.00 on the price of the entree.  I thought that was a rather unique way to sell alcohol with food, especially later in the evening.   

I didn't have to figure out that I wanted the woodfired, grilled pork chops.  The bartender asked me if I wanted soup, salad or home fries with the order.  I ordered a salad with their homemade vinaigrette dressing.  In the meantime, I asked the bartender for one of their regular menus for me to take a look at while waiting for my food to come out. 

It turns out the late night menu is sort of an extension of the Irish Rose Saloon's "Adult Happy Meals", nightly specials where the price of the food is deflated by a couple bucks if the person buys one beer or cocktail with the meal.  But they also had something called their "Fresh Board" which featured fresh seafood, steaks, pork and lamb.  One thing they had on their "Fresh Board" menu that evening was a sushi-grade tuna steak, cooked rare and sliced.  Oh, man!  If I'd just gotten there about 15 minutes earlier!  

The salad with the homemade vinaigrette was very good and it wasn't long after that when the bartender brought out my pork medallions.  It turned out one of the Monday night specials was pork medallions with a side of baked red potato slices, topped with herbs.  They brought me out the pork medallions and threw in the potatoes as an extra.  I didn't bitch.  I would have ordered the pork medallions over the pork chop anyway.  

And it was very good.  The pork was light, lean and moist.  They were very tasty.  The potatoes, a couple bites of which is all I had, were very good, too.  The herbs were a good complement to the red potatoes.   That's about the only way I like to eat potatoes these days.  When I have them, that is.

Understandably, the bar tab (Two Smithwick's pints at $5.50 each) was bigger than the food tab ($7.95).  But the food was very good.  Surprisingly good.  I was very happy I stumbled upon the Irish Rose Saloon.  If I ever make it back someday, I'm coming in earlier to make sure that I don't miss out on the opportunity to choose from a full menu.  If their late night menu is that good, I can only imagine how good the regular menu would be. 

Six Pence Pub - Savannah, GA

We got into Savannah on a sultry Sunday afternoon around 1:30 p.m.  After getting our bags and our rental car, we got to our hotel - the Hilton DeSoto - about 2:15.  We went to check in and our room wasn't ready at that time.  The girl at the desk said it wouldn't be long and they could store our luggage if we wanted to come back in about an hour.

Cindy was getting kind of hungry and we asked if there was any place around to get something to eat.  The girl at the front desk said, "We have a restaurant here." 

 

I said, "Yeah, but we're probably going to be eating there while we're here.  Any place close where we can get a sandwich and a beer?"

She immediately said, "Oh, yes.  Just right over there (pointing over her shoulder to the northwest) is a great little English pub."   We went back out the front door and almost caddy-cornered from the hotel was a little pub called the Six Pence Pub (see map).   The place offered outdoor seating, but the tables were full.  We went inside and waited for the hostess to come and seat us. 

We were seated at a small table just off the bar area.  The place was about half full and they had the Indianapolis 500 on the television at the bar.  A few people were watching the race, but mostly they were in conversation with one another over a cold beer. 

The Six Pence Pub in Savannah is one of a family of three Six Pence Pubs in the Southeast.  There is one in the Charlotte area at Fort Mill, SC, and one in Blowing Rock, NC.  The menu is typical of what you'd find in an authentic English pub.  They had the usual "Bangers and Mash", Fish and Chips, and Shepherd's Pie.  They also had a series of burgers, sandwiches, soups and salads to choose from.  

And just as nearby Chippewa Square was featured prominently in the movie Forrest Gump, It turns out the Six Pence Pub was featured in a major scene from the 1995 Julia Roberts, Dennis Quaid  movie Something to Talk About.  The front window of the Six Pence Pub was where Julia Roberts' character saw her husband, played by Quaid, with another woman and a confrontation took place on the street across from the Six Pence Pub.  I don't know if I've ever seen that movie, or if I did, I don't remember it. 

I wasn't overly hungry after having a big breakfast at the Milwaukee airport, but Cindy has to have three square meals a day or she can't function.  When our waitress showed up to ask us what we wanted, I just ordered a Smithwick's.  Cindy asked, "What kind of pale ale's do you have?"

I said to the waitress, "You probably have Bass, don't you?"

She said, "We do, yes."

Cindy said, "Bass is a little too heavy for me."

The waitress said, "We have a local beer out of Atlanta called Sweetwater 420.  That's a good pale ale." 

Cindy said she'd take that.

