Donnelly's, Peoria

Lots of talk about this place on the blogosphere in the past few days. Why? Because anyone who's anyone was there at the Blogger Bash. We enjoyed a nice evening of conversation, sometimes four or five at one time. It was a pleasure to meet some of you folks, and I am looking forward to the next Bash!! I was saddened when it was time for me to leave, and then I had to take the ever-bubbly Katie away from the party far too soon. It will be nice to get back to Peoria after my stint out here in Macomb. I like living here, but would rather be back among all my friends and fambly. But the new friends I made last night are just a keystroke away anyhoo!!!

So anyhoo, about Donnelly's. Little Irishy place over off Glen, kind of across from the Lariat Club. It's a dark little pub-like atmosphere with lots of wood walls. It's a bar, so it's smoky, but if you want to eat in a bar, you already know that you're going to have to deal with the smoke. So deal with it!!

Our waitress sure seemed on top of things, ready for refills and always checking up on us. There was a bit of an ordeal with silverware, but it was solved rather quickly. I had the catfish, which was just dandy. I'm used to the southern style of catfish frying, which is usually a cornmeal batter, but this wasn't like that. No matter-it was very tasty, and absolutely huge!! But the star of my dinner was the dill tartar sauce. Wow!! It's DILL-icious!! Hooooo-weeee!! Fries were okay, but they were better dipped in DILL!!!!

Katie had mini-tacos. Hard to screw them up. Dump 'em out of the bag and fry 'em. They did go the extra mile and sprinkle some cheddar cheese on it.

Looking around the table, I heard a bit about an overcooked ribeye steak sandwich, and saw a yummy looking chicken breast sandwich dipped in buffalo sauce (the chicken, not the whole sandwich). Chef Kevin had a "Waterford Chicken" sandwich and onion rings. He had no complaints about it-said it was his fallback meal when he went there.

One more comment-I'm not sure if Donnelly's is the kind of place that makes their own salad dressing, but their balsamic vinaigrette was (searching for another adjective besides tasty....) tasty!!!

Donnelly's-it's bar food that is well worth a visit!!! Donnelly's makes the HIT List!!

And again, to all who showed up for the party, it was a pleasure, and I look forward to future meetings!