Rare, Collectible, & Otherwise

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ShamROCK’ing the Rose District!

We’re worn out and our dogs are barking, but we had a fun Saturday during the ShamROCK the Rose District festival! The sunshine never came through on the weatherman’s promise, but here in Oklahoma, we know all about predicting what Mother Nature has in store.

At least the rain ended early enough that the streets were pretty dry by festival kickoff.

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There were plenty of first time visitors to our little shop, and there might have been more but for the fire engine parked directly in front of us. When I opened the door, the roar of the gasoline-powered generator tipped me off that the massive vehicle was a food truck in disguise. Despite the variety of food offerings that rolled onto Main Street for the day, we had quite a few takers for our Irish offerings.

Chef Dustin whipped up an easy-to-carry corned beef and cabbage slaw sandwich that garnered a lot of compliments. As it happened, very few of them were carried out. The cool breeze and cloudy skies sent a lot of folks indoors to sit down and warm up while having a bite to eat during the afternoon.

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For our second year, Irish Stew was also a popular choice among festival goers. I was happy for that – it makes chopping all those carrots and potatoes worth while!

Unfortunately, during the interview with Channel 2, Kristen’s hand made such a brief appearance, even her dad barely caught it. In fact, I had to back up and replay the KJRH video just to double-check what I saw. Sure enough, it was a draft green beer being poured.

Since McHuston’s was the only place to get a green beer in the Rose District, my superior deductive reasoning convinced me that the video was of Kristen at our keg handle, pouring out a pint. I answered several questions from reporter Nathan Edwards, and – fortunately – he kept my onscreen appearance to a bare minimum. I was happy to seen the front of the shop and the wind-blown flags that I had draped below the awning earlier in the week.

Thanks to our beer representative Brett for the decorations, coasters, posters, and tee-shirts… and for personally delivering the keg of green beer on Friday. It gave us just enough time to get it chilled down to a proper serving temperature. We’ll be pouring the green again on Tuesday – which is, of course – officially St. Patrick’s Day!

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Kristen will again be ably assisting at lunchtime, and Dustin and I will be doing our best to keep up.

Hope you’ll have a chance to get out and – Come visit!

McHuston

Booksellers & Irish Bistro
Rose District
122 South Main St. Broken Arrow OK!

Surprises? Sometimes they’re good.

The fellow on the telephone said he’d read the article about us in the morning paper.

“The article?” I asked.

“Yes,” he answered. “In that insert section of the Tulsa World.”

That was pretty much my clue to grab the paper and shake out the insert. Sure enough. Not too many pages past the front cover was an article by Mr. Scott Cherry that included the locations of five places to find Irish fare in the Tulsa area – and not just on St. Patrick’s Day.

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“Five to Find” is a weekly feature in the World’s “Weekend” section that comes out – ironically – in the midweek Wednesday edition. More time to plan your activities, maybe. This week’s focus ties in with the article on Tulsa’s St. Paddy’s celebrations and mentions five restaurants. Coming in at a solid number three?

McHuston Booksellers and Irish Bistro.

I’m really pleased to be mentioned on the same page as the big boys – Kilkenny’s Irish Pub and McNellie’s Pub – both of which I have visited and enjoyed. Baker Street Pub & Grill is new to me, as it Midleton’s Bar & Grill, so I’ll have to add them to the got-to-try-one-day list.

Thanks, Mr. Cherry, for remembering our lunch efforts in your article! And it makes for a good time to mention that we’ll be having some St. Paddy’s offerings this weekend, during the run of the Shamrock the Rose festival on Main Street. Surprisingly, the second annual event didn’t get their information to the World to be included in the weekend calendar.

We’ll have a limited menu in order to stretch our manpower (and womanpower, in the case of my daughter Kristen, who’ll be lending a hand for a second straight year). Of course, we’ll be offering Irish Stew as we did last year, and on Saturday you can try corned beef and cabbage served sandwich-style. I was able to corral a sample and wound up devouring the entire sandwich.

Green beer on tap, and there’s no surprise.

The Rose District will be full of entertainment and eats on Saturday, and the festival is schedule from 11am to 11pm. And as you would expect, we’ll be here and doing it at lunchtime on Tuesday – St. Patrick’s Day.

Plenty of time for you to get out and…

Come visit!

McHuston

Booksellers & Irish Bistro
Rose District
122 South Main St. Broken Arrow OK!

Covering the food bases.

Tacos at the Irish Bistro?

Well, why not? We are definitely south of the Irish border! And while Celtic tacos may not be standard fare, you can be assured that – when made by Irishmen – they are certainly Irish tacos!

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Unfortunately, the kitchen is closed for the day, so you won’t get to sample them. But I wanted to share the diversity of our daily chalkboard specials. I didn’t have a chance to get this written before lunchtime, so it has to serve as a preview for next time.

Chef Dustin whipped up another winner with his Pulled Pork street tacos.

Street tacos?

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Yes. Here is the scoop on that, although I don’t claim to be an authority.

Many of us grew up thinking that what Taco Bueno served was Mexican food. It turns out, it isn’t really. There is no true entrée beyond the Rio Grande that could be termed a “Chilada Platter.” Topping an enchilada with a cheese sauce probably had its beginnings in the gravy that covers our mound of American mashed potatoes.

The various food trucks offering tacos in the Tulsa area don’t usually have a hard shell Old-El-Paso-style taco shell, and the ingredients aren’t likely to start with mildly spiced ground beef. Not to say I don’t enjoy those, but something closer to the real deal is just so much better.

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And that is what Dustin served up today.

He understands that not everyone shares our love for the spicy – the kind of food adventure that might include popping jalapeno slices on the tongue as though they were after-dinner mints. So his was a mildly – and deliciously – spiced taco filling and toppings.

The pulled-pork tacos featured a tomatillo green sauce (salsa verde, for you especialistas) and authentic Mexican white cheese. A little cilantro. And the tortillas tasted like they had just been lifted off the grill, thin and tasty.

It’s just about now that you’re wondering why I’m promoting a lunch special that has come and gone.

Simple.

The pictures can let you see the variety in our menu from day to day. Even though we offer Irish fare we’ve also got the Daily Special, and it can be pretty diverse.

Wednesday – for example – is usually Pony Day, a sandwich served with blue-corn tortilla chips and house-made salsa. It starts with soft crust sourdough bread and features bacon, thinly-sliced turkey, and Dustin’s fresh personal-recipe guacamole that I believe will stack up against any guacamole in the Tulsa area. It’s delly-delly delicious.

You can LIKE us on Facebook (click HERE to do that), and you’ll get a daily update of Dustin’s lunchtime offerings. It is a different page than the old site, which was set up before Facebook offered business pages. Dustin created a new page for the Books & Bistro which he updates with his daily specials and pictures. The page I created, oh-so-many-years ago, tends to host my anecdotes, Rose District stories, and generalized whining.

The bottom line is (if I understand Dustin correctly): you can simply “like” the new page, and you’ll be updated on the menu right on your computer.

And you can still get info the old-fashioned way: Come visit!

McHuston

Booksellers and Irish Bistro
Rose District
122 South Main St. Broken Arrow OK!

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