A corned-beef bonanza

Jim and Nancy do not disclose the fact that they will review a restaurant before they attend, ensuring their reviews are unbiased and uninfluenced by their position with the Sun Day.

Let’s be honest, St. Patrick’s Day is not really known as a culinary holiday. Most people prefer Guiness and Jamesons over boiled potatoes. A perfect example of this is Nancy. If there’s Guiness on tap, she’s there in a heartbeat. She actually survived in Ireland on Guiness and flights of Irish whiskey rather than eating such delicacies as Piggy Cheeks and the delicious blend of oatmeal, pork, bread, and suet known as White Pudding. However, we digress. We found an Irish pub in Downers Grove with an interesting menu with lots of creative and authentic Irish dishes. We jumped into the Mini-Mobile, followed the rainbow hoping to find a pot of gold at Ballydoyle Irish Pub.

This downtown pub is housed in an old building with a public parking lot next door.

The inside is Irish all the way with a large stage for music surrounded by high top and standard tables all in a field of shamrocks. Private parties can be accommodated in the draped off back room.

When we sat down, Nancy immediately ordered a draft Guiness ($8) and settled in to look at the menu. We both spotted at the exact same time the Irish Nachos ($15.99) and had to order them for our appetizer. This consisted of their homemade Irish chips tossed in “Irish Dust” seasoning (the mysterious “Irish Dust” turned out to be sugar), bacon, cheese, corned beef, thousand island dressing, brown mustard, leeks, and cream of potato soup. Since Nancy isn’t a cream of potato soup fan, we asked to have it on the side. OMG… What arrived was unbelievable and could easily feed four people. Of course, that didn’t stop us from polishing off the entire appetizer. This was one of the tastiest and most creative variations on nachos that we have ever had.

Jim was in an authentic Irish mood when he spotted the Corned Beef Boxty ($18.99). This is a traditional Irish potato pancake folded over and filled with corned beef, sauerkraut, cabbage, thousand island dressing, spicy mustard, and topped with melted Swiss cheese. The tortilla sized potato pancake was a little bland, but the rest of the ingredients more than made up for it. Half of his dinner came home with him in a doggie bag.

Nancy also was in an authentic Irish mood today and ordered the Corned Beef and Cabbage ($18.99). This was two braised corned beef loins, cooked cabbage, glazed baby carrots, and boiled baby red potatoes. This truly was the pot of gold that we were looking for at the end of the rainbow!!! We have never seen such lean and tender corned beef in our lives. No knife was needed; you could pull it apart with your fork. It wasn’t sliced, it was two rectangular chunks of solid meat that is to die for. The glazed carrots were a sweet treat. Unfortunately, she only ate a quarter of the first chunk since she pigged out on the nachos, so she brought home almost her whole dinner in a doggie bag.

If you ever have a taste for unbelievable corned beef, Ballydoyle is worth the trip. They also have a second location in Aurora. You won’t be disappointed.

The price for our St. Patrick’s Day celebration was $72.70, finding corned beef that is “magically delicious,” priceless…

Jim’s take: The next time I go there, to coin a phrase, “I’m having what she’s having”.

Nancy’s take: After having this meal, it will be very hard to go back to other corned beef and cabbage dinners.

Have comments or restaurant suggestions for the Dining Duo? Send them an email at thediningduo@gmail.com

---

---