Tuesday, July 05, 2005

Salvation In the Paddy Field

No, it wasn't some Buddist revival in the countryside- it's an Irish Pub.

The group dinner was once again at Food Street, and we were just done with Chinese food and particularly with Food Street. Don't get me wrong, Food Street isn't serving anything horrible like the fried snake, but that would have been our fourth dinner there and the food is always the same. Which means there wasn't alot I was going to be into eating (it's amazing how excited I get over a bowl of steamed white rice), and last time the service was slower than molasses in winter. We decided to boycott!

I had heard tell of an Irish pub near the Garden Hotel and I had copied the directions from some wonderful fabulous person who has been through this before and was kind enough to share the information with unfortunate souls coming behind them. It was like telling Indiana Jones that you'd heard of a priceless artifact from a lost civilization. So we grabbed our fedoras, bullwhip, and baby and hopped a cab to the Garden Hotel. We followed the clues and found the North Tower exit and all but ran down the driveway to the street, toward the 7-11 at which we were to turn left. And sure enough, there just a half a block ahead on the right was The Paddy Field.
Inside was dark and quiet with lots of wood benches and low stools surrounding long tables. There were also tall tables, and some of those were old wood barrels. Another room had a small stage and dance floor, so live entertainment must occur. There were Guiness posters everywhere, and better yet- there was Guiness on tap! The only downside was that there was no highchair for Tenley, but having learned from the Farm Fiasco we had brought her stroller. There was, however, Chicken Cordon Bleu, Guniess & beef pie, rack of roast lamb, potato skins, stew, soft rolls, pasta...it was the Holy Grail. Jeff chose the Cordon Bleu, and I opted for chicken stuffed with a cheese mixture and roasted in a mushroom sauce since they were out of the chicken and mushroom pie. Both entrees came with mashed potatos and gravy and soft rolls. Mmmmmmm.

Neither of us could actually finish our entrees because we haven't had rich food like this in almost 3 weeks. The food was suprisingly good, and even if it had been the worst Irish food on the planet I think at that moment it would have been better than the best Chinese food in the galaxy.

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