My Expectations for Sean O’Callaghan’s

While trying to escape the madness of the University of Michigan’s homecoming, or actually, let me rephrase that; while trying to get anywhere without screaming students in maize and blue jumping out in front of your car with red solo cups leaving a liquidy trail behind them, my parents and roommate and I decided to drive about 15 minutes out to plymouth to have a more quiet downtown experience. Passing through boutique after boutique with Christmas decorations and spiced candles, yes, already in October we stumbled upon a small Irish pub house with black doors and black windows and beautiful stain glass.

Generally, my expectations for the restaurants in downtown Plymouth aren’t necessarily positive. Although, the mexican restaurant, Barrio Cocino Y Tequileria always pleasantly surprises me, this may be because Plymouth is a predominately white area. Every restaurant just seems to blend into the plain and calm streets of downtown Plymouth.

I don’t love Irish pubs. I don’t dislike them, but I have usually found the food to be bland and unexciting. When I ate at some different pubs in places like Dublin and Kilkenny, I found the food to be delicious and very exciting. But this “excitement”, of course gets at the whole concept of “authenticity” that we talked about and read in our previous reading for last week. As I traveled to Ireland two years ago, I can’t quite recall whether or not I really loved the food because it tasted different than any other Irish pub I had ever been in, or because I knew I was in Ireland, and that therefore made it “authentic”. After last class really got me thinking about what kind of assumptions I probably should not be making, based on who is making my food and where in the world I am, I wonder if this would have made a significant impact on the way I viewed the food at Irish pubs in Ireland.

The foods that tend to make my mouth water are foods with a lot of flavor and different textures. I particularly love Mexican and Indian food for all of the spices, different flavors, colors and scents that can be combined into one dish. I love the way the food is always too steaming hot to touch and tastes fresh and and tingly. I have found many Irish pubs to be tasty, but often don’t excite me nearly as much as I would’ve like them to.

My expectations for this little Irish pub in the middle of downtown Plymouth, Sean O’Callaghan’s, are about average. I’m expecting the food to be lacking in flavor, but for the items to be very salty and just the right level of fried. If they have it, I will eat the fish and chips, unless there is a roast beef meal that seems more appealing. I expect the fried part of the fish to be very crunchy, but I’m not expecting a very strong fishy taste at all, this is partially due to location. I also expect that I will squeeze an entire lemon onto my fish because of the lack of distinct flavor, and that I will need to ask for Malt Vinegar. I’m expecting the Irish chips to be very average french fries that I could’ve gotten anywhere else and I’m also very much expecting my mom to order a salad. She loves salad. I cannot wait to taste soda bread with sweet butter, I trust that it will live up to my expectations. I’m hoping that the bread and butter is not too sweet, but just the right amount of sweet, and that the fish is salty and crispy. I also hope that the Irish pub house reminds me of the sweetness of my trip and the saltiness of the potatoes I ate at every meal.