Irish Dip at Union in Anacortes

Sitting at one of the tables in the middle of Union in downtown Anacortes.  I hadn't seen Josh for years so it was fun.  Great to catch up with that guy.

Yeah, it's a bit of a dog and pony show but I pretty much have to get the French dip if it's on the menu and I haven't had it before.  I was obliged!!!!!!  Had never heard of an Irish Dip, I don't believe, so creativity points for that.  Cheese and mayo on a French dip is just a waste of time and energy.  These toppings are for "chefs" who don't realize that butter, toasting, great bread and jus are the truly essential components of doing it right.  They must have missed the memo.  Lo, I ordered it. 

So here it is.  Nice looking salad, I had three beers so my food was hardly my focus at this point.  They slighted me on the jus as well, so that was incredibly sad.  The sandwich looks a little flat and greasy.  Radishes on the salad always help it seem a bit fresher.

Meek jus.

A second serving of meek jus.  I took poor notes on this sandwich so you'll have to bare with me on my recollection. Overall good not great.  3 or 4, definitely not 5.

Here's the sandwich.  Looks pretty sad, I suppose.  And a bit greasy, and a bit "flat", as I earlier expressed.

Setting the Stage

So I'm living back in the Anacortes area after "just" 20 years away.  My good buddy Schaffer agreed to meet up with me for drinks.  I was excited.  I'd been to Union a time or two before but never for food.  Josh and I had a couple of beers and ordered food; it was dinner time.  I had to go with the dip because it's expected of me in some scenarios.

Review

• French Dip
• Sandwich. 3. Was decent, salty and tasty as a standalone unit. A bit greasy and "flat" like a car may have run over it.
• Jus. 2.  They gave you hardly any jus, which is always disappointing knowing that demand is much greater than supply.  Just bad economics.  I was given a second half-full cup of jus.  I got by but this is worth the complaint.
• Meat. 4.  Fun to have corned beef and of course that's tasty and salty, let's not lie.
• Non-Meat Toppings. 3.  Don't need the rest of the stuff but that was part of their concept: aioli and cheese.  Rich.  Probably too rich and didn't make the jus mean any more to me than it could have.
• Overall. 4.  Giving this a somewhat high score because of the creativity and uniqueness.  Shame for the mayo and cheese combo; that's just overkill....but again, that was part of their concept....
• Salad - Didn't eat it but could have been fine.
• Radishes. 5.  Nice touch.

Conclusions

Was a nice visit to Union and fun to reunite with Josh.  We ran into my friend Shawna while down there and ended up running into her and partying together with her and Jimmy at the Brown Lantern later.  Dean Rowell, Mike Hartley and their ladies showed up later that night.  A large bag of Cheetos and some Bud Light was involved later that evening.  Whew.  Back in A Town!