Kilpatrick's Publick House

Kilpatrick's Publick House (Ithaca)
Date of Visit: Sept. 23, 2010
Time of Visit:  7:30 PM
Website:  http://www.kilpatrickspub.com/
Hours of Operation: Sun 11:30-3:00 (Brunch) 4:00-10:00 (Dinner)
M-Sa 11:30-3:00(Lunch) 4:00-10:00(Dinner)
Company: Fiancee (Ginger) and Alternate Best Man (Linzar Tart)


        First off I have to apologize for a very hectic month, which culminated with myself going to the hospital last week.  Got a little nervous when I woke up and saw my uvula was the size of a thumb and I couldn't breathe.  So with that said, let's move on to talking about one of my favorite things, the Irish Pub.  Anyone who knows me knows that Ireland is my favorite country.  It was my unofficial major in college.  Any anthropology, history, sociology paper etc that I could focus on Ireland I did so.  I did projects on culture, geography, lifestyle, history, and of course FOOD and cuisine.
        I met up with my friend Linzar Tart (LT), who I hadn't seen since Christmas, because she decided she needed to move to Switzerland for the past two years.  I also decided that since I liked her I would invite the Ginger (Fiancee) as well.
       So, we met up at about 7, and I laid down three choices for dinner: Kilpatrick's, Simeon's, and Just a Taste.  The ladies went with Kilpatrick's Publick House, which was fine with me. I had been to Kilpatrick's about eight times and the ladies had never been there.
      Kilpatrick's is located on the ground floor of the Hilton Garden Inn, next door to the Starbucks and across the street from a parking garage, so parking is aplenty.  The Publick House has a very modern feel to it, clearly since it was built about five years ago.  You enter to a small entrance way with a black curtain, which is to block wind I suppose.  Enter into the pub, wait to be seated, and you are on your way.  When you enter half of the seating is on your left and up a small set of stairs, and is next to a fireplace.  The place is dimly lit, clean, comfortable, and attractive, with a fully-stocked bar, and Irish paintings and murals.  The other half of the seating is in private booths with individual TVs in them.
      We ventured up to our seats up on the landing, and in perfect view of the TV that was playing the Yankees vs. Tampa Bay game.  The ladies weren't high on me sitting in front of a TV with my favorite team playing in the thick of a play-off race with C.C. Sabathia pitching.  Anyway, I promised to only look occasionally for score updates.  As we perused the menu I decided that the ladies needed to try the Irish fries.  The fries came batter-dipped, fresh and hot with melted cheddar, bacon crumbles and green onions with a side of ranch dressing for dipping.  The fries were delicious; the only thing wrong with the whole dish was the fact that the kitchen used old oil, which made some of the fries soggy.  Most of the dish was perfectly crisp and not soggy, however.  The fries came in a giant half-bottle with the dipping sauce on the end-nice presentation for a pub.  Everyone enjoyed the appetizer.
       Once again I demanded that the ladies and I all order different things, which they agreed to because they are subser... actually we all just wanted different things. Looking over the menu it was discussed that the prices seemed quite reasonable for the product purchased. The ladies started their beverage consumption for the night with water, how boring. Me, being the ever exciting man that I am ordered 5 shots of Jameson, or was it just a bottle of Original Sin hard cider. I am a lover of hard cider and I would have to rate this near the top of my list. It is made in Brooklyn, NY and was tart and sweet, not overly alcoholic and potent, just really smooth.
        LT got Guinness Clams off the appetizer menu as her dinner. The Ginger ordered a crab cake stuffed portabella mushroom as her dinner, and I got blackened catfish as my dinner. I also ordered a side of black & tan onion rings to split amongst the group. I, being the only one who ordered a dinner and not an appetizer, also got a salad with my dinner. I ordered orange mustard vinaigrette w/ my salad, as I have never had such a dressing and it sounded delightful. At this point a bread basket, which the three of us enjoyed thoroughly. Seriously though, who doesn't enjoy warm ciabatta rolls with butter? Well, that would be the Fiancee, she hates butter, try not to hold that against her, she really is a nice person, I think. My salad came out and the dressing was just right, tangy, yet sweet and just enough robustness to be a good dressing, However, my satisfaction with the salad ended with the dressing and spring mix. There were large baby carrots and large grape tomatoes that crushed the greens like a fat kid in gym sitting on the scrawny kid during wrestling. The shear volume of size of the veggies made the spring mix look obsolete. I would expect the those sized vegetables for a crudite plate with dip, but not on a salad, I think this salad would have been helped with a tomato wedge or split cherry tomato, and a crinkle cut carrot chip, or two. But, this was just a salad and we had meals to come.
