Brickell Irish Pub

Back in the day, there was always that kid with the sweet rec room, decked out with pinball machines, a huge TV, every video game system, and parents divorced enough to not notice you didn't use any of those things, and just drank their schnapps. Giving you a grander version of that booze-flooded rec space, Brickell Irish Pub, just opened.

After July delays, BIP's finally flung open its black wooden doors to reveal a bionic version of an old Dublin joint boasting endless entertainment options, with dark woodwork, high ceilings, a balcony rimmed with whiskey barrels, a main room with Celtic-pattern-inlayed walls, a big central table fit for a mead hall, and a stage area for live bands, plus a pool table, foosball tables, dart boards, 16 flat screens, a 13ft projection screen, and even a little wall of books, where your deepest thought will be, "To pee or not to pee". For entertainment, all those TVs'll show stuff like European, Latin American, and MLS soccer, Six Nation rugby tournaments, full NFL, NBA, MLB packages, and MMA/boxing PPV fights; augmenting your sports vegetation'll be nightly events like Mon pool, foos, and dart tourneys, Tues poker, Wed karaoke with a live band, plus live music on weekends, as well as resident DJ Buddha Gonzalez, Speedy's serene yet slow-moving cousin. Drinks swing international, with cocktails like the Irish Hooker (Bushmills, Kahlua, Frangelico, Baileys), plus plenty of Scotches and hard-to-find Irish whiskeys like Jameson Gold Vintage, Bushmills 21, and Feckin; for suds, there're taps including the requisite Guinness, plus Murphy's Red and Smithwick's, bottles like Argentina's Quilmes, Ireland's Magners Apple Cider, and England's Boddingtons, plus beer cocktails like Moleca Stout (Moleca Cachaca, Guinness, mint, lime, sugar) and the Red Eye, with lager, tomato juice, Worcestershire, and Tabasco -- spicy enough to inflame all three of your eyes.

To keep you fueled, BIP's also plating lunch and dinner, with classics like Irish stew and shepherd's pie, plus more innovative stuff like hickory-smoked fish dip w/ Tabasco, dill, and tortilla chips; a lamb burger stuffed w/ feta and served with pickled cabbage relish; and PEI mussels cooked w/ pork sausage & onion and steamed in Guinness broth, called Drunken Mussels -- a familiar name, given that your buddy's divorced dad was named David Hasselhoff.