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Dooley's in West Dundee tweaks Irish cuisine

You needn't wait for St. Patrick's Day to garner a cozy Irish sensibility - just get to West Dundee's Dooley's Irish Ale House, where the warmth and whiskey are a waitin'.

<b>Motif:</b> Less than a year old, Matt Harrison's homage to the Irish women in his life - including his great-grandmother, granny and mum - is set in a behemoth of a building on West Dundee's Main Street. Checking in at more than 9,000 square feet and three and a half stories, Dooley's aims to be your neighborhood pub, which it manages to do despite its size. The main floor features a massive bar, perfect to tip a pint and jaw about the news, and a smattering of booths for noshers. There's a large game room with a pool table and video games, a hidden outdoor patio that seats about 25, a second floor that opens in September for families and those who prefer a quieter ambience, and a third-floor party room for around 75 that features its own bar and a private balcony affording scenic views of the Fox River.

<b>Food:</b> Harrison, a Carpentersville native, admits that traditional Irish food may not be the most flavorful among ethnic cuisines. “It's mostly boiled, so we've Americanized and tweaked menu items in a good way,” he explained. You'll find his grandmother's Shepherd's Pie but with morsels of steak rather than ground beef or lamb; his mom's Jezebel sauce (peach preserves with a nice kick of horseradish on the back end) accompanying many of the sandwiches; a traditional Reuben (which could be improved only with a few more slices of the eatery's tasty corned beef that's baked, not boiled); and Harrison's own effort to get St. Patrick's Day dinner in sandwich form. Matt's Famous Reuben takes the classic sandwich over the top with additions of bacon, cabbage, smashed red potatoes and Swiss on marble rye.

  Matt Harrison owns Dooley's Irish Ale House on Main Street in West Dundee. John Starks/jstarks@dailyherald.com

Popular items include Trinity Beer, Cheddar & Potato soup, and it's not unusual for the cauldron of Guinness Baked Onion soup to be empty late in the day. Winning appetizers include Rueben egg rolls, Scotch eggs and Colcannon Bites, a fried alchemy of creamy spuds filled with bacon, cabbage, cheddar and scallions. The Harp-battered cod comes as a sandwich or a meal. And there's an array of burgers and hearty entrees, too.

<b>Liquid consumption: </b>Count on 20 taps - 10 serving Irish brews and the other 10 featuring rotating craft beers. But, faith and begorra, this is a whiskey bar with 120 bottles of the spirit, with a new bottle added every couple of weeks. Show up on Wednesday to try a special whiskey (or bottle of wine) for half price. Shots, Irish cocktails and flights of whiskey, beer and wine are other options. Plus, there are daily drink specials like Tequila Tuesday, when you can get a shot of any Tequila for $5 and Tequila drinks are $6. Dooley's Facebook page (www.facebook.com/dooleyswestdundee) is the best place to see what's being poured the night of your visit.

<b>Service:</b> If you're famished and parched, service, although very friendly, can seem a tad too leisurely.

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  Patrons can watch sports on TVs over the bar at Dooley's Irish Ale House in West Dundee. John Starks/jstarks@dailyherald.com

Entertainment: </b>In addition to Thursday trivia and Friday music bingo (identify a 30-second clip of a song to mark your card and win Dooley's gift cards), the West Dundee pub sets the stage for live Irish music, bluegrass and classic rock at 8 p.m. Saturdays.

<b>Crowd:</b> Expect a mix of ages, and Harrison promises the crowd never gets too rowdy.

<b>Overall:</b> Dooley's suffered typical growing pains with waitstaff in the early days, but it has been restaffed and streamlined. As autumn winds blow a bit colder in the coming months, a steaming platter of corned beef and cabbage or a full Irish breakfast on the weekend may steel you for the coming winter.

Dooley's Irish Ale House

98 W Main St., West Dundee, (847) 428-3550,

facebook.com/dooleyswestdundee/

Hours: 3 p.m. to midnight Monday through Thursday, noon to 2 a.m. Friday and Saturday, noon to midnight Sunday

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