        The Black & Tan onion rings received good reviews from LT and myself while the Ginger thought they were bland and expected more flavor. I agree they were a little light on the flavor, but still really enjoyed them. The only complaint I had with them was the same as the fries, the use of old oil. At this point we are all readying ourselves for consuming our hopefully wonderful meals. LT's Guinness clams were very tasty and properly cooked. They had great flavor from the herbs, to the garlic, to the Guinness and even the crostini that came with it. However, once again there was a good and bad part of the meal. It is advertised as a dozen little necks, there were closer to 15-18 clams. Which should be a good thing, but they didn't look like little necks to me. I cooked clams this summer by the 100 dozens, and saw what a good sized little neck was. These looked more like hard shelled button clams, the kind you would find at a Chinese restaurant, for an all you can eat deal. Again, these clams are tasty, but not what I would expect to be served at a nice restaurant. The clam plate came in at $10.97 which was a good price for a dozen good sized little necks, but was a little pricey for what we received. Next up was Ginger, her crab cake stuffed portabella came out and immediately I saw the same problem we had seen twice that night. The crab cake was pretty dark, on the verge of black, again, due to the use of old oil. The crab cake had good flavor, but I found it more breading than crab. The portabella was marinated and grilled. The mushroom was perfectly cooked and meaty. the grilled bread was a little over grilled, which was fine with the Ginger, because she LOVES dry things, toast in particular. It also came with smoked gouda on it and overall I would say I liked the flavors in this dish, but wished to get more crab. This meal came in at $9.97 and I would say even with that small amount of crab, because the flavor was there, it is still a good price. Finally we shall talk about my meal, blackened catfish. This is one of my favorite things to order on a menu when I see it, especially at Maxi's Supper Club, but this is not their review, although right now I could go for one of their blackened catfish with cheesy grits... anyway... I asked for the cool cucumber butter wine sauce to come on the side as I was not sure I would like it. It also came with whole grain saffron rice and the vegetable of the day which happened to be summer squash. The sauce that I was worried about was actually quite nice, which was a good thing since it came on top instead of on the side. The blackened catfish was mild, I expected spicy, but it still had a good flavor. It also was not blackened. It was sprinkled with seasoning and broiled, Blackened means to season heavily and blacken the outside via grilling, heavily broil etc. I was quite disappointed with the lack of blackness with my catfish. Overall this dish was very flavorful, the rice was full of flavor, seemed almost to be boxed rice, but it had good flavor, the vegetable was also well cooked and had good flavor. The MAIN problem with my meal, was its temperature. It was lukewarm. Now I have had this problem here before, twice to be exact, and they were both while getting bowls of chili. The chili came out cold, I guess the holding unit these items were being kept hot in were not working those nights. My meal came in at $13.97, which wouldn't be too high if the fish was "seared" as advertised, but it wasn't.
        Even though I did find a bunch of problems, none were horribly offensive problems to the point where I wouldn't return. Really the biggest issue is cold food, this kind of activity could potentially lead to food-borne illness if not corrected. A little kitchen discipline and these problems could be fixed. Seriously, thats all it comes down to, a good kitchen manager making sure that oil is getting changed, and all served food is HOT!!! I know for sure that I will not be ordering the catfish again because it isn't my style of blackened, maybe you like a milder blackening, and a less seared fish, good for you, but that doesn't float my boat. Our waitress was very pleasant. She seemed inexperienced and a little ditsy at times, but was still attentive, polite and prompt. So as far as service, I really couldn't complain. I will recommend this place and should also mention that I have been here before and I LOVE their wings, so you should try them if/when you go. I go out once again, to search for another place to review... Stay hungry my friends!!!


Overall Rating 2.75 out of 5 Forks (this place has much more potential, but tonight gets the score)