Northshore magazine showcases the best that the North Shore of Boston, MA has to offer.
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/1342831
94 Food has always been a cultural touchstone for anyone living away from home. And, for the Irish settling on the East Coast, recreating the dishes they loved and knew was comforting and easy. Items like brown bread, Shepard's Pie, beef stew, mashed potatoes, and fish and chips all use ingredients found in New England. "Most traditional Irish dishes were based on cheap food," says Eilish Havey, who grew up on Bunratty Road in Dublin in the '60s and '70s and owns Bunratty's Tavern in Reading. "It was all based on stretching food to feed a family. I ate a lot of tripe growing up in Dublin, which I wouldn't touch now, but everything PHOTOGRAPHS, TOP TO BOTTOM BY BRIAN DEMELLO, BY ANTHONY TIEULI we ate was incredibly fresh. My mother went to market every day and we'd go to the docks and get fish off the boats." At Bunratty's Tavern, Havey uses recipes she learned from her mother and grandmother to craft her Irish specialties, including the Dublin Bay Fish & Chips. For each order, she dunks two loins of cod in egg wash, rolls them in flour and cornmeal, and deep-fries them until perfectly crisp. House-made French fries, coleslaw, and tartar sauce come alongside. e restaurant serves ethnic dishes, too, but with an Irish twist. For example, spring rolls come stuffed with corned beef, cabbage, and a horseradish-cheddar sauce, while Since colonial times, the Irish have helped define the character, culture, and cuisine of Boston and beyond. Fleeing poverty, famine, and freedom from British rule, they arrived over the centuries with little more than their belongings, customs, and family recipes. Above, St. Patrick's Day wouldn't be complete without a boiled dinner from The Irish Cottage. Left, The Peddler's Daughter resembles an authentic Irish pub.