The last time I got caught doing jury duty, I remember wasting most of my lunch time on the phone with work so I had to rush to find something -- like a bag of chips. This time, I had a plan in mind and no work was going to keep me from eating. Not to mention there was a new crop of restaurants on the square that I wanted to try.
On day one, I chose to go to Mac McGee's for lunch. I had read a lot about this Irish pub when it first opened. Lots of whiskeys. Irish pub. What's not to like? And they were open.
Irish pub! I opted for the fish and chips. And it came out awesome. I told them I was on a schedule and I swear the food was out in five minutes. The fish was tender and crispy. The tartar sauce was good. The steak fries were tasty and brown. The only thing I wasn't crazy about was the coleslaw. I could tell it was wilted with vinegar and then had a slightly sweet/mayo-y sauce, but it was not a uniform size.
Check out this meaty, juicy, crispiness. This might be the best damn fish n chips I've ever had. And that might be including mine. I would so go back for this.
Also, they have a huge whiskey book so I was looking through that longingly. Stupid jury duty.
Day two I had already decided to get the shepherd's pie. We only had 45 minutes for lunch that day so I almost ran down to the pub and put in my order. The food came pretty quickly, but it was a lot of food to try to choke down in 15 minutes. I did the best I could.
This was a very traditional and very tasty shepherd's pie. Ground lamb (as it should be!), peas, carrots, onions in a rich flavorful sauce. Then topped with mashed taters and put in the broiler.
Day three I went back again to get the mussels. I had seen someone get the mussels on day one but I felt that I had to get the fish n chips and the shepherd's pie out of the way first. I asked my bartender if the mussels could cover lunch and she said yes.
So they came with probably five or six pieces of bread. I ended up getting another one and I was so full...
The mussels were good. The broth was delicious! The menu had said that, among other things, the mussel broth had bacon. I've been some places where the bacon completely overpowers the rest of the dish and it's nearly inedible (H&F, I'm looking at you) which sounds impossible, but you can have too much bacon. Anyway, this was not like that at all. A very good dish.
On day four, I felt that I should go somewhere else for lunch. I couldn't bring myself to go to Sushi Avenue even though I really wanted sushi. And Iberian Pig is closed for lunch (a mistake, I think, on their part). A couple other jurors had come back raving about the Cakes & Ale Bakery, so I joined them for lunch.
We had an hour and fifteen minutes for lunch. We had to wait probably ten minutes for them to push together two tables on the patio. And then after we put in drink orders, it was another fifteen minutes at least to get them. At that point, we were worried we wouldn't make it back in time. We did just finish in time to book it back to court. I suppose I would have cared less if I were enjoying a leisurely lunch, but I found it annoying that they were so lackadaisical when we were clear we were on a schedule.
So, I ordered a soup and sandwich combo which was $10. Some of my fellow jurors said it was "so filling" so they only got the sandwich.
They also raved about this carrot ginger soup. It was okay, but I found it a little less velvety than I like and also way overly gingery.
For the sandwich, I got this rock shrimp salad sandwich which was pretty tasty but also very small. I would say that it's maybe 2 1/2 to 3 inches across which is SMALL for a sandwich. I wasn't hungry when I finished, but I started to get hungry just a few hours later, must earlier than my other jury duty meals.
All in all, I don't know that I would go back to Cakes & Ale for lunch.
Day five of jury duty was closing statements and then deliberation. We started deliberating around 11, I think, and we all agreed to muscle through to a decision instead of breaking for lunch. We finally reached a verdict around 2.30 and got out of there at 3pm.
I had already decided that I wanted lunch at 246. I hadn't gone the other days because I thought the extra distance would put me at a time crunch, and I think I was right. Anyway, I got to the door of 246 at 3.09pm and noticed that the times clearly said lunch til 3 and then dinner starting at 5. I pulled open the doors and walked in.
Drew was on the phone at the far end of the bar and Lara Creasy was there with a couple bartenders. Gina was there too. Clearly, they were closed. But Drew waved and I took that to be hopeful. When Gina came over, I told her that I had just gotten out of jury duty and I hoped they were still open, but I didn't want to cause trouble. She offered me pasta or pizza so I opted for the agnolotti and settled in at the bar.
It's nice to know people. Just minutes after I sat down, another couple was turned away for food. The agnolotti itself was pretty good though I thought the sauce was too salty and overpowered its delicacy. Still, happy to have lunch!
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