The decor in the Six Pence Pub features a lot of dark wood paneling along with an antique tin ceiling.  There are faux antique ceiling fans and lights hanging from the tin.  The main dining room was long and narrow, making for a cozy environment. 

As I said, I wasn't overly hungry so I went with the Tuna Salad salad - generous portions of tuna salad over a bed of lettuce.  You got your choice of dressing and I went with a basic vinegar and oil dressing combo.  Cindy also had tuna salad, only this was a sandwich.  She also got a cup of Six Pence Pub's Manhattan clam chowder. 

Cindy told me, "Take a drink of this beer."  I took a drink and deemed it to be "not too bad."  Actually, it was pretty good. 

I said, "What was the name of that beer?"

Cindy said, "I don't remember, but we need to find out."

When I finished my Smithwick's before our lunch came, I asked the waitress, "What is the beer my wife is having?"

She said, "Sweetwater 420.  It's a microbrew out of Atlanta." 

I said, "I want one of those."  It was very good.  It reminded me more of a good west coast pale ale, like a Sierra Nevada, and it was very good for a warm summer-like afternoon.

Our food came out and I have to say the portion of tuna salad and lettuce leaves were perfect.  It wasn't a lot of food, but enough to put something in my stomach.  We didn't have much of an idea where or even when we would eat that evening, so getting something in the gut before dinner was probably pretty smart. 

Cindy's tuna sandwich and Manhattan clam chowder was pronounced as "good".  She said, "This was all I needed."  Once Cindy gets to fading and needs food, she can be impossible to be around.  This kept her happy and good-to-go for the time being. 

The Six Pence Pub was a cool place.  I thought of my neighbor, George, because he's big on old English and Irish pubs.  I kept thinking that he would have loved this place.  I knew we probably wouldn't be spending much time in bars during our trip to Savannah - there was going to be too much to do and see.  But given the close proximity to our hotel, I knew we'd be back for a cold beer.  The funny thing was, we never did.  We found there were a number of good English and Irish pubs in and around the Savannah area for us to visit.  But for our first meal in Savannah, we certainly weren't disappointed with the Six Pence Pub.

Slim McGinn's West - Brookfield, WI

Working for a day with one of our national distributors during a recent visit to Milwaukee, I invited the branch manager out to lunch.  He said, "Where do you want to go?"  I told him some place local, no national chain and who had a good sandwich.  He said, "Come with me," and he promptly drove me to Slim McGinn's West (see map).

Slim McGinn's West is the third location for the original Slim McGinn's that was established in the Walker's Point area of Milwaukee, south of downtown (see map).  But most of the locals call the place just plain ol' "Slim's".  The second Slim McGinn's, known as "McGinn's" is located on West Bluemound near the Miller Park area (see map).

And, yes, there really is a Slim McGinn.  R.J. "Slim" McGinn (right) worked at a number of restaurants and bars in the Milwaukee before opening up his own bar/restaurant in 1995.  The original "Slim's" is housed in a building that has been a bar of one type or another for over 100 years.

Earlier this year, Slim McGinn's opened up the Slim's West location in what was the old Meadow Inn in Brookfield.  It carries on the tradition of the Slim McGinn's in the area with good food, great beer and lots of televisions to watch sports.

We got into Slim McGinn's West around 2 p.m. and there was just a handful of people in the place.  We sat at a table near the bar and carried on a conversation about the audio business.  Our waitress showed up with a couple menus and we were so engrossed in conversation that we didn't get around to ordering for another 20 minutes or so.  I could kind of tell that she was getting a little annoyed when she came back on her fourth time and we hadn't even looked at the menus yet.  I finally said that we needed to order something or we may get tossed out of the place. 

Slim's menu is something a little more broad than most Irish bar fare.  In addition to sandwiches and burgers, they also offer steaks, meatloaf, Shepherd's Pie and ribs.  They also have some eclectic add-ons to their burgers and chicken sandwiches such as an Irish whiskey peppercorn sauce and a spinach and artichoke Florentine topping.

The waitress came back and we said we were ready to order.  My guest asked if they had the Reuben salad that day.  The waitress said, "Yes, we do!"

He asked me, "Do you like Reubens?"

I replied, "I was probably going to get the Reuben."

He said, "You'll love the Reuben salad they make here.  It's unbelievably delicious!

So, I ordered the Reuben and I got one choice for a side and I took the Reuben salad.  I was intrigued by what a Reuben salad could be. 

