The Squealing Pig - Denver

Since it was Saturday night and the temp was a balmy +7F, it was perfect for schlepping to Denver (from Boulder) to walk around the Denver Botanic Gardens to see their million Christmas lights which are going to be lit for another week. No we didn't count them. But the display is impressive and the frigid temps kept the crowds away. In fact, it kept almost everyone away except for Sue and me. I'm sure there was a message in being two of only about a dozen people walking around the gardens looking at lights. The message was that it would also be a perfect night to try an Irish Pub about which we had read - The Squealing Pig in Cherry Creek.

Located in the basement level of a non-descript shopping building, this place does not look very inviting from the outside. But once in, you are almost transported to Ireland. Or at least New York City. Warm woods, cozy small spaces, a great bar and music at a reasonable decibel level.

One of the attractions for me was their selection of Irish Whiskeys. They had a few mainstream choices but also a very nice choice of better brands that we wanted to try. We began with a Red Breast pot still and a Clontorf which I'd never heard of but have learned that it is distelled by the Cooley Distillery. The Red Breast was excellent and the Clontorf very smooth with some interesting flavors. We both thought the Red Breast was better.

We began with an appetizer of Scottish eggs. These were hardboiled and wrapped in a delicious sausage coating. They were served on a bed of greens with the traditional Irish Chipotle Ranch dipping sauce. This was my first experience with Scottish eggs so I just assumed that St. Patrick or some Scotsman must have made a secret trip to what is now New Mexico back in the 9th century and brought back jalapenos which the monks have been growing in a secret monastery on an island off the coast.

For dinner Sue had the traditional Irish Monte Cristo sandwich, I won't speculate on the origin of this. It was lightly fried and crispy on great bread and she could only eat half. I had fish & chips. The cod was fresh and flakey, again perfectly fried - not greasy or saturated. The chips were also excellent and it was served with a side of non-descript cole slaw. We tried a Midleton Rare whiskey and hot toddy to accompany. The Midleton was good, not as great as I had hoped since it was touted as only being part of a 50 cask/year run. The Red Breast was still the stand-out. But BEWARE! The Whiskey list does not show prices and the Midleton turned out to be a whopping $25/glass! This little surprise catapulted a pretty reasonable dinner into a whole different category.

Other than the $25 surprise, this was a dynamite place. Probably due to the weather, it was not very crowded. There were a few people watching the football game and others who came and went for drinks and dinner. We'll definitely be back to try some more Irish Whiskeys but I'll ask for prices in advance.

Squealing Pig
2700 E 3rd Ave
Denver, CO 80206

HI,

Thanks for the review.

I absolutely hate surprises which arrive with the bill. I know there is this old maxum to discourage people from asking questions: "If you have to ask, you cannot afford it." I think it is simply intimidating the customer into sheep.

I may not follow up on your recommendation, though your information is going straight to my cousin in Denver who likely will.

Again, thanks!

Regards,

with the traditional Irish Chipotle Ranch dipping sauce

Chuckle.

Mrs. Greasy Spoon and I live about a 5 min drive from the Squealin Pig. So based on the recommendation of Andy's Better Brother we thought we'd give it a try. And we're glad we did.

Andy's Better Brother wrote:We began with an appetizer of Scottish eggs. These were hardboiled and wrapped in a delicious sausage coating. They were served on a bed of greens...

We also started out with the Scottish Eggs. We had never heard of these before until the Best Scotch Egg in Chicago post, so it was our first ever and they were great... The heartburn that followed was well worth it.



Naturally we had drinks from their rather extensive lists. As Andy's Better Brother mentioned, the Scotch-Whisky List had no prices. Since we did not want to risk ordering a $25 drink we thought it would be safer if we stuck to the Specialty Drink List.

Mrs. Greasy Spoon sipped:
St. Brendan's & Brandy - Irish Cream & Hennessey (&)
Brandy & Port - Hennessey & Sandman Port. (below)



I went the green Martini route:
Emerald Isle - midori, dry vermouth and Boru (an Irish vodka) citrus. (left)
Shamrock Martini - midori, Boru citrus vodka and Gran Marier. (right)



Meal wise she went traditional with the "Guinness Beef Stew" while I went boring with a med-rare bacon cheddar burger.



The food was great quality and the prices were quite reasonable. One appetizer, four mixed drinks, and two meals ran us about $55 w/o tip.

A great find "Andy's Better Brother", thanks for the recommendation. We'll definitely be back to sample the Scotch Whiskeys. We're novices in that area so we'll need to study up a bit.

~GS

The Scotch Egg looks magnificent. I've never had one, but I've heard a lot about them, and they seem like someting it'd be hard not to like.

Greasy Spoon wrote:A great find "Andy's Better Brother", thanks for the recommendation. We'll definitely be back to sample the Scotch Whiskeys. We're novices in that area so we'll need to study up a bit.

Glad you liked it. A good place to experiment, hell, do full scale research on Scotch is Pint's Pub which is near the Denver Art Museum. They have a collection of 250 Scotch Whiskys! Bring a designated driver.