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| - Note: The kitchen is only open until 10PM Sundays through Thursdays and until 12:30AM on Friday and Saturday nights. The bar's open until 12AM Sundays through Thursdays and until 2AM on Friday and Saturday nights.
Each time I've come here, it was for a pre-concert meal. Back in 2007, first visited Houlihan's with my sister (shut up) prior to catching the Concert Express out to Burgettstown to see Rush (the band, not the gasbag conservative). Back then, I ordered what turned out to be a pretty spiffy steak salad along with a fine, Asian-style calamari appetizer and their brilliantly desconstructed S'Mores dessert. Early last week, Kay and I stopped in before seeing two bands you won't hear on Houlihan's alterna-indy playlist (trying too hard?), at the Trib Total Media Amphitheatre nearby; Whitesnake and Mr. Big.
I wanted that steak salad again, but they no longer carry it. Instead, I got something similar called the Prime Steak and Wedge Salad; the wedding of a 5 ounce sirloin steak and a hunk of iceberg lettuce decorated with pecans, bacon bits, and scallions. Golden beet chunks, grilled asparagus, fried polenta triangles, and a slice of gorgonzola fill up the pews. Blue cheese, a dressing I loathe more than any other, is your default. I was thankfully allowed to opt for their ranch dressing instead.
Making for a nice, light dinner, the small steak was as tender as a kiss. juicy as a celebrity scandal, and was gorgeously dark on the outside, neon pink on the inside. The iceberg wedge was fresh, crispy, its garnishes giving it snap further texture. The dark horse components of the plate were the polenta triangles, which resembled a crouton-tater tot hybrid in taste and appearance. If the ranch dressing was bottled, I couldn't tell. Speaking of the dressing, it was served on the side in a metal cup, and there was enough left over after dressing the lettuce, so you know I dipped everything else into the ranch to saporific effect, including the immaculately cooked asparagus.
Our appetizer was a plate of he Disco Fries; an orgy of french fries, gravy, pot roast, and mozzarella cheese. In Canada they use cheese curds and call it poutine. I call it pretty damn groovy despite the cheese not being gooey enough. Put this between two slices of white bread, serve it at a diner, and you'll make some truckers happy.
Kay got their godly, incomparable S'Mores Crock for dessert. I had a Chocolate Cappuccino Cake, and it's essentially Little Debbie marrying for money; a high-end lunch cake served with ice cream. I liked it, but once Kay enlisted me to help her finish her S'Mores crock, I had forgotten about it. Let's face it, Houlihan's needs no other dessert.
P.S. I have nothing bad to say about the service. Our waiter Tony did his job well.
P.P.S. My playlist would likely chase people out of the place and perhaps bring in a whole new clientele. I'll counter your Black Keys with some Black Label Society...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHEldQoY1Zk
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