The New York Ranger game was on, and my boyfriend wanted to go to his family’s favorite place to watch the game: the Molly Wee Pub. Being extremely neophobic, I decided to step out of my comfort zone and join him this weekend.
Traveling into Manhattan, taking the X1 to Madison Square Garden, I was extremely nervous. I didn’t know what to expect. All I could think about was: “What would I eat? Would the smells make me nauseous? Would there be salad there? Chicken? I despise red meat!” All I could think about was my trip to Astoria, and how I almost passed out from the site of the meat hanging in the BZGrill! I was terrified that something of the sort would be hanging in the Irish Pub! We arrived, and to my liking, the pub had no meat hanging from it’s ceilings! Completely decorated with Ranger’s plaques, and every single person there had a Ranger’s jersey on. I immediately knew I would love this place (I wasn’t sure yet about the food). The atmosphere was great, everyone was cheerful, and welcoming. We stepped inside and a women with an Irish Brogue met us at the door and showed us to our table. I had never heard an authentic brogue before so I was mind blown. Following that, our waitress came to our table, and what do you know, SHE HAD AN IRISH BROGUE TOO! I later found out that every employee is actually an Irish immigrant, therefore all had Irish brogues. I immediately knew this place would be great, like my family’s deli and catering business, we are actually Italian from Italy and cook authentic Italian food, so I knew this place emphasized the same values in their business as we did.
The menu seemed average to me, about the same you could get anywhere, but once we received our food my thoughts changed completely. All of the food, although they seemed American, had an Irish twist! For example the Caesar said dressing had an Irish influence to it, so, the salad didn’t taste like your average salad, it tasted better! Besides the dressing, he chicken on top was moist and extremely fresh. The croutons were home made and the tomatoes and cucumbers were ripe! The food was great!
I found connections from both our History, and Physcology classes to my experience this weekend! I am slowly overcoming my neophobic ways, and I ventured out to a restaurant that was founded by Irish Immigrants (once not accepted in society, as we learned from the Moore family). It is amazing to see the progress Irish-America’s made from being frowned upon, and their food looked at to disgusting, to successfully owning restaurants!
Chicken Pot Pie