Stout Brothers

When brothers Jeremy and Ryan Crone (general manager and chef, respectively) opened Stout Brothers’ doors in 2007, their mission was to create the feeling of a traditional Irish pub with a menu to match—yes, there’s corned beef and cabbage (Fri./Sat.), bangers and champ, shepherd’s pie and more. They hired an Irish company to build the dark wood bar and decorated the place entirely with Irish furniture and items. The menu also features some of their own creations. “We cook what we like to eat,” says Jeremy. The result is a popular eatery and pub with regular live music, special events, lots of comfort food and a festive, enjoyable vibe. The regular menu has a wide variety of appetizers, salads, burgers, sandwiches and entrées, and there are separate menus for happy hour and late nights.

We started out with a couple pints (I had Smithwick’s Red Ale) and chicken wings with traditional sauce (one of three choices). The wings were very flavorful and tender with plenty of sauce that had a nice heat to it, and were served in a basket with blue cheese dipping sauce, carrots and celery.

The fish and chips plate had large cod filets served hot and crisp, battered (with Harp beer) and fried golden but not greasy, with coleslaw and thick-cut fries, ketchup and tartar sauce. You can get them as a weekday lunch special (smaller portion but includes coffee or tea) or a larger portion where you can also add a salad for only $3.

Speaking of salads, we went for the Gaelic wedge, which is half a head of iceberg lettuce smothered in chunky, delicious blue cheese dressing and crumbles as well as a generous amount of bacon, tomato and onions—lots of goodies to be had, and a blue cheese lover’s delight.

An entire page of the menu is devoted to burgers and sandwiches, but I couldn’t pass up the Jameson burger. Their top-selling burger choice, it’s a half-pound, juicy patty smothered in Ryan’s whiskey barbecue sauce (yum) and topped with melted cheddar, onions, tomato, lettuce and mayonnaise—I found it delicious, messy, sticky and perfect.

Another popular menu choice is the baked macaroni and cheese, of which there are four preparation choices: a three-cheese sauce topped with breadcrumbs, “garden” (think veggies), “shepherd” (shepherd pie filling) and grilled chicken. We went for the original, three-cheese version, which came in a huge portion and had a lot of cheese sauce.  

For dessert, we went for some sticky toffee pudding, which is a large slice of toffee bread pudding, served hot and topped with plenty of hot caramel sauce and candied pecans. The brownie sundae was a warm, gooey, moist and excellent brownie topped with vanilla ice cream, hot fudge and whipped cream—very decadent and filling, and very good.