My guest ordered the Irish beef sandwich - shredded beef along with carrots, potatoes and onion, then topped with a Guinness gravy over an open faced Kaiser roll.  And he got the Reuben salad as his side, as well.

The Reuben salad they make is cole slaw with bits of corned beef and swiss cheese mixed in with a side of Slim's homemade Thousand Island dressing.  When it came to the table with the sandwiches, I sort of looked at it, then gave it a try.  It was great.  Like my guest said, it was unbelievably delicious.

And my sandwich was very good, as well.  It featured large pieces of corned beef that were very tender and juicy.  It was a good sized sandwich, so the Reuben salad was a perfect compliment to the meal.

My guest's sandwich looked absolutely fabulous.  It had large chunks of shredded beef with pieces of potatoes, carrots and onions in a great looking gravy topping.  I think I should have gotten that.  And now that I know they have something like that I'll get it on my next visit.

I've probably driven by the original Slim's dozens of times during my visits to Milwaukee, but I'm going to make a point to go there sometime in the future.  But the one out in Brookfield was very good and had a lot of character to the place, even though it had only been open for about four months.   I'm glad I was turned on to Slim's and it won't be my last visit.

Muldoon's - Wheaton, IL

Special thanx to Road Tips reader Tim Schmidt who once again turned me on to a great little restaurant that serves good burgers in the Chicago area - Muldoon's in suburban Wheaton (see map).  Muldoon's is part of a corporate triumvirate of Irish bars in the Chicago area along with the famous Tommy Nevins Pub in Evanston (with a location in Naperville), and The Kerry Piper in Willowbrook. 

Muldoon's has been in business since 2002 and is a popular lunch and dinner spot in downtown Wheaton.  Parking can be a little tricky around there, especially during the daytime.  I was able to find parking on the street just down the way from the pub.  The place is situated on a corner with great visibility.  It's tough to miss when you're driving by.

It was a beautiful Friday when I got into Muldoon's around 1:30.  I got a seat at the bar and a very personable curly red-haired bartender by the name of Andy handed me a menu.  Sometimes overly friendly bartenders or waiters come off as fakes, but I could immediately tell Andy would be the kind of guy you'd like to have a beer with.  I ordered a Smithwick's while I looked at the menu.

Although other things on the menu looked pretty damn tempting, including the Belle Isle Reuben sandwich, I ordered up a Holy Swiss burger - an 8 oz. Black Angus patty topped with sauteed mushrooms, grilled onions and swiss cheese on marble rye bread.  I think that was what Tim told me to get, so I went that route.  A side of french fries accompanied the burger. 

The interior of Muldoon's has dark wood paneling throughout.  It's actually not a small place.  But with a main dining area and seating in the bar, it still has a nice cozy feel to the place. 

After about 15 minutes, Andy brought out my burger.  It was very similar to the Hackney burger I've had many times before with the burger served on slices of marble rye bread.  (That reminds me, I need to do an in-depth review of Hackney's sometime in the near future.)  And the Muldoon's Holy Swiss burger was every bit as good as Hackney's.  The beef was moist, tender and flavorful.  The mushrooms were fresh, and even though I normally don't like to get grilled onions (because they don't like me) these weren't strong and didn't upset my stomach. 

With a couple of Smithwick's and tip, the bill came to a little over $21 bucks.  I probably over-tipped Andy a little bit, but he was just great.  I really wish I could have stayed and drank beer all afternoon with him waiting on me, but I had to go on down the road. 

So, thanks, Tim!  Muldoon's is a great find and one that I recommend in the western suburbs of Chicago.  I'll definitely be back sometime soon.

The Claddagh Irish Pub - Indianapolis

During a recent trip Cindy and I took to Indianapolis with our friends, Scott and Marcia Schroeder, and Dave and Pat Heusmann, we had one last late night beer at The Claddagh Irish Pub in downtown Indianapolis (see map).  I've been to The Claddagh (pronounced CLAW-duh) a couple times before, but this was the first for the others.

The Claddagh Irish Pub started in Indianapolis in 2000 by Kevin McDonagh, an Irishman who owns the Supermacs fast food chain in Ireland; and Kevin Blair, an American who was McDonagh's operations manager for Supermacs.  Blair went to Ireland in the mid-90's to work for McDonagh at Supermacs and he was intrigued by the quaint Irish pubs that he went to and unwind with his wife and small children. 

