Ask Midtown Lunch: Irish Soda Bread
“Not lunch per se, but where is best Irish Soda Bread in midtown? I get a craving for it every year around St. Pat’s Day and so many places make dry horrible Irish Soda Bread — not like Mom used to make!” Being a short fat Jew, I know nothing about Irish soda bread. Anybody got a suggestion? Put it in the comments, St Patty’s day is only a week away.
Posted by Zach Brooks at 10:15 am, March 10th, 2009 under Ask Midtown Lunch.
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14 Comments
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Amy’s Bread has good soda bread, among good everything else. It’s on 9th ave btw 46th and 47th so it is a little out of bounds.
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Forget about Soda Bread. What about high quality, affordable corned beef? :)
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Corrado in grand central market probably has it… it’s hard to find good Irish food in New York these days. Irish pubs don’t even have Irish food anymore (except for the occasional microwaved shepherd’s pie)! I recommend making soda bread at home and bringing it to work. It’s not that hard to make and it lasts forever.
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@Harry. Our family always does the corned beef from carnegie deli for St. Pattys. We get extra rye bread and one sandwich feeds four people so it’s more affordable then it seems.
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Thanks Jill. My family does too. I might have to head over there this year. I love my yearly corned beef.
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Try buying a whole corned beef from Katz’s – it costs less per pound, but you have to cook it and slice it yourself. (The whoe pastrami at Katz’s is a steal, around $12 a pound. I think the corned beef costs more.)
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My parents are from Ireland and I’ve never had corned beef in my life. That shit is vile. I rank it up there with “Danny Boy.”
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Personally, I like Whole Food’s spin on Irish Soda Bread – they leave out the caraway (which I don’t like any way), they add lemon oil (which is a nice touch and makes it more dessert-y) and if you can get it fresh, it’s very cake-like in texture. $4.99 for a 16 oz. loaf.
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No offense Allison, but you’ve just elucidated everything wrong with our food culture.
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@Anastasia-
Corned beef isn’t Irish. The Irish discovered the Jews/Eastern Europeans eating it when they came to America. Apparently in Ireland, they eat bacon or sausage with their cabbage.
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That was my point, Alan (my brother’s name, too!).
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if anything do NOT go to connolly’s. i went there for lunch once, got the shepherd pie. asked for soda bread. bus boy looked at me sideways, waitress came over, i asked again, she went into the back, “sorry we don’t carry soda bread”
Seriously that should be ashamed. I’ve had soda bread next door at O’Lunneys its pretty good. it’s not a classic irish place (their specialties list includes chicken parm and tex mex stuff). Its in time square so its expected. great irish bartenders tho. the waitresses are mostly actors i think, one changed accents 4 times when i was there. but if you have to be in midtown on st patty’s day it’s not bad to stop by for a pint
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my dh gets our soda bread from Amy’s bread in Chelsea Market every year. It is to die for. It is also freakin expensive….I don’t know for sure, but my often wrong DH told me $10 each. wow!
I know Zarro’s in the Grand Central Market had a special of 1.99 per loaf of fresh baked Irish soda bread. Not sure if it’s still going on.