For a while I thought Irish cuisine consisted of Guinness, Soda Bread, Corned Beef, Irish Coffee…read more Then I learned Sheppards Pie, Black/White Pudding were also Irish and delicious.
Having been to Ireland back when I was drinking was a real treat to drink and be drunk under the table by the lads out there, but my favorite dishes initially were the Full Breakfasts, too bad you can't eat them all the time.
My drunk food of choice is the Spice Bag's. Who knew Chinese take outs served at this point a national dish (I also love Irn Bru and have had it shipped to California during COVID).
I've been searching for a Spice bag this side of the pond for years and this is one of the closest I've found. It's truely not chinese becuase I've asked restaurants owners to recreate it and they can't. It's Irish and Chinese and it comes from a place and time where immigrants assimilate differently becuase of the ingredients they have available to them. Over time it becomes their own.
I was in town for business that week and wanting only the Spice bag I almost overlooked their other dishes which looked fantastic. I ended up loving much more of the menu.
Narrangansett is fried calamari. Nice bite, not too much chew, great breading. I'd have liked an aoili, but the lemon makes it pop. Perhpas some parsley for garnish. I get it, that's not how it's served back home, but lets be honest the menu has French, English, Irish and American cuisine, so it's hard to be authentic to everything. Wedge salad's add grilled shrimp give that toothsome bite to go with the crunch and textures. I almost always get this when i'm doing a business lunch. Feels classier than ceasers, gardens, house. Blue cheese is for ballers. I would rather have had pickled eggs than deviled eggs considering it's a pub. The Reuben's pastrami was bland, but everything else was perfect, including the coated fries. I normally don't add salt, but this needed it.
I loved the parsnips with the corned beef and cabbage. Filling and homestyle. The parsley cream sauce was a nice touch, but I'd rather have horseradish. The sheppards pie was delicious, hearty, had depth. the salamander/torching of the top is a really nice touch and presentation.
The stars of the show are the irish breakfast, it's hard to find puddings let alone both white and black. Irish rasher make it ultra authetic. I prefer fry bread, but the fries are a nice touch versus hashbrowns that most places serve. It's got everything and everything works perfect in combination. I had this twice that week.
The spice bag the real reason I was here. Usually i'm used to my bags being near see thru from the grease, but the fancier presentation did not take away from the taste. Everything is seasoned, crunchy, the onions are both crunchy and soft, the chicken was a tad on the dry side, but the best part was adding shrimp. I'd never had it that way in Ireland and to me the bite of the shrimp really complimented the fries and the chicken and actually took to the seasonings best. Eating it sit down was a little weird, but I was here for the food, not the ambiance of walking home drunk after the pub eating on my feet part.
Service is better than most pubs and they really care about their menu. Prices are reasonable for DC and portions are large, so you're not left ordering 5 items to fill up. Decor is pretty traditional and on the older side. Bathrooms are on the nicer side. The crowd is a great mix of locals, office workers, sports fans, drinkers. Fantasically devoid of college kids. Gone are the days of me splitting the G, but they do a proper pint. I also came her for their Smithwicks.
Yes you can order a "Drop shot" formerly known as a Car Bomb, just don't call it that. Most places are very understanding that it's a good drink and if you like it, then order it, but don't use the slang name for it that is divisive. Order a Drop Shot. Their Irish Coffee could use some work considering they do so many other things really well. The coffee is supposed to be hot and the whipped cream supposed to be fresh. Simple syrup is ok, but the sugar cube is preferred.