St. Patrick's Day For Grownups in Green

Mostly known as a dark, ancient, utterly authentic Irish bar of a kind rarely seen nowadays, Molly's also happens to serve a wonderful if atomic-sized hamburger. Two people can easily split it, as long as both have a good pint of stout each.

Years pass and the shows change, but this Irish bar and restaurant in the theater district still feels the same -- in a good way.

A meat-and-potatoes comfort food spot in deep Brooklyn, Buckley's isn't the kind of place you make a special trip to visit; it's the kind of place you go on a cold random weeknight. (Or wish you could.)

This otherwise unexceptional-looking Queens pub has one special claim on the attention of New Yorkers: its famously oversized hamburger. In fact, the burger isn't actually that great; like many similar Irish bar bombs, its size doesn't correspond to flavor or, really, anything. But to eat it, when hungry, in the kind of working-class Queens bar that Archie Bunker would have gone to -- that's a special treat, maybe even one worth the subway ride.

The best Irish music bar in New York, at least since Tommy Makem's went under years ago. Always a good time here, although sometimes it can get a bit raucous. Don't expect to hear "The Rose of Tralee" here.

If there's a better bar in the East Village in which to drink stout and catch your breath, I wish someone would tell me what it is. One of the most un-St. Patrick-y Irish bars you'll ever visit.

The stout flows and the food sits heavy on the stomachs of the drinkers who flock t this Irish pub for a taste of the "auld sod."

Something of a neighborhood secret, Stove serves a vaguely British inflected menu that is actually better than most of the comparable food you would find in London or Dublin.

Technically I suppose you would have to call this an Irish pub, but it's more of a Lower East Side Irish pub, a kind of self-aware spin on the concept; anyway, it's better than any regular Irish Pub would be, at least in the food and cocktail department.

The vibe here is Bloomsday light -- a quaint and curious take on urban Victoriana with a British lilt. The concept works better than you think it might, partially owing to a warm and sophisticated staff.

This small Irish pub is out of the way, and all the better for it; an older clientele can be found here than the usual booming bros of Murray Hill, and the bartenders pull a mean black-and-tan.