The Auld Dubliner

Located directly across from the Long Beach Convention Center in an impossibly corporate-looking site near a bunch of chain stores, the Auld Dubliner grows on you once you make your way past the gaggle of guys in shirts and ties smoking on the doorstep. It's an upscale pub, with branches in Squaw Valley, Lake Las Vegas and Tucson, but it's not too slick; it feels lived in and comfortable. There's a fine lineup of draft beers, including Guinness, Harp, Newcastle, Smithwick's, Boddingtons and Bass, and the food's terrific. A specialty of the house is the Irish dish boxty — elsewhere that's an awkward potato pancake folded over messy fillings, but here it's a graceful crepe-like dish with simple, tasty fillings. Chips (fries) are dusted with curry powder; there's a full menu of salads and sandwiches and the like. The desserts, including Irish whiskey brûlée, are wonderfully well executed.