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GASTRO WORDS Conor Stevens Allta, photo: Killian
Broderick Double Take Caribou Allta Bar So another month, another DoubleTake™. I figured I had this one lined up just so – a side-by-side look at two tarted-up taprooms that now serve food worth eating, to a crowd who’ve just discovered stout. This s**t writes itself I thought! And then just like that I decided that I didn’t feel like writing about one of them, for no reason at all. Maybe I’ll get back to it but in the meantime I’ll simply retcon the relevance of the other place in and nobody will notice. You’ll have noticed that a lot of young folks like to gather in and around Stephen Street (and environs) at the weekends, it’s quite the scene. At one end you have the febrile line outside the place that gives pizza away to needy young people (they don’t actually give it away, it just seems like that and needy doesn’t mean what it used to) and at the other you have Caribou. In its former incarnation as P-Macs it seemed to attract some of the most enthusiastic weekenders in town and that’s just fine – youths get wasted while they’re young as the saying goes. I used to haunt these very corners with a similar bent when The Hairy Lemon was The William Tell and Bartley’s was still standing and shit was real. Whatever. The owners have classed the joint up and Caribou now seems intended to appeal to a slightly calmer (and perhaps more aspirational) cohort. The place is part of a stable of successful spots including Kodiak in Rathmines and Bonobo in Smithfield among others. They are in the business of knowing their audience(s). On a dismal Tuesday afternoon it’s a pleasant place to be. It’s airy and lots of light would come through those picture windows if there was any. It’s quite a nicely appointed space really. The panelling around the banquettes works and those booths look like they could be difficult to (want to) get out of. If feels like a place where young adults who live with their parents can try mid-century furniture on for size. Like those websites where one can ‘virtually’ try sunglasses on, you could ‘vibe’ to the feeling of being somewhat tastefully houseproud. I guess when you can’t get a mortgage of your own you might as well go somewhere fun and help the owners with theirs. The menu is aiming for broad appeal and that’s ”We are here however for one dish in particular – the Steak Frites” photo: Killian Broderick 28