McNamara's pub fare has always bridged a vast divide, from roasted duck and short ribs with truffled risotto to grilled pizzas and chicken wings. With quality ingredients and a serious approach, he's been one of most consistent cooks I've covered over the last decade.
And, yet, those previous pubs haven't always suited his haute instincts. The Dark Horse's rabid soccer crowd, for example, was usually so blotto by the 10 a.m. Saturday match, there just wasn't much interest in puff pastry snails with Pernod cream.
At the New Wave, where McNamara worked twice, constant treks to the downstairs walk-in were "starting to kill" his rapidly aging back. It's no wonder McNamara, 44, was spotted this fall scouting locations for a prepared-foods market before deciding to return, once again, to a gastropub kitchen.
Could this stint at St. Stephen's Green in Fairmount be any different?
McNamara says it is, with a brand new back-friendly kitchen to work in, and a mellower, more receptive neighborhood crowd to feed. At the very least, his October arrival has been a gift for this handsome new pub.
The opening kitchen staff was a big disappointment when this promising spot debuted in June, prompting owners James Stephens (also owner of the Dark Horse) and Jeff Keel (who also owns the Bishop's Collar), to search for an alternative.
They'd already invested big in a stellar revamp of the long-vacant shell of Cuvee Notredame. With the help of a Dublin-based design firm, they installed woodwork throughout the multilevel restaurant, with four-legged pub tables, cozy fireplaces, and buttresslike wooden arches laced across the main bar room to add intimacy to the tall-ceilinged sunny space.
Stephens had previous experience with McNamara at the Dark Horse, and the menu's improvement since his arrival has been as expected: instant and decisive.
