Three area establishments offer delectable corned beef, without the typical St. Patty’s fuss
It’s St. Patrick’s Day and you’ve got to have some corned beef. No worries, Irish bars aplenty (and Irish-for-a-day bars, too) serve corned beef amid all the revelry. But what if you’d like to just have some corned beef without all the hoopla? Consider:
Deli 1614
This tiny takeout-only spot expertly slices its corned beef to order by hand. That means it’s hot and juicy when it hits the bread, not too thick or too thin. Yes, this sandwich is just right.
The corned beef gets a dash of paprika before the top slice of rye goes on. A schmear of brown mustard
is standard, too, even on the reuben (try it!) — but Thousand Island dressing is on hand if that’s a reuben must for you, no extra charge.
A corned beef sandwich on soft, seedless rye is $7.99; corned beef on toasted rye with cheese is $8.59; a reuben is $9.59; and the deluxe corned beef — tomato, lettuce and onion on toasted rye — is $9.89. If you want it extra lean, that’s $1.75 (though I’ve never seen the corned beef here particularly fatty); extra meat will run you $2.75.
In the long list of other sandwiches Deli 1614 assembles are combination corned beef and pastrami ($7.99, with cheese $8.79) and a Philly corned beef (with steak, cheese, onions and green peppers, $9.89). And if you really can’t get enough corned beef, check out the corned beef-cheese fries ($4.89).
Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Friday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. 1614 W. Walnut St. (414) 933-2303.
Hom Wood Fired Grill
Maybe a little lunchtime/brunchtime corned beef hash is in order. Hom Wood-Fired Grill in Glendale serves a brief brunch menu every day alongside the lunch items, including corned beef hash ($12).
The restaurant cures its own beef, from Hidden Creek Farm (the SURG restaurant group’s cattle farm). Chunks of corned beef are combined with potato, onion and green onion
in an 8-inch iron skillet and topped off with a pair of sunny-side-up eggs.
Brunch/lunch hours: 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily. 5750 N. Port Washington Road, Glendale, in Bayshore Town Center. (414) 3127043. homwoodfiredgrill.com
The Jail House
Bypass the convivial bar on the first floor of this West Bend-area restaurant if you wish (or if you can — the original log building, dating to the 1840s, that houses the bar area is charming) and head straight to the second-floor dining room for the Jail House’s reuben sandwich.
The kitchen minds the details — the sandwich’s Thousand Island dressing and even the sauerkraut are made at the restaurant. This reuben is grilled on marble rye, nice and crisp. I’ll take thicker slices of corned beef, like those at the Jail House, over paperthin any day; it’s a sandwich of substance.
The reuben ($13.50) comes with the house chips or with thick fries.
Hours: 4 to 10 p.m. Friday, 5 to 10 p.m. Saturday and 5 to 9 p.m. Tuesday to Thursday. 897 Pleasant Valley Road, West Bend (Town of Jackson). (262) 675-9302.