Erin Go Blaaargh

UPDATE:  Sure, you can read my blather below if you want.  But for a TRULY exceptional read (especially if you, like me, are a child of the 70's), check out this listing of one guy's favorite 70's one-hit wonders.)

We actually managed to sneak out for a little date-night on Saturday.  We decided to go see a movie over at the new South Side cinema, which is pretty groovy.  (We saw "The Incredibles," which should be called "The Pretty Goods, But Not Quite As Good As Pixar's Other Stuff -- Story-Wise, Anyway, Although The Computer Animation Has Advanced To The Point That Large Portions Of It Don't Even Look Like Animation Anymore.")

We decided to join the rest of the lemmings at Pittsburgh's new Cheesecake Factory (slogan:  "mediocre chain food that's not really any different from what you'd find at a Applebee's, but more expensive and with a slice of cheesecake at the end"), but upon learning that there was a two-hour wait, we hoofed it across the street to Claddaugh, the "authentic" Irish Pub (if authentic Irish pubs were huge, corporate-run chain outlets that serve buffalo wings and try to pass it off as "erin-go-bragh" sauce.)

And actually, for all its faux-Irish-prefabbery, Claddaugh was pretty good.  They had some decent beers, which I enjoyed. 

The three women across the aisle from us were enjoying a girl's night out, gossiping and cackling about work and hitting on the waiter and his manager.  The manager-guy was coming by frequently, so the ladies appeared to be having some success -- at least up until the point where he tried to get them to put down their Coors Lights and try an Irish brew.

One of the shrieking harpies piped up...

"Is there an Irish beer that's, like, similar to Coors Light?"

At this point the manager just pretty much shook his head and walked away.

Meanwhile, Julie and I started a game -- and we invite you to join in.

• Excuse me -- do you have a French wine that's, like, similar to Boone's Farm?
• Excuse me -- do you have a Russian caviar that's, like, similar to Little Friskies?
• Excuse me -- do you have any Swiss chocolates that are, like, similar to the Clark bar?

Any more?

Comments

[Ding]

(Actually, this is Bob -- Dingie chose to email me the following instead of posting here, but I liked it and wanted to post it...)

Excuse me, do you have any imported cheeses that are similar to like Cheese Whiz?

[Snooty Girl]

Excuse me, do you have any pate that is similar to potted meat/Spam product?

[Anne]

Oh, darlin'. Lovely game.

Do you have any Vermont maple syrup that's similar to Log Cabin?

[Wife O' Bob]

I think we should be honest to your readers and tell them what we thought the manager's answer should have been to the shrieking harpie:
"Why yes, yes I do...it's called pee."

However, I suspect that maybe he thought he might get a little action from the harpies later that evening so he kept his disgust to himself.