Annie Bailey’s Irish Pub – Restaurant Review

If you’ve taken a look over at my restaurants page, then you know that I already love Annie Bailey’s but here is a more detailed review of our latest night out there. I decided to surprise Eric with dinner at his favorite Irish Pub after his engineering exam last Friday. I figured he’d need a beer or two after spending 8 hours using parts of his brain that I’m not even aware exist in my own brain. I was also craving some good pub food so I made a reservation for 8pm. (Be sure to make a reservation if you plan on going for dinner on a weekend, it will be a long wait if you don’t.)

After being seated, Eric ordered a Guinness and I noticed that one the specials menu they had listed Chimay White on tap so I ordered one of those. I know you’re wondering why I didn’t order a Guinness in the Irish pub, especially considering the fact that I look like I was born there but to be honest with you, I’m still learning to like Guinness and all dark beers for that matter. I love the lighter “girly” beers and I’m happy with even a medium beer but the dark ones are still growing on me. Anyway, the Chimay White is really good and they only have it on tap from time to time so I decided to take advantage of it.

We ordered the beef brisket quesadilla to split then Eric orderd the Shepherd’s Pie and I ordered the Kobe Beef burger. The Shepherd’s Pie is a great recipe because they use both lamb and ground beef; when you use more than one kind of meat, it gives the dish alot of depth of flavor. If you don’t know what kobe beef is, you need to find out and try some. Here’s a little Wikipedia definition of Kobe Beef: “refers to cuts of beef from the black Tajima-ushibreed of Wagyu cattle, raised according to strict tradition in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. The meat is generally considered to be a delicacy, renowned for its flavour, tenderness, and fatty, well-marbled texture.” In short, it’s the champagne of beef if that makes sense; it’s magically delicious! And it was my burger, cue giant smile on my face.

Out came our appetizer first the beef brisket quesadilla with a tomato jam:

There was a cheesy sauce on top and the meat had great flavor, I also loved the tomato jam which you can kind of see on the left in the picture, sorry the plate was clear glass and the dark wood tables makes it hard to make out. But the quesadilla was tasty!

Next came dinner, Eric’s Shepherd’s Pie:

He finished the whole casserole himself. It was hot and comforting, perfect after a long day of testing, and it was raining outside so it warmed him up.

And here’s my burger:

The burger was topped with a creamy mushroom sauce and caramelized onions. One important thing to note is that I requested my burger to be cooked medium, which to me means a hearty pink color throughout the entire burger, and the burger was perfectly cooked. All too often I find myself ordering beef medium rare or even rare, whenI like it medium because many restaurants overcook meat. This burger was red and delicious!

Sidenote, please tell me, what is the point of eating gray beef? It is completely tasteless! If you’re going to pay for a nice steak or a burger, please don’t insult the cow by ordering anything more than medium. And no, you won’t get worms or food poisoning from rare meat, stop worrying.

We devoured our dinners, actually I left a quarter of the burger on my plate because I was saving room for dessert. Annie Bailey’s has a great dessert selection but in keeping with the traditional Irish flavors, I chose the Bailey’s Irish Cream Cheesecake.

And yes, it tasted every bit as good as it looked. Although, if one were to eat this dessert while drinking a Guinness, I think a Jameson sauce may be a nice touch. They could call it the Car Bomb Cheesecake…

We had a great meal at Annie Bailey’s and are looking for another excuse to go back soon.