Even though he knew there were a number of authentic Irish pubs in America, Blair wanted a pub that "reeked" of Irish heritage and culture.  The Irish have a term called "craic" (pronounced crack) that is used to describe a place that is fun, lively and friendly.  Blair wanted to bring that "craic" to America, and with McDonagh's help he was able to open The Claddagh Irish Pub in Indianapolis (right). 

The Claddagh was named after the legendary Irish fishing village of Claddagh which is now surrounded by present day Galway, Ireland.  The Irish Claddagh attracted many visitors to the area - many of whom were writers - who wrote about the charm of the town and the friendliness of the Claddagh people.

The Claddagh Irish Pub soon began to expand into other larger Midwestern cities and there are now 17 different locations (with three more slated to open) in 7 states.  Blair and O'Donagh made each Claddagh unique in layout and design, and put them in locations that would be easily accessible to most people.  And each Claddagh is decorated with authentic Irish fixtures and furnitures sent over from Ireland. 

The menu at The Claddagh consists of authentic Irish cuisine with a number of American favorites with an Irish bent added to them.  I had the melted Irish meatloaf sandwich one time at The Claddagh and it was outstanding.

But the place is more of a true Irish public house with a large variety of Irish beers on tap and in bottles.  Even though it was late and we were tired, we had to go in for the one last beer of the evening.  We sat at a short table with short stools right near the fire place.  It was great having a late night Smithwick's with my wife and good friends in a great place like the original Claddagh.

I travel to many of the cities in which other Claddagh's are located.  I'll have to check a couple three of them out to make sure they have the great ambiance and "craic" of the original in Indianapolis.

O'Dowd's Little Dublin - Kansas City

During our recent trip to Kansas City, the weather was almost unbearably hot.  Walking around the Plaza area one very hot afternoon, we came across a little Irish pub called O'Dowd's Little Dublin.  Cindy suggested that we go in and get a beer.  Well, anytime that she suggests to go get a beer, I can't say no. 

O'Dowd's is at the corner of Pennsylvania and Nichols Road in the Plaza (see map).  Even though the exterior remains true to the Spanish architecture found in the Plaza area, the dark walnut panels on the outside of O'Dowd's immediately gives it a warm, inviting appeal.

O'Dowd's has been in business since 1996.  The interior woodwork, cabinets and many of the signs on their walls came from Ireland.  It really has an "old country" feel to the place.

Cindy and I both grabbed a beer and headed for one of the window seats looking out into the Plaza.  O'Dowd's has a rooftop beer garden that is one of the more popular places to be most of the time.  But with temperatures hovering around 100 degrees, there was no way we were going to go upstairs and outside the air conditioning to have a beer that would turn warm inside 3 minutes. 

We checked out their menu (it was around 4:30 and we weren't going to eat there) and it's typical Irish bar food.  But it looked damn good.  They have a long list of appetizers and sandwiches, and they also have a number of good Irish entrees including Shepherd's Pie, Irish Stew and corned beef and cabbage. 

Their beer selection was wide and varied, but typical of most Irish bars in America.  But they did have a large number of Irish Whiskey and Scotch Whisky to choose from.  I thought it would be a great place to come back to for a nightcap. 

Our visit was a little tense, however, as a couple seated near us was having a family argument, and it ended with the guy storming out of the bar.  As we watched him stomp across the street, the guy had his cell phone to his ear. I remarked to Cindy, "I think he's getting a hold of his divorce lawyer."  We felt bad for the lady.  She just sat there looking out of the window with tears in her eyes.  I almost thought about buying her a drink.  But, it was probably best to not get involved.

All in all - other than the marital blow-up we witnessed - O'Dowd's is a neat little place to get a beer and a nice meal.  They've opened a second location in far north Kansas City at the new Zona Rosa mall, but I'm sure it doesn't have the warm, comfortable feeling as the original O'Dowd's in the Plaza.         

The Dubliner Pub - Omaha

Here's a fun place to grab a cold beer - The Dubliner Pub in downtown Omaha's Old Market area.  Just as the name suggests, The Dubliner is a classic Irish-American bar in the basement of a building that was built in the 1890's (see map).  The basement was the coal storage area for the businesses upstairs. 

The Dubliner opened in 1980 and was initially known as Horbach's.  The name was changed in the mid-80's to The Dubliner and it became somewhat famous back in the "old country" as a home away from home for Irish ex-pats and people of Irish ancestry.   

