Ginned Up

But here's one menu entrant that didn't give pause: spin-art dip. It sounds like an installation at a museum, and the mechanics of the thing are nearly as interesting. It's a collection of blue, blond and red tortilla chips, pita chips, carrots and celery stalks huddled around a ramekin of spinach-garlic-artichoke cheese dip. The dip is smooth, rich and gooey, though the rainbow chip coalition shattered when dipped into the thick of it. Better to use the carrots. Very Irish.

We ordered the BlackFinn burger, a patty of Black Angus beef under a "pile of pulled BBQ pork, peppered bacon, melted cheddar and caramelized onions." They brought us the Black Angus saloon burger instead. We sent it back. After a long wait, the BlackFinn arrived cold and overcooked.

Yet the portobello mushroom sandwich, a marinated and lightly grilled cap with roasted peppers, mozzarella cheese and Roma tomatoes served on a warm focaccia roll and drizzled with balsamic (balsamica?) was fine. BlackFinn has sliders too. Not corned beef and cabbage, but chicken Parmesan sliders, chicken BLT, BBQ bacon and pulled pork sliders. We opted for classic sliders: Four tiny squared-off cold and dry beef burgers topped with hardened melted American cheese and grilled onions. They surround a ramekin of jus for dipping.

Chocolate cake is layer upon layer of Guinness-dark chocolate drowning in chocolate sauce. There are cake layers and a chocolate mousse layer on a chocolate cookie crust base with craggy chocolate edges—not bad really.

Which brings us back to gin. Gin was developed back in the 17th century by the physician Franciscus Sylvius, a professor of medicine at the University of Leiden, Holland. He distilled the juniper berry with spirits to produce not a painkiller but an inexpensive diuretic. Hence, it was created not to numb you, but to make you pee—the perfect saloon lubricant. 4440 Belt Line Road, Addison, 469-374-7667. Open 11 a.m.-2 a.m. daily. $$-$$$