#TerrificTakeout #InauguralReview @TheLaurelsNYC by Owners #JJMatthews and #KevinMulligan from County Longford!
J.J. with his favorite dish: the Short-Rib Pappardelle
The Laurels Burger is deserving of your prompt attention!
Owner J.J. Matthews
It's never been who you know: it's WHOM YOU KNOW and now we know Owners J.J. Matthews and Kevin Mulligan, who opened their first venue ever in the USA on June 3, 2023 and we hope we are their first review.
The Laurels is named after the local GAELIC football pitch in County Longford, where they are from, and they are football players and know each other from football.
If you really know Peachy, you know Des Curran and she had a show on UCC's radio station called POC OFF that covered all Irish sports. Everyone knows Des is a huge star now on RTE. We would get a kick out of listening to those archival shows, UCC!
So, surprisingly Peachy did not meet J.J. and Kevin in sports, she met them in cuisine.
In case you haven't read our other 28,000th posts, Peachy Deegan was brought up with the belief that there are two kinds of people in this world: those that are Irish, and those that wish they were. Among other fabulous people in the industry that are Irish is Peachy's Picks Star Gerard Meagher and everyone knows that House of Pain filmed their video at Old Town for Jump Around. J.J. showed us that The Laurels excel at Irish hospitality and we were delighted to visit their location at Second Avenue and 14th street, a highly strategic location.
It is clean and it is classy.
It seats 36 inside and 18 at the bar; all in it seats 110 with the beer garden and outside front on 14th street.
There are two salad selections that will wow you: above, please meet the Kale Caesar.
Little gem romaine, beemster gouda, baby cherry tomatoes, and pecorino romano were served with panache and the dressing is the classic Caesar. Below, please introduce yourself to the Butternut Squash Salad which is the perfect transition into fall. Arugula and Pomegranate seeds are usually served with Maytag Blue Cheese, but avid readers also know that Peachy is not personally a blue cheese enthusiast but if you are, this has your name all over it.
Note in both cases they paid attention and listened to the picky one here and they put the dressing on the side.
There are lots of places that have chicken sandwiches, but there are few places that do them as well as The Laurels. Mediterranean Grilled Chicken parties with feta, lemon arugula, tomato, cucumber, and is finished off with sun-dried tomato aioli on a fresh Portuguese roll that will hit the spot.
We hope we don't need to tell you that Irish people do fries better than many and of course the CHIPS not french fries were also great. If you don't know what we are talking about, you have deprived yourself of a trip to Ireland and you should amend that.
The Laurels burger without a doubt is the strongest menu component for Peachy. It was perfectly medium rare as ordered and arrives in style at 8oz. Smoked bacon and Irish Cheddar up the game tremendously with truffle aioli. For the six months Peachy resided in Ireland (Cork City), she probably ate more rashers than anything else.
We sipped a lovely Cabernet that paired well with all the edibles.
If you are popping in for a drink, we suggest you try the Spinach and Artichoke dip. Parmesan and Beemster Gouda bechamel step up its game and it's served with red milpa corn chips.
Short-Rib Pappardelle is another winner! It dances perfectly al dente in root vegetable melange and lemon ricotta, all graced with a terrific dusting of pecorino romano; as you see at the top it is J.J.'s favorite and if you like these flavors together too, you'll love it! Finally, steak frites at 14 oz is a solid showing and arrived perfectly medium rare with truffle parmesan fries and a decadent au poivre sauce.
We are impressed on our first visit and we look forward to seeing what they do next!
