Tag Archives: Irish Rover

$$ Modest ($30-$50), A RESTAURANT LISTING..., Baxter, Bardstown, Highlands, Frankfort Ave., Clifton, Crescent Hill, Pubs, Brew Pubs, GastroPubs

Antidote to winter cold? Make mine Irish.

By Robin Garr
LouisvilleHotBytes.com

“My cap is frozen to my head
My heart is like a lump of lead
My shoes are frozen to my feet
With standing at your window.”

It’s been that kind of winter, all right. The traditional Irish ballad “Cold Blow and the Rainy Night” captures well the feeling of snow and ice and bone-chilling temperatures that freeze our caps to our heads and our shoes to our feet. 

We’re finally enjoying a little break this week. But no one believes winter is over, or that we’ll even be out of the chill by St. Patrick’s Day on March 17. So when I’m looking for a warm, cozy place to grab a meal or a comforting drink, there’s a good chance I’ll find my way to one of Louisville’s favorite authentic Irish restaurants: Molly Malone’s in the Highlands or The Irish Rover in Clifton.

Whether you’re in the mood for a filling Irish repast, a warming glass of Irish whiskey, or a restorative pint of dark, bittersweet, well-drawn Guinness, you can’t go wrong at either of these establishments. Each, however, brings a distinctly different mood to the table.

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$$ Modest ($30-$50), Bistros, Frankfort Ave., Clifton, Crescent Hill, Pubs, Brew Pubs, GastroPubs

Every day is St. Patrick’s Day at The Irish Rover

By Robin Garr
LouisvilleHotBytes.com

Every year on St. Patrick’s Day, Louisville’s Irish Rover famously holds a humongous party, featuring an oversize tent that covers most of the parking lot, live Irish music, and plenty of great Irish food and gallons of dark Irish beer.

It’s fun, I’m told. But I’ve never been. Big, noisy crowds guzzling draft beer outdoors on a brisk March day, even with the comfort of a tent loaded with toasty heaters, is just not my style.

But catching up with The Rover for lunch the day after St. Patrick’s, enjoying the warm and cozy Irish pub comfort of The Rover’s historic Frankfort Avenue building on a more normal day? Priceless. Continue reading Every day is St. Patrick’s Day at The Irish Rover →

$$ Modest ($30-$50), Bistros, Commentary, Frankfort Ave., Clifton, Crescent Hill, Pubs, Brew Pubs, GastroPubs, World Food

Carry out your Guinness, and dinner too, at Irish Rover

Some people crave potato chips or chocolate. The other day I started craving Guinness stout. The more I thought about that dark, malty, bitter-chocolate beer with its creamy head so thick that you could float a farthing on it, the more I wanted a pint.

Thanks to Kentucky’s newly enlightened alcohol laws, a call to the Irish Rover put that right, and got us a delicious Irish dinner to enjoy with it too. Continue reading Carry out your Guinness, and dinner too, at Irish Rover →

$$ Modest ($30-$50), Frankfort Ave., Clifton, Crescent Hill, Pubs, Brew Pubs, GastroPubs, QuickBytes, underSlideshowEntries, World Food

Irish Rover takes us to the Emerald Isle

I’ll never forget my first and only visit to Ireland. We spent a week or two driving around the country, learning wrong-side driving and stopping at every pub we could find to enjoy a pint of Guinness. Damn, it was hard to find traditional Irish music, though. Pub after pub after pub, the food and the mood were Irish, but the music was international rock. When I finally found a crew with a harp singing “Danny Boy” in a tiny pub in Killarney, it was jammed with American tourists, of course. Continue reading Irish Rover takes us to the Emerald Isle →

$ Budget (under $30), Frankfort Ave., Clifton, Crescent Hill, Pubs, Brew Pubs, GastroPubs, underSlideshowEntries

Irish Rover’s winter menu offers seasonal comfort

Nearly 20 years after its opening as a pioneer on the Frankfort Avenue restaurant row, the Irish Rover has settled in to its neighborhood setting so comfortably that it feels as if it’s been there as long as the 150-year-old brick building it inhabits. While it’s as authentically Irish as a pub in Limerick, maybe, or Killarney, the Rover makes a perfect fit in Clifton. With its dark but cozy bar and its sunny, lace-curtained dining rooms, it’s almost two pubs in one, both as Irish as can be.
Continue reading Irish Rover’s winter menu offers seasonal comfort →

$ Budget (under $30), Commentary, Frankfort Ave., Clifton, Crescent Hill, Pubs, Brew Pubs, GastroPubs, underSlideshowEntries

‘Crack-a-licious’ small plates at the Irish Rover

Salmon potato puffs

The Irish Rover has been my comfy neighborhood pub for a long time now. We moved back to town from exile in New York City in 1994, not long after the Rover had opened its authentically Irish digs in a historic Crescent Hill building that began life more than 150 years ago as a saloon.
Continue reading ‘Crack-a-licious’ small plates at the Irish Rover →

$ Budget (under $30), Commentary, Downtown, NuLu and Butchertown, Frankfort Ave., Clifton, Crescent Hill, QuickBytes, World Food

Irish Rover’s hearty fare warms a winter night

smoked salmon and potato gratin

The leaves on our big, old magnolia tree were rattling eerily, and the skies were a dismal gray. The icy wind cut through my parka as if it were a throwback baseball shirt.

The first day of winter may not arrive until Monday morning, but it already feels a lot like winter around here, and last week I had a powerful lust for comfort food in a cozy setting. I posted queries on the LouisvilleHotBytes Forum and my Facebook page and found lots of friends with similar hankerings. These foodie buddies quickly racked up a score of good ideas.
Continue reading Irish Rover’s hearty fare warms a winter night →