An Tua Nua
I guess you can call them club sandwiches
by Chris Wright
By night, the Irish bar An Tua Nua -- formerly Rí Rá -- is
elbow-to-rib with the baggy-jeaned, girly-T'd set getting down to
platter-spinning DJs. By day, the more sedate among us can get down to a
platter of cheap and plentiful pub grub.
One recent afternoon, we got finger-foody for starters with the asparagus
rolls ($4.75) -- crispy tortillas stuffed with provolone and ham, set in a
puddle of tomato sauce. The sauce was fairly drab, but we loved the
wild-mushroom ravioli ($5.95), an archipelago of pasta, pine nuts, and grilled
bread in an ocean of creamy garlic sauce.
Our entrées were a standard -- read: to die for -- shepherd's pie
($6.95), which had not only crispy cheese on top (absolutely vital) and
lashings of minced beef, but a side of buttery mashed potatoes. (Double mash:
where are those baggy jeans when you need them?) We also tried the "Pizza
Rí Rá" ($6.25, but shouldn't it now be Pizza An Tua Nua?), with
tomato, basil, goat cheese, mushroom, and caramelized onion -- served crispy,
cheesy, and surprisingly grease-free. And there's an entire spectrum of
sandwiches in the $6 range.
Wash it all down with a Newcastle Brown Ale ($3.50), and it's settled: we
won't be doing any dancing tonight.
An Tua Nua, located at 835 Beacon Street (outside Kenmore Square), in
Boston, serves lunch daily from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., and dinner from 4 to 10 p.m.
Call (617) 262-2121.
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