By Alana Hackman
In the death of Saint Patrick came a holiday of green beer, dancing, Irish pride, and this year, an excuse to get day drunk on a Sunday. However, I had one goal on my mind this St. Patrick’s Day: to try every corned beef dish I could get my hands on before my 6 p.m. shift. It started organically as my roommate and I were anticipating the Irish dancers at the Logger bar, but our agenda spontaneously unfolded into trying all the salt-cured meaty goodness our college student budgets didn’t have the room for on Paddy’s Day, but all in good fun.
I bring you almost all of the corned beef dishes I tried in Humboldt County to quench your FOMO. Not all are mentioned, but here’s an idea so you can start marking your calendars for next year. I’ll be ranking the dishes on taste, restaurant festivity, and price.
The first plate of corned beef I had that fateful Sunday was around noon at Six Rivers Brewery in Mckinleyville. The plate was $20 for two slabs of corned beef, two boiled potatoes, one chunky boiled carrot, cabbage, a hunk of soda bread, and a little dish of stock. This plate was probably the biggest and most authentic corned beef dish I bought that day. $20 seemed pricey at first. I almost opted for their corned beef Reuben, but that would’ve been cheating.
The corned beef itself was tough and chewy, but still able to get through with teeth and/or a steak knife. I think it lacked that mouth-puckering saltiness I usually attribute to the meat. Having the stock separate from the veggies and beef in a dipping dish was an interesting choice, but aided in adding that saltiness to the beef. It still just wasn’t salty enough for me and I wish the meat and veggies were sitting in the broth. There was a little chili kick when I indulged in my first bite, but every bite followed was very beef broth-y, which could easily be zested up with a squirt of yellow mustard. No horseradish was a bummer, but I also didn’t ask if they had any.
The veggies were perfectly tender and as simple as you can get flavor-wise, but the beef broth gave them that extra butter flavor that a plain old boiled veggie wouldn’t have. The ambience in the restaurant was fantastic and very loud. There were rainbow balloon arches, live music, and an anniversary banner with crossed out numbers in sharpie to signify the brewery’s 20th anniversary celebration alongside the St Patrick’s day festivities.
There were lots of cute families and strangers to chit chat with, including our table neighbor who questioned, “Where was I gonna put all that?” when I explained my corned beef agenda for the day. I told him he was underestimating me. Overall I give this plate a 6/10. I wish the beef was more tender and served in the stock, but the energy in the brewery and kind service really made the dish special for me. Also, a women-owned brewery, hell yea!
The next pit stop on my journey to the center of corned beef was South G kitchen, a food truck located in the Redwood Curtain Brewing Company in Arcata. They had been slinging their corned beef special for about a week before the holiday out of their tight-quarters food truck which is super impressive. Their dish was $17 and included corned beef, collard greens instead of cabbage, and crispy potatoes. It was a smaller portion than Six Rivers Brewery, but this dish was smokey and delectably dense. Their corned beef was melt-in-your-mouth tender with a crispy skin. You could have enjoyed it with a spoon if you wanted to. They also topped it off with some stone-ground mustard which I thoroughly enjoyed.
The greens were super tender and umami from the rich bowl of brown broth they were bathing in. There were pieces of thick cut bacon in the greens, which really brought me back to eating my highschool best friend’s grandma’s greens out of tinfoil serving dishes on Thanksgiving. The portions of this dish were definitely for a single serving, but they provided the perfect balance of salty, crunchy decadence that left you satiated. The collard greens absorbed most of the broth, making them saltier than the beef, but complemented the dish well. The outdoor seating at the brewery was a lot less festive and didn’t really encapsulate the holiday, but was still a chill environment. This corned beef plate was definitely not traditional, but the culinary spin on it really wowed me. It was cheaper than Six Rivers but a smaller portion with a creative take. I’d rate this dish a 9/10. My roommate and I were able to house it down after a previous plate of corned beef, so it was pretty damn good.
After a quick outfit change and brief state of comatose in the sun, I arrived at the Logger Bar in Blue Lake. They were having an all day St. Patrick’s Day bash, but weren’t serving corned beef until 5 p.m. so it was my second time there that day. The first time involved a lovely conversation with Tina Catalina, a Blue Lake resident who gave me a copy of her song on green paper and informed me that the entire meal was cooked by the Mad River Old Crows, which is the men’s service and drinking organization according to the Mad River Union.
The line for food was wrapped around the bar when we arrived. It was served buffet style with chafing pans and portable burners. This felt like a family reunion which made the experience that much sweeter. There was a jar at the start of the serving table that had a sliding scale of $5-$10 for donations, but they weren’t necessary to get a plate. I ended up donating $10 for a plate of corned beef, a few pieces of olive raisin soda bread, potatoes, cabbage, and a chocolate cupcake with green frosting. They actually had horseradish, unlike other locations, which I indulged a little too much of with teary eyes. There wasn’t much space to eat inside as the talented Irish Dance Academy students doing Irish dances in their tartan skirts took the floor during serving, but it was enjoyed outside in the sun.
The corned beef packed that salty flavor I was looking for and wasn’t sitting in any broth, though it was dripping juices after each bite. The potatoes weren’t too special, but I will always appreciate a boiled carbohydrate. The cabbage really was the prize winner for me. It was extremely moist and flavorful. There was even a whole onion in the scoop we got. You could see all the spices they used within the cabbage as well, which gave it a much more meaty and spicy flavor than just the broth as marinade compared to other places. Overall I rate this dish an 8/10. A home cooked meal makes all the difference, no matter the taste (this one was delish), and the community was so heartwarming and supportive at that little bar. Who wouldn’t love that Old Crow corned beef?
The fateful and final stop of this voyage was Murphy’s hot bar in Blue Lake. I was on my way to The Pub in Arcata, but had to stop by after getting wind of their corned beef. It was 5 p.m. at this point and an hour before I had to be at work. The potatoes were combined with the shredded corned beef in one charing pan and the cabbage was dry and crispy in another pan to the left. At this point of the day, I was scraping the bottom of the pans to get something of a portion. After checkout, my plate came out to about $4 – may I add it was majority cabbage. The corned beef was extremely fatty, but also fried to a crisp under the heat lamp,which created an interesting texture. The cabbage was basically raw with a slightly buttery flavor if you got into the inner layer. The bigger pieces of corned beef weren’t too bad if gnawed around the fat. The beef was pretty bland, but had the essence of peppered beef jerky taste at the end so I can’t complain too much. The potatoes carried the dish, but again I don’t believe a person can mess up vegetables that bad. The employees at all Murphy’s locations are always wonderful and I can’t bash on a late stop to the hot bar too much. It was my fault. I rate this dish a 4/10 all together.
This Sunday service of corned beef was something I was grateful to take part in. In less than six hours, I was able to cover four stops of beefy, salty, and starchy goodness. The Pub was unfortunately sold out and my lovely friends who offered to bring it in for me during my work shift tried to get their redemption by calling Gallagher’s Irish Pub in Eureka for any corned beef briefs. They were left with the dial tone.
At this point, I was barely moving and had a dry mouth from my salt intake, so I decided to call it a day. I had found peace, love, and happiness while exploring some, but not all, of the corned beef dishes of Humboldt county. Next year, I’ll make sure to start my excursion at 9 a.m. so I can really savor all the salt beef I want.
Be First to Comment