New tastes debut at Raglan Road's Great Irish Hooley

There’s lots of roots revival music on tap along with the Guinness this weekend as the Great Irish Hooley stomps into Raglan Road Irish Pub & Restaurant for its 11th run at Disney Springs. Running Sept. 1-4, guests can pair some top eats — including all-new dishes and drinks — with the top Irish bands, whose music will run the gamut from Celt grass to blues to traditional folk.

“A hooley is an Irish construct for an impromptu party,” says Rachael Conroy, Raglan Road general manager, “so there’s never a better time to introduce exciting new additions to our menu than when we’re partying together.”

Best Irish: Orlando Sentinel Foodie Awards 2023

In fact, menu debuts this year will extend to the offerings at the fast-casual Cooke’s of Dublin, as well. This includes the Bang Bang’s Loaded, which proved so popular as a new app on the Raglan menu earlier this year that they’ve turned it into a basket featuring buttermilk fried chicken with spicy mayo and loaded chips on the quick-service side.

Pork is always a pleaser here, along with a staff that loves to please. In fact, following a rash of disappointment from guests who lamented the loss of the popular (and porky!) Dalkey Duo, the plate featuring Dalkey mustard beer-battered Cheshire Heritage pork sausages, is back on the menu in time for the Hooley — and with an all-new buffalo apple sauce. But there’s a whole new version to be tried at Cooke’s: the Dalkey Dog.

“This dish features our famous beer-battered Irish pork sausage on a roll, with Dalkey Irish mustard mayonnaise, buffalo apple sauce and pickles and is served with crunchy fried onions and Irish chips — which are fries to you!” says Conroy. “It’s also named for Dalkey, a posh village in South Dublin very near to where (U2’s) Bono lives.”

The new Cider House Belly dish features cider-glazed White Marble Farm pork, which is deep-fried and served with pickled red cabbage slaw, butternut squash and maple puree.

“We have a gorgeous new salad,” Conroy notes. “It’s got crispy fried goat cheese with pickled carrot squash and arugula salad with pear and shallot relish, blackberries, candy pecans and quinoa crunch.”

And what about refreshments? Time to book your flight. The new Keeper’s Heart Irish Whiskey Flight is an Irish-American collaboration featuring aged whiskey from both nations.

“The Hooley falls at the beginning of the traditional harvest time in Ireland, a time when new ingredients come to the table,” says Conroy, connecting some dots of significance. “It’s also a nice time to say goodbye to the summer with a party and hello to the fall with some new dishes.”

Sláinte!

If you go: Reservations are recommended. Call 407-938-0300 or visit raglanroad.com.

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