Traditional pub grub isn’t usually held to very high standards – just fry something, anything, and pair it up with a tall pint of beer. This tends to keep the bar crowd happily eating, drinking and chatting with whoever sits on the adjacent barstool.
However, there are a few pubs out there that raise the stakes with high quality food and atmosphere. These places that take good food seriously build a following and end up hanging around for a number of years.
And if you’re the Irish Cottage, you hang around for 50 years.
Kathleen McNulty first opened Irish Cottage in Forest Hills in 1960. She wanted to give the area a bar with traditional Irish fare, plus room to expand and offer varied menu items. Add an array of drinks and a cozy, “cottage” atmosphere, and what you’re left with is a neighborhood landmark.
“We’re a friendly Irish place,” said McNulty. “And we ended up with steady customers – the originals, and then their children and grandchildren became customers.”
For appetizers, Irish Cottage offers foods you would expect to find in any pub – but here, they are given renewed charm thanks to the highly attentive and professional chef, Roy Lema.
The "cheezy" Cajun fries are seasoned perfectly and ensconced in a mozzarella, cheddar and Swiss cheese swirl. Cottage also offers stuffed potato skins, with either bacon and cheddar or tuna melt stuffing. You can also order the requisite mozzarella sticks, buffalo wings, jalapeno poppers and baked clams.
The soups are where things start to get serious. They offer French onion, lobster bisque and a rotating soup du jour. This can be anything from the highly popular potato leak or the surprisingly creamy split pea, which would be perfect to warm over your cold bones during the winter freeze.
The locals call Cottage’s burgers the best in town and that is no exaggeration. Their backyard charcoal grill flavored burgers come in eight varieties – from the fried egg and cheese topped Texas burger, to the Cottage burger swimming in “the works.”
For an entrée, don’t miss out on the corned beef and cabbage. This traditional Irish dish, which McNulty reveals, “You can’t find in Ireland,” comes stacked with tender, flavorful corned beef and nearly a half a head of cabbage soaked with the flavors of the briny beef.
Also on the list of can’t miss, time-honored Irish foods are shepherd’s pie, turkey pot pie and beer-battered fish and chips. Also, don’t pass up the Irish soda bread, which is baked fresh daily on premises.
Specials include Thursday night musical performances, where the crowd is encouraged to sing-along and Wednesday night ladies’ night.
There is so much more offered at Irish Cottage that regrettably cannot fit into this space. Go there and explore the lush rolling hills of Ireland, right here in Queens.
Irish Cottage
108-07 72nd Street
Forest Hills, NY 11375
Tel: 718-520-8530
Fax: 718-575-3465
Email: mail@irishcottagerestaurant.com
Hours: Monday through Sunday, Noon to 4 a.m.
Brunch: Saturday and Sunday, Noon to 3:30 p.m.
Full Bar
All major credit cards accepted
