about
about me.
i'm kelly.
26 year old stressbaker.
about-to-graduate grad school.
new england transplant.
eating through philly & the burbs.
baking my way into the hearts of friends.
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Sunday, January 9, 2011 @ 7:50 PM
O'Rourkes = O'Mygoodness
Sometimes the best things in life are right under our noses. I worked right around the corner from O'Rourkes Diner for two years and never once stepped through the door. Big. Mistake.
Over Thanksgiving break, my dear friend Emily of AChangeofEatery and I planned to get together to catch up. When she suggested O'Rourkes, I was thrilled. I had heard so much about it from my time working in Middletown, and the thought of eating Irish-inspired food with my favorite Ireland traveling pal was too good to pass up!
I got there a few minutes after Emily and when I joined her, she was already cozied up to a huge mug of mulled cider. Laden with sweet apples and whole cloves, the first sip made me think of curling up under a blanket with a good book while fluffy snowflakes fall past the window.
Picking a drink was a no-brainer, but choosing my meal was a dilemma. O'Rourkes specializes in Irish-inspired dishes, but they have an extensive list of creative takes on breakfast, lunch and diner classics. Take their fried oatmeal (fried and topped with jam) or their babka french toast, or the Omelette of My Dreams (caramelized onion pesto, provolone cheese, topped with hollandaise and served with brown bread). After years of being a strictly scrambled girl, I recently discovered that I like eggs benedict. O'Rourkes has over 14 different variations on the classic dish, so it was tough to narrow down my choices. Ultimately, I let a name win me over: Irish Ecstasy.
The dish was just that--grilled colcannon topped with eggs & hollandaise sauce, served with corned beef hash and (my favorite) brown bread. The eggs were perfectly cooked, the colcannon was buttery and delicious. The brown bread took me back to my summer in Galway.
I left, stuffed to the brim, kicking myself for not taking advantage of this delicious diner while it was down the street. Luckily for me, I had the opportunity to come back over Christmas break. I brought my friend Elizabeth with me and raved to her about the menu outside in line as we waited to get in. (It's always a good sign when there's a line out the door!)
This time, I went for a sweeter breakfast--the banana bread french toast. Oh. My. Goodness. Freshly baked banana bread, dipped in an egg batter, cooked and then topped with Bananas O'Rourke (think Bananas Foster but with Irish Whiskey) and served with clotted cream and a slice of watermelon. I was afraid the banana bread would be dry, but it was moist and rich with a touch of cinnamon. The clotted cream balanced out the banana perfectly. I am drooling just thinking about it.
I should also mention that O'Rourke's was featured on Food Network's Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. If you watch this video below, you can actually watch Brian O'Rourke, the owner, make banana bread french toast. Watching it makes me want to hop in my car and drive the 200 miles it would take to get there.
So, if you find yourself in Middletown, CT, I implore you, GO TO O'ROURKE'S! The menu is incredible, the food is top-notch, the service is stellar. Take one bite of Irish Ecstasy or the banana bread french toast and you might agree...
728 Main Street
Middletown, CT 06457
860-346-6101
Mon - Sun: 6am-3pm
Fri & Sat: 5-9pm (dinner hours)
Labels: banana bread, bananas, breakfast, CT food, diner food, eggs, french toast, Irish
1 Comments:
This is making me SO hungry! LOVEEEEED that place
By 
emt, at
January 24, 2011 at 7:49 AM
Tuesday, September 21, 2010 @ 8:21 PM
beef. it's what's for dinner [ala Minella's]
When it comes to food, I'm an incredibly indulgent person. I'm not a fan of mindless eating. I don't like eating just for the sake of eating. Mind you, I used to be, but that was 30 lbs. ago. Now, I eat with intention. I eat what I want when I want (mostly). I have food cravings like a pregnant woman (though maybe not as strange. I've never craved pickles and ice cream, but I may have more bizarre hankerings some day in the distant future when I find myself about to procreate [God help us]). When I have a certain food on the brain, I have to have it or it'll stay at the forefront of my thoughts until it meets my tastebuds.
Lately, I've been craving a cheeseburger. Actually, scratch that. I've been craving a cheeseburger since halfway through my Ireland trip. When your sustenance is solely composed of sandwiches, it's not uncommon to crave something heartier than a few slabs of deli meat and cheese. I wanted a burger crisp on the outside, slightly pink in the middle, covered by a slice of cheddar and sitting on a soft kaiser roll that would catch any calorie-laden juices that made their way out of my burger.
So, after a rousing Philly Union Game--my first pro sports game ever, can you believe it?--I headed over to Minella's Diner to put an end to my burger-craving madness.
And wouldn't you believe it? Minella's delivered.
Salty bacon, crisp iceburg lettuce, sweet tomato, red onion, yellow cheddar cheese, smokey BBQ sauce, soft kaiser roll.
Even my friend's gyro looked good (and I'm usually not into eyeing up other peoples' food when I'm stuck on something).
(Just look at that feta cucumber tomato salad... oh boy)
You may have noticed that my cheeseburger looked a bit lonely on that plate with nothing but cole slaw to keep him company. French fries and burgers were meant to be together. I'd consider it a sin to keep them apart... unless of course I had good reason.
Meet dessert.
I've walked by the amazing dessert counter at Minella's on more occasions than I can remember, always stopping to wistfully sigh at their ganached mini cakes and flaky ethnic pastries. Yet somehow, in my countless visits, I've never ordered anything from the case. I think maybe I was too tempted by giant omelettes and fluffy pancakes slathered in syrup (I'm a big fan of late-night breakfast). My inaugural dessert? Raspberry cheesecake.
I have to say, it was not what I expected. I wasn't a fan of the bottom chocolate cake in the least. I'm a visual person and if something doesn't look appealing, chances are, it will have to assault my tastebuds with delicious to win me over. This cheesecake was not up for a fight, I guess. The cheesecake was (as you can probably tell) plain and so I felt a little mislead. The raspberry element was heavy on sweetness and lacking a little in the raspberry flavor department. I wasn't wowed, but I'd probably eat it mindlessly if my boyfriend just broke up with me and I was eating my feelings.
As for the chocolate peanut butter number... well, that's another story. The dark chocolate ganache had that sexy sheen that clings to every crevice of cake, leaving no crumb exposed. The peanut butter was super rich and, combined with the dark, dense cake, it was quite the mouthful. Had I not eaten half my cheeseburger a few minutes before, I would have gone to town on the cake and celebrated my efforts with a cold glass of skim milk and a stomachache.
Labels: bacon, cake, cheeseburgers, chocolate, dessert, diner food, gyro, peanut butter