New Irish Sausages for the US, and for KC a New Irish Gastro Pub?
Ireland’s Kevin Dundon is the chef proprietor of Dunbrody Country House Hotel & Restaurant, located in Ireland’s sunny Southeast (well Wexford).
Raglan Road is the name of his Gastro Irish Pub in Disney World in Orlando.
“Gastro Pub” is the term we use in America to mean “really a restaurant but it looks a bit like a pub”.
Paul Nolan, from Dublin and co-owner of the Raglan Road Irish Pub and Restaurant at Downtown Disney when it opened, said, “Raglan Road is authentic in every way. It’s like lifting a pub from Ireland and dropping it in Orlando. It oozes Irishness”.
Speaking as a person who oozes Irishness typically every 4 hours, I find that hard to believe. And there’s more in the Disneyland Report on Disney World:
“We left corned beef and cabbage behind 50 years ago,” said Paul Nolan, co-owner of Raglan Road Irish Pub and Restaurant at Downtown Disney. “Ireland is one of the richest and most sophisticated countries in the world, and our attitude toward food is much more expansive.”
Dundon is also the signature chef behind the Gastro Pub The Nine Fine Irishmen at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. You’ll notice that’s a whole load of fine Irish men more than in Omaha, Nebraska.
In 2006 Dundon was responsible for a coffee-table cookbook titled Full on Irish. I hate that coffee has appropriated a piece of furniture that in Ireland and Britain should have been claimed by tea.
Anyway, now Irish Voice announces Kevin Dundon as the mastermind behind Glenbrody Gourmet Sausages, a new line of Irish gourmet sausages for the U.S. market (and Ireland from October 2007).
The sausages were launched (are you picturing link sausages arrowing towards a restaurant?) by Irish food provider Tommy Moloney’s in Tír na nÓg bar and restaurant in New York on Monday, July 9, 2007.
There are 5 types of Dundon’s Irish sausages:
• Irish Stout and Caramelized Onion Pork Sausage
• Leek and Black Pepper Sausage
• Apricot and Almond Chicken Sausage
• Sun-blushed Tomato Pork Sausage
• Irish whiskey and Apple Pork Sausage
An American in Ireland once told me there was no difference whatsoever between an Irish sausage and an American sausage. Rather than discuss the issues of rusk, breadcrumbs, casings, or % of meat, I took this observation to be a sign of madness.
And while we’re on the subject of sausages, why is the term “Bangers” used in the US to describe Irish sausages? I’m only familiar with it as a British term. Even if our sausages are the same general product (yes I know that’s fighting talk), our language isn’t.
But here’s the bit in the Irish Voice report that caught my eye:
Dundon isn’t content with just creating new food. He is also opening up another restaurant in Kansas City and Disneyland California. “I’m also in talks with someone in New York,” he added.
The one in California I’ve read is already open, but when and where is the one for Kansas City planned?
Meanwhile, if like me you’re a pudding man, or a pudding woman for that matter, you might be interested in Dundon’s next gourmet venture:
Dundon, who spends 60 days a year in the U.S., said that his next gourmet venture will be with the Irish traditional black and white puddings.
For many years now Black Pudding can be found as an appetizer on restaurants in Ireland that don’t indulge in such fare as all-day breakfasts. It is usually served on a leaf of lettuce with a dollop of apple sauce on top. So as you know it is gourmet and not the exact same thing you had in your breakfast, it is cut into a square shape.
Such irony is so funny that when I see it on the menu I always choose it.
See more Food & Drink matters:
• Is Kansas Flatter Than a Pancake?
• Chicken Sandwich Imperialism
• Irish Woman Struggles With Tea in Lawrence, KS
• Is Ireland Really Green, Potato-Eating, and Red-Haired ?
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