糖心Vlog传媒

There was the venerable Irish Waters, long replaced by mixed-use condominiums at University Row. There was not one but two Brocach restaurants before the one on the Capitol Square succumbed to unimaginative new ownership and the one on Monroe Street succumbed to a year-plus long street construction project. And there was Claddagh, one of the former restaurant anchors at Greenway Station in Middleton. Today, all of them are distant memories, vanished like the mists off the coast of Galway.

But if you鈥檙e willing to drive to Madison鈥檚 farthest east side, just before it bleeds into Sun Prairie, you can still find that genuine Irish vibe at Erin鈥檚 Snug and Irish Pub.

It鈥檚 easy to love the atmosphere at Erin鈥檚 Snug. The exterior looks like a minor lord鈥檚 castle, and the interior is upscale and welcoming at the same time. The dining spaces are airy, but there are also plenty of dark booths and, of course, the titular snugs to offer a different sort of seating options. (only one of the two snugs on offer fits the full traditional definition鈥攁 private room with frosted glass windows. One of the snugs, framed by stone sculptures of faces representing the Seven Deadly Sins, is decidedly open鈥攁lthough it does directly face the bar). The d茅cor embraces historical touches鈥攁 hearty suit of armor, flags and oversized bar signs鈥攚ithout ever teetering into the tacky.

Erin鈥檚 encyclopedic menu is a mix of takes on traditional Irish dishes, standard pub fare and somewhat kitschy takes on both. If you like corned beef (and who, outside of the vegetarian crowd, doesn鈥檛?), you鈥檝e found your very own pot of culinary gold. In addition to a straight-up platter of corned beef and cabbage ($16.99), you can enjoy the beef in a variety of additional ways, including in egg rolls over greens with Thousand Island dressing ($12.99), as the centerpiece of a quesadilla ($13.99) or mixed in with a huge bowl of four-cheese macaroni and cheese ($15.99).

The best way proves to be enjoying it as part of the O鈥橰eilly鈥檚 Reuben sandwich ($10.99). Erin鈥檚 has a real artistry to its food presentation, and this otherwise straightforward sandwich arrives on your plate double-quarter sliced, placed sideways and held together by oversized wooden picks. The sauerkraut and corned beef are portioned perfectly for a sandwich like this, and you won鈥檛 need to worry about slopping the fillings all over your plate.

The Guinness stew ($16.99) is the best of several similar dishes on the 鈥淚rish Specialties鈥� section of the menu. It arrives with a puff pastry that鈥檚 shaped almost exactly like an actual pillow and functions well at soaking up the pepper-spiced stew broth. The mix of Angus beef, carrots, celery and red potatoes isn鈥檛 chunky, but the smaller pieces are copious enough to cover all your spoonfuls of broth. If you鈥檇 prefer more vegetables than beef in your stew, the Murphy鈥檚 Irish stew ($16.99) is the way to go. If you鈥檇 prefer potatoes to a puff pastry and significantly less broth, a shepherd鈥檚 pie ($16.99) piles colcannon, the traditional mix of mashed potatoes and cabbage high atop a mix of ground beef and lamb.

An Irish pub can鈥檛 claim its stripes without a solid plate of fish and chips ($17.99), and Erin鈥檚 checks that box with the Daily News, a plate of cod that, while not especially extravagant or unusual, satisfies, with thick breading and tender fish.

As you鈥檇 expect, the drink list includes plenty of mixed Guinness cocktails, including a tasty snakebite ($6.99) that perches a pour of the legendary stout atop Magnus cider. My pour could have used just a tad more of the dark, rich Guinness, but the taste balance was perfect, the sweetness of the cider softening the pull of the heavy stout.

Elsewhere, Erin鈥檚 offers drinks devoted to each of those aforementioned Seven Deadly Sins, like a Guinness-splashed bloody molly, er, mary ($9.50) that represents greed. Given how much there is to explore on the menu here, you鈥檇 be wise to plan out a visit to sample each and every one of them.