The Star and the Shamrock, Atlas District

[leleboo]

I haven't been here yet, but saw via Twitter and Facebook that they had their soft opening Thursday and Friday and will be open tonight. (FWIW, their self-written bio on Twitter is, "NY kosher style deli and old time Irish pub.")

Before you laugh, I'd just like to point out that the Lord Mayor of Dublin in 1956 and 1961 was IrishJewish* (and a not-that-distant relative of mine).

*Not that he wasn't Irish, but I meant originally to point out the Jewish thing. *headdesk*

[youngfood]

I haven't been here yet, but saw via Twitter and Facebook that they had their soft opening Thursday and Friday and will be open tonight. (FWIW, their self-written bio on Twitter is, "NY kosher style deli and old time Irish pub.")

Before you laugh, I'd just like to point out that the Lord Mayor of Dublin in 1956 and 1961 was IrishJewish* (and a not-that-distant relative of mine).

We were there last night. It's gorgeous inside -- really cool renovation with lots of exposed brick, including a partial divider down the middle which was probably the wall between two smaller rowhouse buildings before. Menu isn't totally complete, but the food is up and running. We tried the reuben egg roll and the corned beef in that was good. Friends liked the latkes. Another good addition to H Street.

[leleboo]

I realize this is really only marginally on-topic so if it gets deleted, well, I just hope those who get to see it smile.

I told my cousin about this place and got this response:

"Our cousin, Robert Briscoe, visited St. Louis in the 1950's to see the family and his son Ben was Lord Mayor in the 90's. Guinness Stout or Bass Ale with a corned beef or pastrami on rye must taste great! Do you know what they call an Irish Jew? -a Lepracohen!"

At this point, I'm pretty sure it's only fair I stop in this week.

[saf]

"Our cousin, Robert Briscoe, visited St. Louis in the 1950's to see the family and his son Ben was Lord Mayor in the 90's.

Every time I read about this place, I find myself singing the Clancy Brothers song "Moses Ri-Tooral-I-Ay"

[New Foodie]

The +1 and I stopped in last night briefly to take a look at the menu (we actually headed to Argonaut for dinner). The place is very nice looking, and still smells like fresh paint. They were doing a fairly bustling business, and the servers seemed very friendly and helpful. They have a soft opening menu available for April that includes a bunch of deli-style sandwiches (pastrami, brisket, etc) along with latkes and the reuben egg rolls mentioned above. Looked like a decent sized beer list too although we didn't look too closely. They also had the deli area open if you wanted to just order some sliced meat to take home. Heads up that their credit card machines are down this week so it's cash only, but they do have an ATM on sight I believe. I'm looking forward to trying it soon.

Also walked by the beer garden just down the street and was told it would be opening in about 2 weeks. So many new places!

[Marty L.]

Not quite.

http://attackerman.firedoglake.com/2010/04/25/a-culinary-shonda/

[ad.mich]

Bumping to note that the sandwiches I tried last weekend (Pastrami and Brisket) were both extremely good. Rich, meltingly tender, and properly cut (Katz-style thick) imo.

It ain't cheap, especially if you want them overstuffed (8.50 for a regular, and 3.50 more to make them properly thick) but for stuff of this quality that is made it house it was a worthy splurge. If you aren't getting corned beef (I'll stick to Deli City for that) this is as good a deli sandwich as you'll find in the hill area.

[New Foodie]

After having walked by Star & Shamrock for a year and a half without patronizing the bar/restaurant, we finally headed there last night to use a Groupon-type deal that was set to expire December 1. It was pretty quiet at 7pm on a Thursday night, which was fine for us since we were in there more for food than the drinks.

We wanted to order the Shephard's Fries ($8 - curly fries topped with shephard's pie filling, melted cheese, ranch dipping sauce) for an appetizer, but apparently they were all out of Shephard's pie filling? So we ended up with the Kosher Kornies ($6 - Hebrew National cocktail franks, wrapped in dough and fried, served with a latke). The franks themselves were good. Fairly small, but six to a serving. I pretty much always love pigs in a blanket, so it was easy to please me on that one. There were two very thin latkes served underneath the franks, and I was a little disappointed in these. They were very thin, very greasy, and not very crispy or warm. It made me glad we hadn't ordered the latkes alone as an appetizer (since it was one we were considering).

For sandwiches we split the Irish Dip ($9 - hot roast beef, sauteed onion, cheddar, sourdough bread, jameson's au jus) and the Turkey #2 ($9.50 - hot, house roasted turkey, muenster cheese, bacon, mayonnaise, sourdough bread) substituting Russian dressing for mayo on the turkey. Each was served with a small pile of ruffled chips and a dill pickle spear. The turkey was my favorite of the two. It was almost like a "Rachel," since we added the dressing, and the turkey was freshly cut and moist. The roast beef was good, if a little stringy and hard to bite through. I almost liked the sandwich better by itself because the dip was a little heavy on the rosemary. Both sandwiches were good-sized and fairly messy. Certainly not cheap, but seemed like quality ingredients.

We probably won't hurry back since there are now so many different options on H St, but it's solid food if you're in the bar drinking or in the area and want a decent deli sandwich or some good appetizers.