Charlie P's Irish Pub

Review

The winter burger

Photo: Heribert Corn Brian Patton has tried a few things in this city: 20 years ago, a huge, two-storey pub that wasn't the worst of its kind; ten years ago, a delightful sandwich place called naked lunch right next door, which he sadly closed down after a year; In 2010, this then became the Dining Room, which served really great English-Irish gastro-pub cuisine In the years that followed, he was responsible for a successful burger pop-up on the Danube Canal with "It's All About the Meat, Baby", a gorgeous BBQ open-air with the Big Smoke and the city's leading corn fritter project with Slow Tacos; two and a half years ago, his BBQ project finally moved to a respectable restaurant with Brickmaker's.
And the same should now happen to the burger concept. And there would be nothing wrong with that if the Dining Room hadn't had to be replaced. Sigh. The former fine dining restaurant, which you enter via the pub with its soccer flatscreen smoking foyer, has been enlarged to include the adjacent room, the music has been drastically louder, but not much else has changed. The chalkboards above the bistro benches, the mirrored bar and white tiles now list the names of the current burgers, and the mood of the guests is undoubtedly more relaxed than in the old restaurant days.
The menu at the new indoor "It's All About the Meat, Baby" is a mixture of the burgers on offer at the summer pop-up on the Danube Canal, the inexpensive bestsellers from the Dining Room (such as the very good fish and chips) and the excellent hot dogs that were developed for Brickmaker's.
I specifically didn't order a burger, firstly because I know they're great anyway, with 28-day aged meat from Irish Dexter and Hereford cattle, home-smoked cheddar and home-baked brioche buns, secondly out of spite, in solidarity with the Dining Room. Even though "Egg Mess and Twin Onions" or "Giorgio Moroder" burgers sounded very tempting, sometimes you just have to be tough. And take the "Mexican" hot dog, very big, very soft, with dark, smoked sausage, cheese sauce, caramelized onions and jalapeños. It was great, I have to say, even if some of the cheese sauce dripped into my shoe (€ 6.90). And then not a burger again, but the flat iron steak, a kind of shoulder steak, perfectly cooked, dark on the outside, tender and juicy on the inside, olive oil and herb-fresh chimichurri sauce and a perfectly marinated salad to go with it, simply very good (€ 12.90). Served with a couple of great beers on tap or from the bottle. To sum up: the Danube Canal burgers are now also available in winter, but Charlie P's fine dining concept has had to make way for them. It's All About the Meat, Baby 9th, Währinger Str. 3 Tel. 01/409 79 23 Mon-Fri 5pm-10pm, Sat, Sun 1pm-10pm

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