At McGuire's Irish Pub the mood is nothing if not fun. McGuire's boasts its own award-winning wine cellar and microbrewery in addition to its many specialty drinks A replica of a grand, turn-of-the-century saloon, McGuire's boasts more than 150,000 dollar bills, all donated by patrons, that cover its walls and ceilings. Giant moose heads adorn several walls, and visitors are encouraged to"kiss the moose" to celebrate special occasions, including first visits to the pub. Live Irish music enhances the dining experience. The real draw is the food. As anyone lucky enough to have dined at McGuire's will tell you, the food deserves to be served on a silver platter-or at least eaten with a golden spoon. For five consecutive years, the Pensacola pub has earned the coveted Golden Spoon Award, which denotes it as one of Florida's top restaurants. Another wonderful indication of the quality of the food is the neon signhanging in the kitchen. It simply reads Don't Serve It If You're Not Proud Of It. Now, you may proudly serve this award-winning cuisine, from the traditional Sheep Herder's Pie (in which mashed potatoes form the "crust") to the not-so-traditional Chicken and Roasted Vegetable Ziti (which "makes for a hearty family dinner"), in the comfort of your home. In addition to enjoying these entr es, you have your choice of appetizers, breads, soups, and more. You may even decide to try the almost sinful Chocolate Eclairs with Baileys Custard for dessert, or to top it all off with a Hot Limerick Toddy. After all, the menu is up to you. Jessie Tirsch, no stranger to cookbooks, coauthored Emeril's New New Orleans Cooking and wrote Paul Prudhomme's Seasoned America . She owns her own restaurant in New Orleans. McGuire and Molly Martin, who opened McGuire's Irish Pub in 1977, invite readers to sample a wee bit of McGuire's famous fare from this, their first cookbook.
Jessie Tirsch, a native New Yorker, spent 11 years in New Orleans where she co-authored Emeril's New New Orleans Cooking with chef Emeril Lagasse, and ghost-wrote Chef Paul Prudhomme's Seasoned America. She then proceeded to author two of her own books: A Taste of the Gulf Coast (Macmillan) and McGuire's Irish Pub Cookbook (Pelican Publishing).
Although hard at work on a novel based on a true story set in New Orleans, Jessie is also kept busy as a freelance writer, specializing in high-impact advertising, press releases, brochures and articles for business-to-business and consumer campaigns.