The Dubliner Pub is not too big, but it's not too small where you feel cramped.  They have bands and musicians in the back of the place from time to time, so it can't be too small. 

The Dubliner has over 100 different beers from all over the world to choose from.  There are around 20 different beers on tap.  But I'm kind of disappointed there isn't the kind of eclectic beers either on tap or available in bottles that I've seen in similar beer bars elsewhere.

The Dubliner has two clubs that you can join - both involve drinking the beer.  "The World Mug Club" is where you gain your own drinking mug that is hung in the bar with your name on it if you drink every beer from around the world. (Not in one sitting, of course.)  They give you a little score card and they check off each beer you drink on your visits.  They've been doing this for years and I have a sneaking suspicion that Old Chicago and other bars ripped off this idea for their world beer tour promotions. 

Or, if you would like to garner one of their shirts like the one above and to the right, you can take their "Fear No Beer Tour".  By drinking each of the 20 tap beers in the place (once again, not in one sitting), you get yourself the neat Dubliner Pub long sleeve t-shirt.

The Dubliner has basic pub fare - wings, nachos, burgers, chicken sandwiches, brought down by the people at The Brass Grille upstairs.  They even offer The Brass Grille's oysters on the half shell, but I thought they were too small and marginal, at best, the last time I had 'em.

I like The Dubliner - the staff is friendly, the place has a good feel to it, and the beer tastes great after a hard day.  When you go to the Old Market, you have to stop in for at least one at The Dubliner. 

Conor O'Neill's - Ann Arbor

We were in Ann Arbor last fall for the Iowa/Michigan football game and sort of stumbled into Conor O'Neill's on Main Street.  It's typical of most American Irish bars, a lot of dark woods through out the place.  They have soccer shirts and homages to Irish poets adorning the walls.  We were in there on a Friday night before the game and it was a little too packed. 

Beers are what you'd expect from an Irish bar - Murphy's, Guinness, Harp, Bass, Smithwick's, Newcastle, Boddingtons, etc.  The guys behind the bar were pretty helpful in discussing the differences between some of the lesser known beers they had.   But I grabbed a Smithwick's from the get-go and stayed with that the rest of the night.

They do serve food there and we did eat there.  It was typical bar food, nothing outstanding.  They have about four or five entrees for dinner, but most of it is of the sandwich mode.  I had the Corned Beef Reuben and that wasn't too bad. 

I understand they have Irish bands that will come in and play from time to time.  But I'm sure it's more enjoyable to be in there when it isn't as crowded as it was that night. 

Brocach Irish Pub - Madison

We just got back from Madison spending the weekend up there with our friends Scott and Marcia Schroeder, Dave and Pat Heusmann, and Tom Kakert for the Iowa/Wisconsin football game.  Madison is always a great time and a wonderful city. 

Before we left, Dave's barber told him that we had to go to this place called the Brocach on the state capitol square in downtown Madison.  He said it was a great bar.  Well, any bar that serves a lot of eclectic beers is on my agenda!

The Brocach is on the south side of the square, directly across from the Wisconsin State Capitol building.  Brocach, in Gaelic, loosely means a "Fox Den" or, more appropriately for Wisconsin, a "Badger's Den".  The crowd was mixed for a Friday night with a lot more college aged kids in the place than middle aged people like us. 

They have two bars in the Brocach - the main bar downstairs, and when it gets busy, they open up the upper bar.  We opted to go upstairs and go to the smaller of the two bars.  They had all the traditional beers on tap - Harp, Guinness, Bass.  One thing I liked is that they had Smithwick's on tap, a nice Irish brew that I first had last year in Ann Arbor.  Smithwick's (pronounced "Smitticks") has a good flavor to it and a nice little bite. 

The girls all opted for "foo-foo" drinks while the guys bellied up and went for the beer.  They had New Glarus Brewing Company's Spotted Cow on tap and Dave went with one of those.  Just like me, Dave didn't care for it.  In fact, I know that New Glarus is reknown for their beers, but I have never cared for the taste of most Belgian style beers.  It was all he could do to choke it down. 

They have food at Brocach, it appears to be a little more upscale than regular bar type food.  And they have a nice selection of Scotch's, as well.  The crowd is a little older through the day and early in the evening, and on the weekends it tends to skew more toward a younger crowd.  But if you're in Madison and have some time on your hands and want to get a beer downtown, I'd say this is the place.