(The combo of the warmth of Irish souls, and the collaboration of their favorite day of the year with the nicely coddling weather, is described fully in this web site’s Notes From The Beat department).
If Paddy Ryan’s can do their regular menu of traditional meets modern Irish, so great by all accounts, think how special their specials are for St. Patrick’s Day itself, including but not limited to the best corned beef and cabbage I have ever tasted and accompanying vegetables that every piece had the perfect level of doneness. And of course for that whole weekend, the diverse and lengthy regular fare of dozens and dozens of choices is also available at the town of Hudson pub across from the truck stop. It was Saturday afternoon that I took it all in the give readers of this web site an idea of what they could expect to find, if going either later that night or during that next day so lauded by all who are Irish. And please note, even though the quality is fantastic from start to finish, the price is right too. And the Irish enthrallment at Paddy Ryan’s, even though The Seventeenth is now past, just keeps on going and going and going … Especially for some fair maidens in Hammond, Wis.
But on the day before, the hostess met me immediately and even had a backup person to greet the patrons behind me. I told her that I had a special arrangement with the proprietor, Kirk Mueller, for gathering story material and that she might want to verify with him that these straight up were the arrangements that existed, but kudos to her for trusting me, not taking that extra step, instead pronto offering me a seat wherever possible — the place despite a large amount of seating capacity was popular and packed full, even though it was between the lunch and dinner hour and not a peak time. But there were still a few seats around and I was offered one either at the bar or by the big west window with the sun setting in the background, and the hostess quickly suggested to sit on one side versus the other, so I could have an over the shoulder peak at the glowing orb while at the same time not having it beaming directly in my face. (I should note that I know I was not given special treatment as a member of the press, since the hostess then handed off the assignment to one of the many other staffers there, as the level of workers available was more than sufficient in this busy day, and I had no other dealings with the hostess after meeting her at the door, and there simply was no time to convey to them my circumstances).
But back to the food. The corned beef was by far the most tender I have had, yet full bodied. It was not the usual inches-long slab you would find most places, with tough pieces of gristle and fat that are hard to chew, but at Paddy Ryan’s it is shredded to just the right degree — just a bit thicker than what you find with pulled pork, which they also offer. Any there was nary a bit of gristle to be found. My corned beef was seasoned to just the right degree, tasty in a way that compliments the meat but not overpowering. (Add a bit of their gourmet malt vinegar that is at each table if you want a bit more zing). And the consistently toned, light red color of the meat was very visually appealing.
You got not two or three, but four delicately seasoned potatoes, lightly glazed to produce a light gold sheen. The cabbage was another part of the pattern, shredded a bit thinner than the big chunks you usually get to give it a consistency near that of cole slaw, and the flavoring and color was, again, the same through and through. A refreshing change, I thought. Add several lightly seasoned carrots and you have quite a dinner! But that’s not all. The proprietor came by table by table through his busy joint to greet each customer and offer them a $3 shot of Jameson. There were other shots of whiskey type things available for as little as a dollar.
(Rehabing from corn beef and cabbage)
I left half of each type of food on my plate, since I was going to take it home to my temporarily bedridden wife, who is VERY Irish, to sample. So I asked for a carryout box, along with a brief explanation of who it was for and why. It did take a few minutes to arrive — but in the continuing theme of great service, I was asked three times if I needed anything else in the interim — however, there was a reason for the brief torpor. The kitchen topped off the other end of things for my wife bigtime, namely loading up a bunch more of all four kinds of food, filling the box to the brim!
A note here. My wife, Jeannie, is in a nursing home, Hammond Health Services, to rehab after a knee replacement surgery. She loves her corned beef and cabbage — and always makes a point of it while eating to call her mother, also in a nursing home for a while now but a longtime Minneapolis Irish lady and prominent Hibernian — but it appeared that this time around, she might miss out on this for perhaps the first time in her adult life. It is a tradition for her to go with a longtime friend and Catholic co-worker to Fabulous Fern’s in St. Paul, decked out in her occasional-costume-contest-winning green garb that includes tennis shoes painted sparkly green with pointy extensions of a few inches and balls on the ends. She also has a few other faves there like bread pudding, however the CBC is the must-have. (And her friend Theresa, although Polish and German, had to fend for herself that day, but definitely carried it on to go there and made the best of it, like in the past). But alas, all in all, Paddy Ryan’s to the rescue! Almost like a gift from Santa to save Christmas, but that’s another holiday. If you can’t go to the corned beef and cabbage, have it come to you, and worry about taking in the other fine Irish goodies at Paddy Ryan’s later. And so I became the courier. And maybe this will not be the only time, as there has to be a knee replacement procedure of the other knee next year. And like this year, she literally tried to schedule her nursing home release date to enable her to get to Fern’s, even if yes, I had to be the courier 20 miles in the other direction, west not east.
But it all worked out in the end, as she totally loved this food from Paddy Ryan’s, just as it came. Yes, the corned beef was superior, and she agreed with me about all its attributes: “Mmm. Yummy, yummy.” But there had been more of the same prior to that, as she always saves the best for last when eating. In particular, Jeannie said the cabbage was partially the shredded way I described it, but also further to the middle had a roll-up quality she had become used to. She seemed to appreciate having a good dose of both styles. The meal, in all: “This is just wonderful.”
(What others in Hammond said)
The other people at the table at the nursing home, and the various staff members — Jeannie gleamed when they happened by, as she showed them all what had been brought to her — all had heard of Paddy Ryan’s, even though they were way across the county. But her new friend Sharon across the table said she had been to Paddy Ryan’s many times, St. Patrick’s Day and otherwise even though she has lost most of her mobility, and it was always a great experience. It was a primo longtime love of food and atmosphere for her and her husband, who died earlier this year, but because of the delivered Irish food and the company at her table, she was able to relive through conversation all those things. But for today it would have stay at the level of fond conversation, and the eats for her being the house-made ravioli sides, and fruity dessert, a tough act to follow in itself, as Jeannie was not giving up her prized corned beef, at least not right away, and Sharon was too polite to fully ask. And right then there was Jennifer and her mother, who said they are fond, often, of all things fish at Paddy Ryan’s, and a server who said the Irish stew there for her was regularly spectacular.
And the ultimate tribute? (I say this with tongue planted in cheek, which would make it hard to eat even the tender Paddy Ryan’s corned beef). I do the cooking around the house, and usually it gets thumbs up from Jeannie. So as a sentimental addendum, since I didn’t know until the weekend that she would indeed get the corned beef and cabbage that she so deeply loves, I had made her a dish myself, hoping it might have romantic appeal. It was heavy on potatoes and other such vegies that I thought would have Irish overtones.
I gave it to her second, immediately after the Paddy Ryan’s delicacies, and her response? Sorry Joe, the corned beef and cabbage is just too good, so I’m sticking with only that. Thanks for the thought, but you’ll just have to munch down on your loaded potato dish yourself. I was not too offended, as I’ve failed as a cook before, but then I came across this connection. The nursing home had a “baked potato bar” with fixings in their activity room on Friday, which was the day when everyone such as staff and residents actually celebrated their St. Patrick’s Day and dressed in green, but despite my lengthy suggestion to her that this could be a precursor to corned beef and cabbage, Jeannie took a pass. Could this be a subconscious behavior to make more room for that massive dose of corned beef, etc., later in the weekend? All this going on and their still was the Irish-themed music of the decades-long family group from the Hudson area, the O’Brien singers. One of them wore a green part-beret for the day, but the green everyone was mainly after was the great food.