Comments on: Irish Pub in a Box

By: paul

paul — Sun, 20 Aug 2006 22:42:01 +0000

When I lived in England, my local brewery refurbished its rather run-down estate of unremarkable watering holes. Interiors were ripped out, each one was tarted up with generic identi-tat and – best of all – received a spanking new outdoor sign proclaiming it to be “Unspoilt By Progress”.

On Irish pubs, has anyone else noticed that the ersatz Irish pub concept has been so successful that it has now emerged in Ireland?

By: digamma

digamma — Sun, 20 Aug 2006 01:50:35 +0000

The website says the pub will “echo the pathos of rural Ireland to a tee,”

It would be kind of cool if they had actors posing as pub patrons who would randomly break into Martin MacDonagh dialogue.

By: John

John — Sun, 20 Aug 2006 01:41:25 +0000

Canadian bars? Are you for real? That’s awesome.

There’s a couple here in Paris – the Moose, near Odéon and the Great Canadian on the river a bit west of Saint Michel. As described above, they feature lots of ridiculous “Canadian” paraphernalia and sell hamburgers for 15 euros.

By: Another Damned Medievalist

Another Damned Medievalist — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 14:50:22 +0000

Well, supposedly the Irish pub just outside my new town is the only decent place to drink, atmosphere-wise. Of course, as it’s not in town, one can’t go and drink there, because, well, drinking and driving aren’t a good combo.

By: tony

tony — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 13:15:24 +0000

At least the superpubs in Dublin are up the jaxi with Capital Bars’ losses running to 18 million last year. I’ll drink to that. Some of the best new pubs in Dublin now feel like New York bars. Which isn’t a bad thing at all.

By: Kath

Kath — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 22:36:25 +0000

Well I already know Kieran so it’s not truly The Irish Person Thing. Am guessing ‘c’ that you’re not Irish or we could do a demo!

btw Kath is actually my name so no ‘Kath’ necessary…

By: C

Fri, 18 Aug 2006 17:39:01 +0000

Are we seeing The Irish Person Thing in action between Kieran and 'Kath'? How very exciting!

By: unclemonty

unclemonty — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 16:53:27 +0000

> How do people ascertain what is located “up”
> the road and what is “down”?

Surely depends on local conditions. Here in my neighbourhood of Montreal “up” is always the grid direction we call north, though in fact it’s a little on the west side of north-west (and at certain times of the year the sun sets smack in the middle of the “north-south” streets as you cross the road and look north, which is all wrong)… but I digress. When giving directions you say “above” or “below” to mean north or south of, so for example you might say “it’s on St.Denis just below Laurier”, or “you’ll have to drive up to Duluth, over to Berri then come back down half a block”.

I think it got that way because the prevailing slope is slightly uphill as you head north, because of the presence of the mountain – but even once you get so far north that you’ve passed the mountain, people in my experience still refer to “up” and “down” in the same consistent way. When a friend who hadn’t been here long was using “up” and “down” indiscriminately, it was most confusing – I hadn’t realised how strong the tendency was till I heard someone misusing it!

Best non-traditional poutine around here is at Patati-patata on St.Laurent just below Rachel, where they have peppers and onions and mushrooms in the mix. But they do use the right kind of cheese! (you know it’s right when it squeaks.)

By: Kath

Kath — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 10:48:29 +0000

Yip. How’s tricks?

By: Xero

Xero — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 07:21:58 +0000

I always thought the key to pouring stout properly is “In a glass.” I mean cold or room temperature, either way it’s good, and other than that it’s pretty hard to screw up.

By: Mary Kay

Mary Kay — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 03:56:36 +0000

I’ve been in a number of Irish pubs in the US and most of them have little if any connection to real Irish pubs in Ireland. I’ve been in real Irish pubs in Ireland. Most of the ones in the US have too damn many tvs to be real Irish pubs. Though there are a couple here in Seattle which aren’t too bad. (I’m not sure I’ve ever been in a major city in the US that didn’t have an Irish pub or two.)

MKK

By: josh

josh — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 03:03:43 +0000

Oh, I forgot to mention – the Thirsty Scholar has chips and curry (or ‘curry fries’ as they call them). That in itself redeems the place.

By: josh

josh — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 03:00:23 +0000

I steered well clear of the Irish pub in Riga—which was very popular, and patronised (it appeared) primarilly by Aussie tourists. Which was just depressing, really.
Alas, I know Grafton Street well—I’d never have guessed its supposed to be ‘Irish’. If I want a fake Irish bar I go to the Thirsty Scholar (or is it fake? Perhaps most pubs in Ireland have pictures of Joyce and Beckett in them? After all, nothing enhances a drinking experience like the smiling face of—Samuel Beckett).

By: Kieran Healy

Kieran Healy — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 01:00:08 +0000

Kath = Katherine Stynes?

By: Laura

Laura — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 23:44:20 +0000

For a period of time, I lived in Sunnyside, Queens and spent a lot of time in American bars filled only with Irish guys. It was the late 80s and a lot Irish were in the city at the time. The guys from different areas of Ireland congregated in different bars and all played soccer on the weekend. Yeah, they knew how to pour a proper pint. And, my girl friends and I really enjoyed being the only females in these bars. Free beer for us.