Here’s where he ate and what he had to say about it . . .
An Poitin Stil
Address 2323 York Road, Timonium
Phone 410-560-7900
Hours 11 a.m.-2 a.m. daily
With Irish-themed tchotchkes crowding every wall, this sprawling suburban restaurant beats you over the head with its brogue. The pile of corned beef, cabbage and potatoes is worth savoring, though. At $13.29, it’s a pretty good deal, too.
Let’s start at the bottom, where melt-in-your-mouth potato chunks sat in a watery sauce. The potatoes were blanketed by a layer of large, steaming cabbage leaves. And finally, pink corned beef that came apart in hunks at the touch. This is Irish-American food at its best: warm and comforting.
Kelsey’s Restaurant and Irish Pub
Address 8480 Baltimore National Pike, Ellicott City
Phone 410-418-9076
Hours 11 a.m.-2 a.m. daily
“Hope you’re hungry,” the waitress said as she set down this dish of corned beef and cabbage, $14.99. We were famished, but still could barely finish everything on the plate.
Several spears of corned beef – tender enough to slice with the side of a fork – lay next to a pile of creamy mashed potatoes and a halved head of cabbage. Mashed potatoes may be less traditional, but they were no less welcome. And the sauce underneath the corned beef, cabbage and potatoes was rich enough to lend some flavor to the food without overpowering it.
Kelsey’s has a more formal setting than the Stil, with less Irish-themed memorabilia. The restaurant likes to advertise that its corned beef marinates for hours before it’s served. We believe it.
Quigley’s Half-Irish Pub
Address 633 Portland St.
Phone 410-539-9052
Hours 11 a.m.-2 a.m. daily
Even a half-Irish pub should know better. Instead of offering hearty hunks of corned beef, this Ridgely’s Delight establishment served tough strips of meat that looked more like beef jerky. This chewy corned beef was sliced extra-thin and sat next to a pile of red-skinned potato chunks, cabbage and crunchy carrot spears.
Little about the cabbage or potatoes was remarkable, either. Everything except the carrots tasted bland and, at best, the dish was barely passable. The whole order cost $7.69 – about half the price of the others we tried.
The Irish Channel Restaurant and Pub
Address 1053 Maryland Route 3 North, Gambrills
Phone 410-451-4222
Hours 11 a.m.-2 a.m. Mondays-Saturdays; 10 a.m.-2 a.m. Sundays
Nothing stood out about this order, $13.99, except the sheer size of it. Several corned beef strips – each about the size and shape of a piece of biscotti – shared a plate with chopped potatoes and moist cabbage. All told, it felt like 2 pounds of food. But the beef and potatoes bordered on dry, and the cabbage wasn’t cooked quite long enough. Overall, this order was just middle-of-the-road.
Slainte Irish Pub
Address 1700 Thames St.
Phone 410-563-6600
Hours 11 a.m.-2 a.m. Mondays-Fridays; 8 a.m.-2 a.m. Saturdays and Sundays
The first few bites of this order, $12, tasted fine. The long, thick strips of corned beef, which sat between two halves of a head of cabbage, were soft and juicy. A few forkfuls later, we realized there was a pool of butter at the bottom of the plate, and everything had been drenched in it.
Normally, we’d say the more butter the better. But – believe it or not – there is a limit to just how much melted butter you can soak food in, and this corned beef and cabbage went over it.
For the price and the amount of food, Slainte could easily have made this into one of the best corned beef and cabbage deals in town. A little less butter would have gone a long way. As it was, this dish was just too rich.
