Making fudge with an Irish accent

Posted on by Pat and David
With his engaging banter, Tomás Póil could surely peddle ice to Eskimos, but he doesn't have to work nearly as hard to persuade the folks of Dublin to indulge in blocks cut from his big slabs of fudge. We ran into Póil at his Man of Aran Fudge booth at the street food market on Bernardo Square on New Year's Day. (To find out where he'll be on any given weekend, see www.manofaranfudge.ie). A surprising number of people seemed to be finding Póil's sweets to be the perfect antidote to a night of overindulgent revelry. Originally from the Aran Isles, Póil began making fudge in 1999 and hasn't yet grown tired of coming up with new flavor combinations. In one, he tops a slab of...Read More

Dublin gastropub’s inspired sweet potato soup

Posted on by Pat and David
Pubs have always had some kind of grub to sop up the suds, but pubs all over Ireland began to take the quality of their kitchens seriously about 10 years ago. The turn toward better food was a matter of survival. Pubs lost a slew of customers after March 29, 2004, when Ireland became the first country in the world to ban smoking in the workplace — including restaurants, bars, and pubs. Once a few pubs introduced quality food with strong Irish roots, it became clear that the gastropub concept was the way to win new customers. Two years ago, the Restaurant Association of Ireland began giving out awards for best gastropubs, and in the two competitions since then, one of the top contenders in...Read More
Making The Marker’s Irish brown soda bread

Making The Marker’s Irish brown soda bread

Posted on by Pat and David
If you're following our series of posts on dining in Dublin, you might recall that our last post called for Irish brown soda bread. We realize that unless you're blessed with an authentic Irish bakery (like we are, with Greenhills Bakery in Dorchester), you'll probably have to make your own. For folks who often flub yeast breads, a delicious Irish soda bread is almost a godsend, since it's hard to screw up if you follow the directions. At the chic and rather new Marker Hotel in Dublin's hip Docklands district, we tasted a spectacular version of Irish brown bread on the extravagant breakfast buffet. Seeds in brown bread are nothing new, though the classic recipes only call for oat groats to add texture. This version...Read More

Chasing Dublin’s most famous cheese sandwich

Posted on by Pat and David
Having spent a glorious hour or so sampling and buying farmhouse cheese at Sheridans (see last post), we thought it would be a great idea to lunch on the most famous cheese sandwich in Dublin, even if it doesn't involve an Irish cheese. Although much refurbished and modernized, Davy Byrnes Pub (21 Duke Street, +353 1 677 5217, davybyrnes.com) has been a downtown fixture just off Grafton Street since 1889. It was a popular watering hole among the literati long before James Joyce immortalized the bar in Ulysses, published in 1922. In chapter 8, “Lestrygonians,” Leopold Bloom stops in on June 16, 1904, and orders a Gorgonzola sandwich. The dish is still on the menu, though the pub now fancies itself “Dublin's original gastro pub”...Read More

Exploring the world of Irish farmhouse cheese

Posted on by Pat and David
It's not really surprising that Irish cheeses all come with a story. Probably the best place in Dublin to hear these tales is the local branch of Sheridans Cheesemongers (11 South Anne Street, +353 1 679 3143), conveniently located a short distance from Grafton Street, just around the corner from the Celtic Whiskey Shop (more on that another time), and close by St. Stephen's Green. For a cheese-loving visitor, Sheridans amounts to a crash course on Irish farmhouse cheeses — and the perfect source to get pieces shrinkwrapped to take home in your luggage. Get a preview at sheridanscheesemongers.com. Several commercial Irish cheddars reach North America, but farmhouse cheeses are another matter. In fact, farmhouse cheesemaking had nearly died out in Ireland, as dairy farmers...Read More

Top food with a view at Sophie’s, Dublin’s newest

Posted on by Pat and David
When it comes to good eating in Dublin, the best choices at the moment seem to be either the self-styled gastropubs or terrific restaurants in some of the hotels. The latest arrival is Sophie's (33 Harcourt Street, +353 1 607 8100, sophies.ie) at the Dean (deanhoteldublin.ie), a chic new designer boutique hotel. Both restaurant and hotel opened at the beginning of December, so by the time we arrived on New Year's Eve, chef Darren Mathews (below) had Sophie's running on all cylinders. The top-floor restaurant and bar is surrounded on three sides by windows with views of the Dublin rooftops. It's a spectacular space, with banquettes and some booths lining the perimeter of the room and — in true Irish fashion — a big bar...Read More

Celebrating great dining in Dublin

Posted on by Pat and David
We just returned from Dublin's New Year's Festival, celebrated over three days from December 30 through January 1. This was the fourth year of the festival, and the biggest yet. Along with the raucous parade (above), it featured live rock concerts, a Spoken Word Festival of poetry and rap, other music that drew on traditional and classical genres, special museum and gallery shows, and a whole lot of fun. The Irish know how to celebrate, and it turns out that they have a lot to celebrate year-round with the new Irish cuisine. Ireland has always had the makings of great food — from the sweet vegetables to the succulent meat from animals grazed on its rich green grass to the fish and shellfish from its...Read More

Pantelleria vineyards honored by UNESCO

Posted on by Pat and David
It's a delight to learn that the United Nations has honored the grape growers of Pantelleria, naming the island's viticultural technique part of the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. And here I thought it was merely heroic. That's what the Pantellerians themselves call it. About halfway between Sicily and Tunisia, the rocky island of volcanic origins is arid and scoured by ferocious winter winds that stunt even the olive trees. Typically, houses are cut into the rock to provide protection from the wind and the blistering sun. The grapes are grown on “head trained bush vines” (vite ad alberello, in Italian). Each one is planted in a depression and trained in a low, broad bush system with two to four branches. Vines are typically...Read More

Red Arrow big burger grabs headlines

Posted on by Pat and David
Old-fashioned diners certainly love their giant burgers. We wrote about the Miss Washington Diner in New Britain a few weeks back, marveling at the monstrous burger called The Monument. In a piece in today's Boston Globe about the 24-hour Red Arrow Diner (61 Lowell Street, Manchester, N.H. 603-626-1118, www.redarrowdiner.com), we came face to face with the Newton Burger, presented above by general manager Herb Hartwell. In all fairness, the Red Arrow does serve salads, Jell-O, and other low-fat options, but the main clientele seems to gravitate to some of the heavier entrées. The place is known for its mugs of chili and its baked mac and cheese. And its burgers. A burger on toast was on the menu when the Red Arrow opened in 1922,...Read More

Spanish orange & almond tart for Christmas

Posted on by Pat and David
Last year for the holiday season we made saffron shortbread cookies, and we were feeling bad that we didn't have a new holiday cookie this year. We got to thinking about winter sweets and some of our all-time favorite flavors, and the two sort of came together. Some of the quintessential tastes of Spain are almonds, saffron, and bitter oranges. Why not adapt our standard linzer tart recipe to reflect that different range of flavors? Instead of hazelnuts in the dough, we could use almonds. Instead of vanilla, we could use saffron. And in place of raspberry jam, we could use Seville orange marmalade. (OK, we know that the marmalade is more a Scottish than Spanish flavor, but it does use the bitter oranges of...Read More