RESTAURANT REVIEW + PHOTOS: Dugan’s updates, adds to vast menu

Dugan's Pub, which we've always considered to be the most modest of central Arkansas' three ostensibly Irish pubs, recently updated its menu. Proprietor Don Dugan's new bill of fare adds nearly a dozen new dishes to a pretty broad lineup of Irish, semi-Irish, quasi-Irish and good ol' American items.

The pub itself is little changed -- a cozy, two-level main dining area (the upper level serves as a stage for live entertainment) with seating at high and low tables. (The leather upholstery on some of the chairs is now a bit cracked, but for some patrons that could spell "comfort" instead of "shabby.") There are a couple of even cozier "snug" spaces on each side of the front door, and a space behind the gas fireplace with a conversation pit and a pair of dartboards. There's seating for another dozen or so at the broad bar that greets you as you come through the door, and another dozen or so on the patio.

The place has a busy, homey buzz when it's bustling, which it usually is at peak meal periods and during prominent sporting events, which are shown on a handful of flat-screen TVs (Saturday and Sunday American football, sometimes what the rest of the world calls football and various sports programming otherwise).

Service usually bustles as well, with a couple of people behind the bar and a handful of servers on the floor. And usually that means that if the kitchen is also bustling, you'll get served promptly -- though, however, lapses do happen. More on that later. We were also plagued a bit by some dishes arriving without everything the menu promised.

Dugan's offers more than two dozen Irish whiskeys but not so many Irish brews -- primarily Guinness. There's a good range of other domestic beers on tap and in the bottle, and a goodly group of scotches, bourbons and specialty cocktails.

Both new appetizers were tasty, but they'll set you back a bit. The Smoked Salmon ($9.95) consists of five slices of Dugan's dense, slightly sweet house-made Irish brown bread topped with chive butter and generous fish slices, each garnished with a handful of capers. We generally prefer our lox on bagels, but this is a reasonable substitute. All five pieces disappeared quickly, however, and left us wishing for more.

The Steamed Mussels ($15.99) come steamed in a delicious bacon broth and supposedly served with the house bread. We wish it had come with the bread, with which we would have liked to sop up the remaining broth. The mussels were small -- not the big green-lipped ones from New Zealand commonly served around here -- and we honestly felt that a baker's dozen wasn't enough to really wet our appetizer whistle. And particularly at that price, which is about on par with many of Dugan's entrees.

Speaking of entrees, also new on the menu, and the item we would most likely order again, is the Dublin Coddle ($16.99), a playing-card-pack-size chunk of pan-seared Pacific cod awash in that same bacon broth with two colors (white and purple) of sliced roasted fingerling potatoes and slices of coarse-ground and nicely spiced Irish banger sausages. The onions atop of the cod seemed to be more broth-cooked than caramelized, which was all right with us; the grilled lemon the menu promised, however, was not in evidence.

We liked it a lot, but we didn't like the 35 minutes we waited for it. We're not sure, since we didn't see any other food come out during that time frame, just what the problem was -- a shift change in the kitchen, perhaps. But we got a little tired of seeing the waiter glance with some consternation at our empty tabletop on the way to the kitchen and exit it as empty-handed as he entered. (It probably wasn't in direct response, but on our next visit, the two appetizers came out in what seemed like just two minutes, fast enough that we still half-believe our mussels had been pre-ordered.)

We'd also go back for the Corned Beef and Cabbage ($10.95 -- and you can't get much more Irish than that, mavourneen). The large slice of well trimmed corned beef had been slow-cooked until it was cut-with-a-fork, melt-in-the-mouth tender, and even our party's very-cabbage-wary member praised the cabbage. Tart, tangy brown mustard served in a side cup provided a nice, but not necessary, accent.

Renewing our acquaintance with two long-on-the-menu, uber-Irish, pub-grub options didn't fare (no pun intended) as well.

We liked the thickness and crispness of the batter on our Fish and Chips ($10.95), and the thick house fries, firm on the outside, soft on the inside, were fine. But the two log-size portions of battered cod really needed a perk-up dose of malt vinegar. (We could instead have used the side cup of ketchup or the tart tartar sauce, but we're no big fans of tartar sauce, and the ketchup, as you'll see in a second, we donated to a good cause.) The dish also comes with a side of a slightly sweet, slightly tangy house-made slaw.

The Shepherds Pie ($9.95) was a disappointment -- the ground beef drastically under-seasoned to the point of blandness, and dry, and so was the lump of cheddar-topped mashed potatoes on top. Adding a lot of black pepper and the ketchup we didn't use for our chips helped a bit.

Oh, and if you're looking for an inexpensive appetizer or a late-night light bite, snuggle down into the "For the Wee Little Ones" portion of the menu and order the pub's nonpareil Ronan's Macaroni Cheese. It's listed at $3.95, plus an extra, but worthwhile, $2 if you're over 12.

Weekend on 11/16/2017