RESTAURANT CRITIC MARK LABA EATS FOOD AND CRITICIZES. WHAT A JOB
If Druids were going to make a comeback, Langley wouldn’t be a bad spot for it. All that rolling farmland in case you wanted to put up one of those Stonehenge-type things and plenty of out-of-the-way fields and forests where chanting folks in robes holding torches wouldn’t attract too much attention. After they’ve worked up an appetite with all the pagan ritual rigamarole, they could hit Dublin’s Crossing for a little chowdown, Emerald Isle-style. Hell, there’s even facsimile Druidic runes on the second floor of this voluminous pub to make any pagan feel right at home.
Peaches and I took a jaunt out to this place made famous now by the addition of executive chef Laura Sharpe who trained at Vancouver Community College, finished her apprenticeship at Diva At the Met and went on to win the Knorr Next Great Chef Junior Culinary Competition.
Stepping into the joint was a little breathtaking. The ceiling seems to reach the heavens and the place looks like a one-stop-shop showroom for Irish-pub trappings. It’s a fauxfinishing frenzy on the walls, the woodwork and brass gleams, bookshelves lend a literary hook and the place has more nooks and crannies than a James Joyce story. The atmosphere hits your senses like a piece of peat bog upside the brain.
Now, I always think of Irish food as a muck of root veggies, meat and gravy, a kind of hearty fuel for plow-pulling and whisky-distilling and this place doesn’t disappoint, but throws a few more hidden delights into the mix.
A gander at the appetizer listings is proof of the pudding and, on the topic of pudding, the Baby Yorkies ($11) stuffed with roast prime rib and bedded down on mashed ’taters and mushrooms are cuter than a miniature terrier and a hell’uva lot more savoury. Also, check out the sweet chili prawns with pineapple salsa ($11), a three-cheese rarebit fondue ($8.50), Bushmill’s-spiked steak bites with baby ’shrooms and chipotle-pepper mayo or the crab-andsalmon cakes with tomato jam (both $10).
For an entrée, I couldn’t pass up Laura’s Pub Pie ($10), with marinated steak and roasted veggies, packed into a wonderful flaky crust and surrounded by a moat of Guinness gravy. The gravy alone should come by the pint, the meat was tender as an Irish lullaby and, altogether, this was one of the more spectacular pub pies I’ve tasted.
Peaches was burger-inspired and, though the Belfast Burger ($8) she tasted wasn’t as inspiring as the meat in her mind’s eye, the whole cloves of roasted garlic lurking beneath the bun and the excellent crispy yam fries rescued this critter from mediocrity. My Russell Breweries Lemon Wheat Ale had a subtle citrus zing to balance the malt flavouring and, being cold-filtered, the beer had a clear, clean body rather than the usual cloudy wheat creations.
Finally, we couldn’t pass up the daily dessert special of five scoops of the homemade ice cream for only five bucks. For that price we were expecting small tasting scoops and were amazed by the five large orbs of ice cream that showed up. Maple walnut, cookies and cream, lemon buttermilk, chocolate and pear were our selections from a sizeable list of daily creations and worth the trip alone.
So, whether it’s bangers and mash, Irish stew, oven-roasted salmon with Jameson’s whisky and maple marinade or a pint of paradise you’re after, this is the pot at the end of the rainbow — or at least the Fraser Highway.
THE BOTTOM LINE:
Cooking that could calm a banshee.
RATINGS: Food:B+
Service: B+ Atmosphere:A