Brazen Head

319 N 78th St
402.393.3731
www.brazenheadpub.com
M-W: 11-1pm
Th-Sat: 11-2pm
Sun: 12-1pm

Brazen Head has always kind of been an odd place for me. It was a popular hangout for my college buddies, but when we were there, we were always the youngest in the crowd. Which is not to say they cater to those over 60, certainly not, but I also kind of felt out of place a little.

Anyway, I quite like the place. They've done a very good job giving it an authentic pub feel: wood floors with tile inlays, heavy wood tables and chairs, comfortable and cushy booths, lots of Irish and English beers on tap, and nice and low mood lighting. The fist day I visited I stopped by with ten minutes left in happy hour, so it was busy but not crowded, and loud with large groups hobnobbing after work.

That day I ordered the happy hour spinach artichoke dip, and the County Cork Boxty, which came with either soup or salad. I chose the soup as it was chilly that day.

I only found out the dip had that red tint to it after I took the picture; it was so dark in the restaurant otherwise you'd never know.

The spinach artichoke dip was spectacular. Creamy, hot, full of flavor. I wish they didn't put chips in it when they served it, though, as it made the part of the chip that was in the dip soggy and soft. I'm, well, not sure what else to say about it, really. It was really, very good. By the way, since I got the happy hour version, I got a smaller version of the real size, which is also served in a bread bowl. I'll have to bring someone with me next time to tackle that one. 

Cheese soup is a cure-all in cold weather. Why are we not studying this fact?

The soup came out quickly. It was smooth, creamy, and a little bitter in a good way. The paper lace doily on the plate was pretty, easily missed, and completely unnecessary. I love that touch. Get the soup here.

If you don't enlarge this, you'll think I took an okay picture. So, um, please don't enlarge this.

Finally the boxty came out. "What's a boxty?" you may ask. Basically, take a potato pancake, put some stuff on top, fold it over, and pour a sauce on top. Done. Irish comfort food. The one I ordered, the County Cork, is filled with crab meat, asparagus, and Havarti cheese.

Go ahead and enlarge this one, I did well here. 

I loved this. Sweet crab meat, still-crunchy asparagus, both of which swimming in melted, velvety Havarti is already an awesome combination, but put that into a dense, fresh potato pancake and cover it with their cream sauce and you've got a winner. This is serious comfort food.

With my happy hour beer, food, and tax and tip, my total came to about $25.

I visited a week later, this time with plenty of time in happy hour. I was so early the place was pretty dead. By the time I left, however, it was starting to pick up. This day I ordered a plate of the happy hour Irish Nachos and the fish and chips.

I'm not sure what made these nachos "Irish." Maybe because the cheese was only cheddar, and nothing Mexican? I don't know, your guess is as good as mine.

I'm not sure what compelled me to order a Tex-Mex dish at an Irish pub, but I did and here we are. They were surprisingly delicious, however. Don't let the picture fool you, that is not the nacho cheese you find at the stadium, that is actually very melty cheddar cheese on top. When I pulled a nacho up, the cheese stretched and broke like the real deal. The beef was well spiced, there were enough jalapenos, and it included other nacho plate staples. A definite good little plate of nachos. Again, I ordered the happy hour version. The normal version is apparently bigger. I couldn't come close to finishing this, so the real one must be gigantic. As a side note, I'm not sure what would be on a plate of Irish nachos to make them truly "Irish." Maybe potatoes, cabbage, or mince meat. Ew. I'm glad they stayed away from that.

The waffle fries were very, very welcome.

So I went from "Irish" nachos to something a little more traditional on that side of the pond: fish and chips. I got three generous cod fillets on a bed of waffle fries. I was served with a tangy and very thick tartar sauce that would not surprise me was made in house. Unlike the last time I had fish and chips, at Sean O'Casey's, these fillets were fried correctly and not over done. The thick batter soaked up all the malt vinegar I cared to put on, and somehow still stayed a little crispy. The fish was flaky, tender, and perfectly done.

As for the fries, they were very well done. I know that french fries are one of those things that people can have very particular ideas about. Now if you were to ask me what type of fry I like, it's a very close race between shoestring and waffle. I think the best fries in town can be found at Broncos, so it should be easy to figure out that I like my fries a little limp. But I can completely understand why people would like a nice, crispy french fry. If you are in that boat, then get your fries here. They're crazy good.

The only thing I disliked about this dish was how it was served. I had a very hard time cutting and stabbing the fish with my fork because the fillets were over the fries. I could have used another plate.

Again, on this day, I could not finish my plate. Lots of food here. It would be very easy to have to waddle out the door.

All told, with the two bottles of  Dr. McGillicuddy's root beer, the food, and tip and taxes, my bill came to about $30.

Sean O'Casey's Pub

2523 S 140th Avenue, Omaha, NE, 68144
402.593.1746
M-Sat: 11am-close

Closed Sundays
http://www.seanocaseyspub.com/

I was driving through Omaha looking for a bar or pub to chow down on for this review because the place I wanted to visit, one I spied a few days earlier on about 150th and Maple called (and I am dead serious) I Don't Care, was closed for good. (Author's note: while doing a little further research, I found out the location I found is, in fact, open, but the previous location, about 108th and Maple, closed about 2012-2013, and this is the one that is reported throughout the internet. Guess I know where I'll be going soon!)

While driving east on West Center I noticed an Irish pub tucked into the same spot where Prima 140 used to be, a place I regret never trying before they shuttered. "Well," I thought, "if its as good as Brazenhead, then I'm in for a treat!" As I pulled into the parking lot, I was greeted by this:

Yes, I took this while leaving the lot, not as I was entering it, as the preceding sentence states. Sorry for the incongruity, but I didn't think about a taking a picture until I was sitting in the restaurant.

