When you come here you will inevitably get something Italian to eat because I can do that kind of stuff in my sleep and I like Eye-talian food lol! But there is another side to my heritage that comes sneaking out from time to time. The Irish side. It rears it's lovely Gaelic head every now and again and I must satisfy my Irishness with some good Irish food and beer of course! Tonight was one of those nights. When Brad asked if I'd like to go to Sine for supper the Irish cailin was more then excited to get her needs met.
It was quiet when we got there around 6:30. They sat us at what I thought was a cute table, which turned out to be up several steps and had us situated squarely behind the bar. As the meal progressed, toward the end, you got the great smell of chlorine as glasses were being washed maybe? Love the smell of my white laundry being washed, don't want to smell it when I'm eating though.
It was a great night to people watch one of my absolute favorite pasttimes. The person who came in with the hat made of glo necklaces and the other guy who had on the Mexican sombrero that was just the right size for a chihuahua were entertaining to say the least.
Our waiter was rather scattered. It was like everything he did was an after thought. "would you like more water?" Well duh, what was your first clue, the fact my glass was empty? So he picked it up, put it down, picked it up again and then got me more water. Say what??? He was almost insulted when we asked for dessert. Weird fellow indeed.
We sat down and ordered a round of Murphy's Stout. I like Guinness, but I LOVE Murphy's. A friend of mine in England turned me on to Murphy's. Better on tap then out of a can, but both will do. The Murphy's came with a gorgeous, creamy head. The kind that gives you a big kid milk mustache when you take your first several sips. I watched as the creaminess slid ever so silkily down the side of my glass, looking like layers of stout torte to me. Not nearly as bitter as Guinness, mmmm, I actually had two pints of the stuff.
We ordered their pretzel and cheese appetizer. Brad has this thing for this sort of Ale house appetizer and I was happy to oblige his taste for it, usually it doesn't disappoint in other places we've ordered it. Sadly, this time it did for me. Two big "Super Pretzel" pretzels with enough salt that I secretly had planned on having an aneurysm as I tried to eat it with the salt (it got brushed off, it was just too much) and this bowl of cheese that looked like it was piping hot. Pretty, brown bubbly flecks dotted the top of the dish. Well it wasn't, those toasty brown spots might have been made earlier, but the cheese was far from hot and it was sort of disappointing. The only thing I really kept picking up were the big honking chunks of onions. If any of you know me, you know that is the one thing I cannot stand to eat. My mother in law marvels at how I can cook without onions and have everything so flavorful and tasty. I don't use them, the consistency, the taste, did I mention I hate onions more then I hate running? So that was disappointing. It was then my second pint was delivered, so really, it mattered little at that point.
I ordered the Short Ribs served with Mac and Cheese, Brad got what else, the Corned Beef and Cabbage. When my entree arrived, as the waiter was walking over with this monster sized bowl I thought, Good Lord how much food have I ordered? Well I got a pound of this macaroni covered in melted cheese and four small strips of short ribs cut from the bone. I looked at Brad's plate and saw a bunch of red potatoes, a piece of cabbage and two measly slices of corned beef. Hmmm, plenty of pasta and potatoes, but chitzing on the protein. It was a shame too because the short ribs were really pretty good. As I was eating the pasta I tried to figure out what the crunchy stuff in it was. Cheez-its! Yes, those square crackers. They cut the richness of the pasta as it was drowned in butter and something else I couldn't identify. The buttery pasta, the layer of Cheez-its, then the blanket, and I do mean blanket, of cheddar over top of it. I suppose if I were 8 or 9 this sort of cheesiness would appeal to me, but now it seemed like a cheap excuse for mac and cheese.
Brad wasn't thrilled with his corned beef because it was boiled. He said he likes mine better because I don't boil it necessarily. I do put water in as I bake the corned beef for hours on end, but I don't put the whole thing in a pot of boiling water to cook. Brad's plate of food wasn't nearly enough for him and I knew the richness of the pasta would ultimately bother my stomach, so I gave him my plate with the mac and cheese.
I figured since those four little strips of meat wouldn't be enough, I said let's get that Irish Car bomb cake they had. Perhaps that's all I should have gotten. The chocolate cake was dense, it sat in the middle of the plate with a scoop of vanilla ice cream surrounded by a sea of Jameson whiskey hard sauce. The sauce was my favorite part. Velvety on the palate, butterschotchy in taste, perfect with the cake. The ice cream like I said to Brad needed to be more like a Breyers vanilla bean vanilla ice cream. Something not as creamy as Vanilla they served, a little less sweet and over the top artificial tasting. It would have been perfect. The ice cream they served reminded me remotely of the kind you'd get in those little plastic cups that you ate with the wooden paddle spoons. It totally cheapened what would have been a perfect dessert.
The last time we had lunch at Sine, it made this Irish lass' heart sing with happiness. My Irish eyes definitely weren't smilin leaving this time....
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