The Irish have been on my mind lately. Their food, their music, their love of life, and their gorgeous country. When I am working at the computer, I put in a CD of something soft or environmental for background sound. I love anything that has to do with water. And I like the plaintive sounds of American Indian drums and flutes. Don’t have to think about it, it’s just there, soothing the air. Something compelled me last week to buy some CDs of Irish folk music and they’ve been getting a good workout.
Given the psychological preparation, it wasn’t too far-fetched for us to end up in an Irish pub this week. We were in Belmont Shore on business and the strip of Second Street that is the main thoroughfare for that village and Naples is dotted with Irish gathering spots near the first bridge after you come off Pacific Coast Highway.
We actually thought at first of going much further down the street, almost to the other end of that shopping, strolling and dining scene. It was Shenandoah Caf & #233; (a very nice and long-standing place worthy of another article here in the future) that was our almost-destination. But then, as we came to Morry’s of Naples,a very good wine shop I’ve been known to frequent,and its neighbors of Irish persuasion, there was Limericks Traditional Irish Pub, sending out its vibes to come visit again.
The thought of fish and chips danced in my head. Remembering the happy times in England, Scotland and on the Emerald Isle, hanging out with locals in their pubs, was the clincher. My little red Miata almost parked itself.
Driving on this sunny California day in the convertible mode had strewn my hair a bit, and as I glanced in the mirror to see just how disheveled I looked, I saw that Limericks was more pub than upscale caf & #233;. This is where we should be.
There’s no mistaking just what Limericks is all about from the moment you approach. There are park-style benches on the sidewalk out front where locals converge. Just inside the door are two upended barrels that house business cards and local reading material. Sawdust is scattered on the black floors. To the left and right are smallish rooms with large wooden “coffee” tables surrounded on three sides by wooden banquettes,that last word seems woefully out of place here, but it works. Irish jigs and reels play in the background.
The dining room sports a mere five wooden booths and two tables, each seating up to six people. This room is divided by a half-wood, half-glass wall from the bar, where a few well-worn stools are always being used and others pushed behind the stand-up guys, all having their pints of ale. It’s as if the social life of the community is unfolding here, just as it does in pubs across the sea.
As usual, we grabbed one of the wooden booths in this 3-year-old place that gets much of its “lived in” look from previous incarnations. If you hit a night when Todd Leland is both waiting tables and playing bartender, you will have some extra fun. It is obvious that he has a rapport with the customers and even makes ordering food a smiling affair.
The whole menu stays pretty close to home. Appetizers include briny pickled eggs, chips topped with cole slaw (or with a side of curry sauce), a half-dozen sausages encased in beer batter and deep fried, some new potatoes with a spicy sauce for dipping, and a homemade sausage roll. The latter makes use of puff pastry to encase sausage meat. The smart diner will cut it into bite-size strips and dab them into Coleman’s mustard or English HP Sauce (thicker and richer than Worcestershire Sauce).
For those who like to eat breakfast any time of day, they’ll cook up a combo plate of eggs and meat of choice. If it’s lunchtime, have the slab of meatloaf on sourdough bread. Or sandwiches of highly stacked corned beef, fried fresh cod, or something even more definitive. The Irish are fond of what they call the toasted sandwich. Good cheddar cheese is layered with tomato and onion and grilled crisp on good rye bread. With a light beer such as Harp or Caffrey’s Ale, both imported from Ireland, this is good stuff.
I must say, the burger with the double “paddy,” rashers of bacon, Stilton cheese and horseradish cole slaw makes a fine meal, even if a burger seems out of the norm for the rest of the menu.
Homey Irish dishes make up the rest of the menu. Fish and chips come as three large pieces of fresh cod, dipped in beer batter and crisply presented atop a pile of fries on a traditional pewter plate. I take mine with a drizzle of malt vinegar (on the table with other condiments, of course) but also dip them into the easygoing tartar sauce.
A pub is not complete without shepherd’s pie. Both ground beef and lamb are combined with onions, peas and carrots and baked beneath a hefty layer of freshly mashed potatoes in this lively version. Though I prefer lamb stew in places like this, the one here is made of beef in the requisite manner of long, slow cooking with root vegetables. Bangers (sausages) and mash (potatoes), and pork chops marinated in cider are good choices.
This is also the place for corned beef (flavored from scratch on the premises) with a wedge of cabbage and sides of carrots and potatoes. So traditional. There are steamed clams and mussels, a good-size portion of grilled salmon and one pasta dish with corned beef and peas and a Stilton cheese sauce in yet another trio of dishes that I have not tasted.
You might want to save room for an Irish dessert. There are only three, but they are interesting. Bread pudding is made from brown bread and is studded with raisins, smooth in texture and sporting a cinnamon background. That same bread pudding is mixed into vanilla ice cream for a real treat. In the third choice, a frozen Snickers bar is coated in egg and flour batter and deep-fried. It’s a kick and a very good one!
Color this place fun. No glitz and glamour, just cut-to-the-chase hometown conviviality. It gets your feet back down to earth in the most meaningful way.