Again, this place is making it all too easy. If you think so highly of one of your menu items you're willing to put a "garage sale"-type sign in your front lawn proclaiming it to be the best, then I guess I have to try it.

The pub was split into two sections, a bar to the right and the restaurant area to the left. When I entered there on that Thursday at about 5:30, there was a large group of people having a good time at their table. At first I thought it was a family get together, but there weren't any children, so I thought that it was a business meeting of some kind. (I found out later from my server, who gave it up without prompting, it was a group of nurses.) There were two other groups of two sitting and talking at their table. The room is dark, with old whiskey barrels scattered throughout, and the walls were full of Guinness, Jameson, and other Irish drink advertisements. A large screen with SportsCenter projected on it dominated the northeast corner of the restaurant. Throughout the dinner classic rock like Led Zeppelin, The Doors, and Eric Clapton played loud enough to understand the lyrics but not to overpower any conversation you might have. I could get used to this kind of place.

This day I ordered the Three Cheese Spinach and Artichoke Dip, the Chili, and, of course, the Reuben.

I love me some Spinach Artichoke dip. If I see any variation of it on a menu, I'll probably order it. You'll see it a lot on the blog throughout time.

The dip was served piping hot with toasted French bread. For some reason, I was expecting the bread to be baked to the point of being a cracker, but I was pleasantly surprised to find out it was still soft, though definitely toasted. I'm not sure about the parsley that was sprinkled over everything on the plate, but whatever. There was a thick layer of cheese on top of the dip (I'm assuming containing at least two of the three cheeses). Once I broke through that, the dip was heavy on the cream cheese (the third?), and light on the spinach and artichoke. Maybe it was too hot to taste anything else, but the cream cheese dominated everything else inside. I don't know, maybe it needed a little more of everything. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't terrible by any means. I've certainly had worse, but I've definitely had better.

It was kinda cold outside, and I'd been craving chili for some time. When is arrived, it was very welcome.

Chili can cause fistfights between friends, or so I've heard. I have opinions on what makes a good chili (the best ones don't have beans; beans are filler that only serve to stretch the stuff for more people, and I think it can ruin the texture of the rest of the chili. Come at me, bro!). But I also understand that I'm not the only one who likes chili and other people have different thoughts, no matter how wrong they are. Plus, I love chili, so I'll give pretty much any chili at least one shot. I'll pass on that shot the next time I visit Sean O'Casey's. It had large chunks of ground beef, usually a good thing, but here they weren't seasoned well, or not at all. Also, it was thin. Chili shouldn't be thin. This chili had a broth, and that's kinda weird in my book. The broth was, however, surprising spicy. Not enough to knock you out of your chair, but in a "Really? Something spicy in an Irish pub?" kind of way. And what I'm about to say may make you laugh, but Sean O'Casey's scored big points with me with proper soup crackers instead of a package of saltines I would need to crush into the chili. Very good there.

Oooo, gooey.

When my server came with my Reuben, I got a little more than excited. I love me a Reuben. And Omahans like me don't take their Reubens lightly, this being the birthplace of the venerable sandwich. So I was interested to see the liberties taken with it (and chefs out there, take notes: take liberties with the classics!) Two things of note here: it is served club style, with three slices of bread, and the corned beef is in tender chunks, not slices. Do you see that chunk of meat that fell off just in front of the sandwich half on the left? As soon as I took that picture, I ate that piece to test it out. And it was amazing. Salty and tender, the rendered fat and connective tissue made the chunk melt in my mouth. I haven't had corned beef that good in years. But here's the thing, and this is something thought I'd never find myself saying: there was too much of it in the sandwich. Or, conversely, there wasn't enough of the other ingredients. I could kind of tell there was some Swiss cheese, but the Thousand Island dressing and sauerkraut, usually two things that are quite capable of standing up to other flavors, were completely drowned out by the beef. Also, the double decker-style made the already-difficult-to-eat sandwich even more messy and uncontrollable. I can definitely see why some people would like this sandwich, but I'll keep looking for Omaha's best.

The tab, including tip and a pop, came to just over $25. The service was kind of slow, but there was just one poor server helping the entire room, and that big group of nurses seemed a bit demanding. I figured it would be much better the next time I visited.

That next time was on a Tuesday, at about the same time as the last. And sure enough, the service was much better. This time I ordered the pub classic Fish and Chips and a cup of beer cheese soup.

Again with the soup crackers. Good stuff. And again with the parsley. Weird.

The soup was good. Not ground breaking, but certainly not inedible by any means. I was hit a bit by the bitter taste of the soup. I'm not sure if it was the cheese or the beer, but it was slightly bitter. Also, is it weird to think the shredded cheese on top was a bit much for cheese soup? Because I think it was a bit much. Maybe bacon pieces if you want dress it up? Just a thought.

This picture was washed out a little bit by the flash, but I needed it in that dark room. The fish was a much better looking brown when it arrived.

I was given two fairly large fillets of cod. The first was sadly tough and over done. I could tell there was an area where the oil and gotten through the batter and started to fry the fish directly. Cod should not be leathery. But the second fillet was much better, with the meat soft, flaky, and not overcome with grease. The batter was good, though not the star of this show. I would give that crown to the tarter sauce. I'm not entirely sure, but I would not be surprised if this was made in house. The sauce was not overly sour with too much pickle, and the addition of dill was a very nice touch. The chips were thick steak fries that were very lightly salted, which means I was overcome with potato with each bite. A lot of malt vinegar and ketchup helped. 

With the pint of beer I had (on Tuesdays, all draughts are $3, including Guinness) and tip, my tab came to just over $21.

Overall, I'll be searching for better Irish pubs in town, though I may show up again on a Thursday, where the special is Corned Beef and Cabbage. That may be the diamond here.