The Good, The Bad & The Thing That Looks Like Poo

Last night on a whim we went to Rae in the Cira Centre. Having previously imbibed at the bar and enjoyed the atmosphere we figured it was worth a shot. We arrived at 8:30 for our 9:30 reservations figuring we would have a few drinks at the bar and perhaps a snack before we sat down. Immediately we saw that it was absolute mayhem (later learning there was a server shortage). Bar seats were impossible to come by due to the sheer volume of people waiting for tables. After an hour we finally sat down at the bar and ordered the truffle pizza appetizer. It was absolutely delicious. Basically it's a flat bread pizza with truffle puree garnished with greens and shaved parmesan.

We were finally seated sometime after 11. Almost immediately the people next to us walked out. Things were not looking good. At least they were nice enough to hand us their menus since the server had neglected to give us our own.

Our friend is a bit of a steak snob. As soon as he saw the reserve menu he decided on the Dry Aged T-Bone. Unfortunately they were 86'd by the time they took our order. Conveniently they did have an aged NY Strip for two. He and my husband decided to split the 2 lb monstrosity while I chose the tenderloin. Both cuts of meat were supremely fatty. Having a well documented aversion to fat on meat, I was not thrilled.

I can't really hold the poor service against them; staff call outs happen. I can complain about the crappy cuts of meat. I suppose I wouldn't care if it were a moderately priced restaurant, but it wasn't. That said, you should absolutely go have a drink at the bar, get the Truffle Pizza and enjoy the atmosphere. Carnivores dine at your own risk.

So when I woke this morning I really wanted something good. We decided on St. Stephen's Green, a little Irish Pub up the street. My husband complained he didn't want to have "Irish Pub Breakfast", I assured him they would have other things as well. So what did he do? He ordered an entire Irish breakfast. Then he was certain they were cheating him out of his rashers. After much discussion, it turned out it was actually the bangers that were missing but who would have known since none of the protein onslaught was identified by anything that made any sense. I wouldn't have guessed that pudding is code for "weird meat sausage that tastes a bit like scrapple". Good thing for the iPhone, we were able to look up rasher on dictionary.com and resolve the debate over which protein was which.

Overall it was a good brunch spot (just under $20/person) - 17th and Green - should you be in the mood for some black pudding, which is actually blood sausage, which is actually pork sausage with a high blood content (and based on the picture to the left, it also resembles something else on which I won't elaborate). If that doesn't sound tasty, and I can't imagine why not...you can also find normal, non-turd looking food, like the brie and mushroom omelette.