Failte! Welcome to my blog and thanks for coming by. I want to use my inaugural post to explain what is going to be going on here. The title seemingly says it all; this is a blog about Irish Pubs here in the USA. Pubs will be the primary focus, but I plan on doing much more. I am going to cover the gamut of the Irish-American experience, with a focus on the fun stuff. By fun stuff, I’m talking about: pubs, Irish whiskey (and other drinks), festivals, jokes, social groups and gatherings. I’ll try to keep things on a well-organized track, but part of being Irish involves digressing to and fro. So there will be a good dash of miscellanea tossed in to keep things interesting.
So why start a blog about Irish pubs? Well, dear reader, even though there are scores of Irish pubs across this country, the subject seems to get very little attention. You may ask, who cares? After all, they’re just bars. Not quite. The immigrant story in America is multi-faceted, and one of the important, and highly visible facets, is the culinary tradition that each group brings with it. With the recent hot interest in all things gastronomical: cooking shows, History Channel shows about food and restaurants, and the new cocktail renaissance I feel like the Irish in America have been left out. Plenty of shows and books have gone over the ground of: Italian food and wine, BBQ, French cuisine, the evolution of Chinese food in America. But the Irish pub, and the native drinks served therein, hasn’t gotten much ink. Why? Maybe it’s because the Irish don’t have much of a culinary tradition (boiled potatoes, anyone?). And maybe the food shows are too polite to point this fact out by focusing only on the beer and whiskey. I, however, see no need to dodge the issue. So while the Irish didn’t bring any culinary mainstays with them from the old country like the Italians brought pizza or the Polish brought pierogies (making me glad I’m also Italian and Polish, good eating). The Irish gave America the Irish pub; it may our only contribution to the food and beverage landscape, but it’s good enough.
As I said before, there are plenty of Irish pubs dotting the American landscape; some good, some bad, and a few that are exemplary. However, it’s tough to find a good resource for Irish pubs. There are a few sites and books, but my experience is that they are mostly just listings, with maybe a few descriptive lines tossed in. I think people shy away from rating Irish pubs because doing so is an even more subjective undertaking then the typical restaurant or bar review. An eatery may have out-dated décor or limited parking, but if the food is great, all is forgiven. Irish pubs are usually rated largely on the craic factor. Criac is a Gaelic word that refers to a pleasant atmosphere of good, lively fun, a vibe, so to speak. A glass of Jameson is going to taste the same at Murphy’s Pub or at McDowell’s Pub, but the level of craic is going to contribute mightily to which place you drink your Jameson.
My own standards for what makes a good Irish pub fall into two main categories.
Selection: To me, this is paramount. A bar can have all the dark wood, Clancy Brothers music, and pictures of old Eire it wants; but if all they got on the back bar is Jameson and Bushmills, and Guinness is all they have on draft, then the bar is a failure. Why is selection so important? Imagine going into a traditional Italian restaurant with a hankering for some calamari, linguine and clams in fra diavlo, paired with a nice glass of Dolcetto, and finishing all of with a cannoli and espresso. Now, imagine that you open this restaurant’s menu and discover that there isn’t a single pasta dish listed. In fact, everything is steak and sushi. Furthermore, the wine list doesn’t have a single Italian wine on it. I would think that you would be seriously disappointed; asking what kind of sorry excuse for an Italian restaurant is this? I have had this experience numerous times in so-called Irish pubs. I go in, salivating at the prospect of trying a new and interesting Irish whiskey, only to be faced with a back bar featuring the same generic line-up as any casual-dining chain. Jameson and Bushmills are decent enough whiskies, but I can get them anywhere (hell, even at an Italian restaurant). Irish whiskey is not very popular in America, far eclipsed by Scotch and Bourbon in the whiskey category. I don’t expect to find, say, Knappogue Castle at the average bar. But I do expect an Irish pub to make the effort to keep a respectable line-up of Irish beer and whiskey available; where else am I supposed to find it? After all, people aren’t flocking to Irish pubs to try the exotic native cuisine; we’re looking for a taste of what Ireland does best; whiskey and beer that cheers men’s souls like no other.
Appearance and décor: There are several different versions of the Irish pub, both in Ireland and America. So there is a range of looks that an Irish pub can have, and do have, either by accident or design. It is a subject I’ll elaborate on in future posts. Generally speaking, I think that any Irish pub has to give some hint that it is an Irish pub. Does the place have to be lousy with shamrocks and harps? It can be, but doesn’t have too. I think that there has to be some indication of Irishness; it can understated or over-the-top. A few tchotckes is fine, a shamrock here or there, a faded out Notre Dame football pennant. The possibilities are many, but I believe an effort should be made to differentiate an Irish pub from any other bar. A place that calls itself an Irish pub is trading on my ethnic heritage; so make an effort and be respectful. That’s all I ask.
So now that all of you have gotten a sense of where I’m coming from, you can also glean a bit about where I’m going. My aim is to chronicle the Irish pub scene, among other things, in America. I’ll focus mainly on those that are doing it right, and try to keep things positive. Those places that are mediocre and underwhelming, well, I’ll leave them to their tepid fate. However, I will not shy from giving a red-faced verbal lashing to those places that are getting it terrifically wrong. I’m not on some Mick-purity crusade here, but as mentioned before, an Irish pub is trading on my heritage. Bars doing a particularly poor job of representing the Irish will be publicly shamed by yours truly.
On a final note, I would like to open things up to discussion, so to speak. I haven’t been everywhere and don’t know everything, and I don’t pretend to the contrary. I seek and value relevant, civilized, and constructive input from my readers. I’m interested in comments, suggestions, and tips. I’m always on the look out for a watering hole with a distinct character, Irish or not. Suggestions on where to find the more obscure uisce beatha are always welcome. Any information and/or links regarding Irish-American social organizations are also invited. In conclusion, thanks for visiting, and I’ll try to keep things interesting enough so that you’ll return often. Slainte!
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