Dining by Design: Archie Moore's Bar and Restaurant

Ever since Bennigan's closed in downtown Stamford, there has been a huge void in my life.  You see, Bennigan's used to have a "guinness grill" section of the menu where you could pretty much get any kind of meat you wanted smothered in that wonderful stout.  I am a proud Irish lass and coveted that menu.  When Bennigan's shut its doors, I tried in vain to find a viable substitute.  I tried guinness burgers at a few restaurants, but never truly liked them.  I attempted to use the Guinness marinade at home, but could not recreate the meals I loved as a kid at the grill.  I resigned myself to a sad future of no guinness in my meals.  Until I went to Archie Moore's in Fairfield.

I happened upon Archie Moore's by chance.  I was in Fairfield for the day and agreed to meet a friend for lunch there.  I had never heard of it before (only the paint company... BENJAMIN Moore), but I trusted his judgement.  It turned to to be a pretty home-y typical bar and restaurant.  There were families, sports teams, couples, and co-eds: your typical neighborhood pub in a college area.  I learned it has a couple of locations in Connecticut.  So why blog about it?  Because I had the greatest Guinness burger of my life.

It could have been the fact that I had spent an entire morning in a high stress environment with little food.  It could have been the rainy weather outside making me crave comfort food.  Or, it could have simply been the burger was just that good.  From what I ascertained from our friendly waitress, they pour actual Guinness stout over the burger as it cooks.  No marinade, no dilution.  Pure Guinness.  When the patty hits the perfect pub burger bun, the Guinness continues to seep onto the roll.  Tomatos, lettuce, and grilled onions (also done in guinness!) add the finishing touch.

You can add swiss and cheddar cheese too, but I skipped them due to my shadey relationship with lactose.  The burger totally didn't need them though.  I did also opt for a regular roll.  You can choose an onion roll, but since the burger already had onions on it I chose otherwise.  (No need to kill people with raging onion breath.)

I got the most delicious sweet potato fries on the side: "chipotle cinnamon sweet potato fries."  The perfect mix of sugar and spice... really everything nice.  The fries were cut at just the right thickness.  They stayed warm the entire meal; I hate it when fries get cold and lose their flavor.

Admittedly, both the burger and fries were specials on the menu.  (Normal fries would have accompanied the burger, but I substituted these.  They were an appetizer special.)  Since I don't know much about the restaurant, I cannot tell you if specials reoccur.  I sure hope so!

Anyway, that's my ode to a Guinness burger.  Slainte!