Dressel’s

Dressel’s is a classy Welsh pub, located at 419 N. Euclid in the Central West End, for the sophisticated tavern-goer. While not Irish in origin like the other pubs featured in this week’s Arts and Entertainment section, this St. Louis favorite could not be left out.

The walls inside Dressel’s are filled to capacity with only the most scholarly framed portraits and posters. A giant black ink-on-white-paper portrait of Ernest Hemingway typically catches the eye first; other portraits including the likes of William Faulkner and F. Scott Fitzgerald, as well as posters for operas such as Madame Butterfly, cover the walls. Between these walls is a long, oval-shaped bar-the top of which displays Grecian busts and musical instruments-encircled by tall, inviting bar-stool-chairs.

The Dressel’s menu is extensive and offers a variety of items that are not on most traditional tavern menus. I recommend the Shepherd’s pie and the grilled ham-and-cheese on rye. Another must-try is the scrumptious loaded Bavarian chips appetizer. Even the salads at Dressel’s have a special charm to them; there is something about the house dressing that makes the mixed greens with onions perfectly delectable.

If you make it to Dressel’s on a Wednesday night, you may be lucky enough to enjoy the Dressel’s experience with the addition of live jazz or a small folk band. Just up the wooden staircase in the side of the tavern is a cigar lounge that seems to be teeming every time I dine there.

Make sure you take a trip to the bathrooms on your visit, for more walls covered with darling pictures and posters; no detail is spared at this unique Welsh ornament of a pub.

O’Connell’s

Home of the best burger in town, according to the Riverfront Times and many native St. Louisians, O’Connell’s Pub stands as an emblem of great food and 39 years of history-a legend in its own time.

The old Irish restaurant atmosphere is instantly captivating upon entry at O’Connell’s. Woodwork and specialty glass windows were moved from the original O’Connell’s location in Gaslight Square, as well as two trademark Belgian chandeliers made of bell bronze (from an exhibit in the 1904 World’s Fair), which hang above the bar.

Rest assured, however, that aesthetic pleasure is not all O’Connell’s pub has to offer-a short but hearty menu also offers much satisfaction. The nine-ounce burger is a great choice. It is grilled to such a bloody perfection that no dressing of any sort is necessary. The juices of ancient Irish tradition and flavor are known to trickle out of these filling hamburgers with each glorious bite. True satisfaction in this town is finishing O’Connell’s hamburger along with a big frothy beer; there is nothing like it.

Other non-prize-winning-but-still-delicious menu items include the roast beef and the Coney Island, a gourmet chili-cheese dog. The Friday special, fish and chips, is also a popular choice due to the incorporation of O’Connell’s specially-made house dressing, “Mayfair.”

Whether you dine in the tall booths or intimate little wooden tables, O’Connell’s Pub-located at the corner of Kingshighway and Shaw-is the perfect place to drink some ale and enjoy a great dinner with friends. If you’re lucky, you’ll get the cordial waitress with long silver hair and a lilting Irish accent.

Seamus McDaniel’s

Irish taverns are common all over St. Louis, and while they all may be magnificent in their our rights, Seamus McDaniel’s is a Irish sports tavern in the traditionally Irish part of town. Located at 1208 Tamm Avenue in Dogtown, the part of St. Louis where Irish, Welsh and German immigrants originally settled, this tavern provides typical pub offerings, but with a memorable Irish flair.

If a smoky, noisy pub is where you want to gather with a group to watch a game and sip a snifter or chow down exactly what is expected from good ole sports bars, Seamus McDaniel’s is your place. A long, dark wooden bar opposite a mirror greets incomers with Irish spirits, such as Guinness and Harp, on tap.

An ambiance of intimacy and quaint tradition is achieved by the dim lighting and wall decorations and antiques, displaying pictures of Old Ireland and St. Louis, immigration certificates and flags. Several suspended televisions often show more than a few sports games, while an onlooking Golden Tee arcade game lurks in a corner of the room.

As far as the food is concerned, you can get any sort of conventional variation of wonderful greasy bar-food you could want: A host of cheeseburger varieties, fries, mozzarella sticks, sublime mushrooms and onion rings are a few of them. Soups and salads are good alternatives to the grease, too, if you are too lame to enjoy the Irish sports pub in its entirety.

A culmination of tradition, sports, delicious sports-watching, sizably portioned food and masculinity in general, Seamus McDaniel’s is essentially a congenial Thursday night just waiting to happen.