Dinner in an Irish Pub – Stroudsburg Pennsylvania

Following our long day of exploration, (Roadside America, Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site and Valley Forge National Historic Park), we finally checked into our Hampton Inn in downtown Stroudsburg.

Then it was time to find a place for dinner…

Our hotel was just a couple of blocks from Main Street in Stroudsburg.  We wandered along looking for a likely place for dinner…  As you can see in the photo, downtown Stroudsburg is attractive and laid back.  Many restaurants and shops border the tree lined street on both sides!

Stroudsburg is the county seat for Monroe County Pennsylvania.  The town is located in the northeast portion of the state in the Poconos Mountains region…about 5 miles from the Delaware Water Gap.  The town was founded in the mid-1700s and its current population is about 5,400.

   

Note:

·         John Summerfield Staples was from Stroudsburg.  In late 1862, Staples served for a short time as a Private in the Union Army but was discharged due to illness.  He then worked with his father as a carpenter in Washington D.C.   During the Civil War it was customary for many citizens to pay for ‘substitutes’ to serve in the army in their place.  Staples was approached by a representative of President Lincoln and he received a ‘bounty’ of $500.00 to serve as the President’s “representative recruit”.  The 19 year old served for a year, primarily as a clerk and prison guard.

We spotted Siamsa Irish Pub and Restaurant and noted that it seemed to be quite popular.  A quick check with TripAdvisor revealed that it was fairly well rated as well.  We made our dining decision!

Like any place called a pub, Siamsa Irish Pub is warm and ‘folksy’ with plenty of wood in the bars (front and back bars) and throughout the entire space.  The table positioned in front of the big vault door demonstrates that the building began life as a bank.

Laurie took this photo of yours truly wandering around the pub taking photos… It was another successful photo excursion in the sense that none of the pub’s patrons objected or got in my face!

A little after we arrived and had ordered, the crowd had really built up, apparently in anticipation of the evening’s entertainment.  I am not exactly musically inclined…and Laurie might say that I’m tone deaf.  In any case she and I agreed that this 2 person ensemble should stick with their day job!  They were bad enough (in our opinion) that their ‘music’ impacted our enjoyment of Siamsa Irish Pub and our dining experience.  Sorry fellas…

We both started out our dining experience with a glass of Smithwick’s Irish Red Ale…a brand that we fell in love with when we visited Ireland last year.

We then ordered an appetizer…this order of Buffalo Shrimp. ($8.95) These nice big shrimp were dunked in a Tempura batter bathed in Buffalo sauce and served with blue cheese dipping sauce and blue cheese crumbles.  It was a good start for our dinner…

Laurie loves a good chicken pot pie and she also loves duck, so when she saw Duck confit Pot Pie on the menu, her choice of entrees was a slam dunk! ($16.95) Her pot pie contained carrots, potatoes and leeks along with her duck confit.

FYI…maybe it was the lighting but, neither Laurie’s smart phone nor my camera did a good job with the food photos.

She did enjoy her meal but, she wasn’t crazy about the crust which was dry and was perched on top of the rest of the ingredients.  Call us traditional but in our opinion a meat based pie is normally encased with a real crust, one that the diner can easily blend in with the ingredients and ‘gravy’ during the meal. 

 

I wanted to make sure that I understood the meaning of the term ‘confit’, so I looked it up.  When preparing a confit, the meat is rubbed with salt, garlic and sometimes herbs, then it’s covered and refrigerated for up to 36 hours.  Prior to cooking, the spices are washed off the meat, which is then patted dry.  The meat is placed in the oven and cooked at a low temperature…really being poached or cooked until tender…a process that is supposed to take from 4 to 10 hours.  

The process doesn’t seem reasonable for a pub style restaurant…but that’s the definition that I found on the Internet.

OK…I love lamb and when I saw a roasted 20 oz. Lamb Shank on the menu, my selection for dinner was easy.  The price isn’t listed on Siamsa’s on-line menu and I didn’t write it down…but it wasn’t inexpensive.  I sided my lamb shank with broccoli since I’d had an appetizer, bread and butter and a beer to start.  Plus the lamb shank was huge and we planned on sharing a dessert.

The lamb was very nice and very filling.  I was satisfied and content. (Except for that music!) Our waitress was fairly attentive too, especially given how busy the pub became.

Then we ordered our dessert.  We shared an order of Bananas Foster Waffle. ($6.00) It was a nice waffle with bananas and ice cream in a dark rum and banana liquor butter sauce.  We did enjoy our dessert!

For Irish food purists, although there are lots of non-Irish items on Siamsa Pub and Restaurant’s menu, there are plenty of Irish options.  These include: Irish Smoked Salmon; Fish and Chips; Irish Breakfast; Bangers and Mash; Lamb Stew; Shepherd’s Pie; Chicken Curry (yes, this is now a popular ‘Irish’ meal), and of course, Corned Beef and Cabbage.

FYI…Siamsa, pronounced “sheem-sa” comes from the Irish Gaelic language.  It refers to an evening’s fun and entertainment.

We did enjoy our meals at Siamsa Pub and Restaurant.  It’s a very competent restaurant… This establishment is open for lunch and dinner 7 days a week.  It’s located at 636 Main Street in Stroudsburg Pennsylvania.  Phone: 570-421-8434.  Website: http://siamsairishpub.com/.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for dinner!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave