In the space of former Kinsale, an adventurous new chef in town announces new Irish menu

In some cities, especially ones that aren’t Boston or Dublin, Irish cuisine is an afterthought, if it exists in any meaningful form at all. Not that there’s anything wrong with American pub fare, but regulars at spots like the Banshee in Dorchester or Emmets on Beacon Hill expect more, or at least some badass fish and chips along with shepherds pie which won’t cool down until to eat until you have sipped two properly poured pints of Guinness.

These days, we’re fortunate to have innumerable creative chefs flipping Irish traditions inside out, and in that vein we’re sure that the Dubliner, “an authentic Irish restaurant featuring Executive Chef /Owner Aidan Mc Gee” that is slated to open in April at 2 Center Plaza in Government Center, will be right at home. Promising to fill the former Kinsale Irish Pub & Restaurant with new treats like curried mussels, Maine crabs on Irish soda bread with seaweed butter, and slow-cooked beef cheeks, it’s stacking like the kind of place we can park at for several hours.

Here’s the word straight from Mc Gee and his Hub partners in this venture from East Coast Tavern Group, also proprietor of bars and restaurants including Carrie Nation, Emmets, and Scholars: 

The Dubliner’s Executive Chef/Partner Aidan Mc Gee has worked at multiple Michelin-starred restaurants including the renowned Dinner by Heston Blumenthal and Foliage at the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, London, and Launceston Place in Kensington. In 2016, Tatler Magazine named him “Up and Coming Chef of the Year” for Truscott Arms, his critically acclaimed reinvention of London pub dining. Most recently Aidan was the Executive Chef at the Corrigan Collection, a group of four restaurants in the UK and Ireland (including critically acclaimed Corrigan’s Mayfair) headed up by Irish celebrity, one Michelin star chef Richard Corrigan

Born in County Donegal where his chef father raised hill mountain lamb, Mc Gee is firmly front and center in the dynamic, new culinary movement that’s made Ireland one of the hottest dining destinations in the world. “I’m very excited to share my food with my new adopted city,” Mc Gee says. “There’s no need to pay for airfare to sample the new Irish cooking when you can stop by The Dubliner.”

We’ll see you there on a Sunday, when the Dubliner will be serving up a weekly Sunday roast, “a tradition much beloved across the pond.”