Riordan's Tavern, 8/5/07
If there's one thing downtown needs, it's another clubby steakhouse/homage to good old-fashioned American grub, right? Well, that's what ex-mayor Richard Riordan thinks. Adjacent to his Original Pantry, Riordan's Tavern looks like it's been there forever---brick walls, dark woods, pressed-tin ceiling---except it's all so shiny and unused. Then again, it only opened about two weeks ago. The room isn't huge, a smattering of booths and tables on one side, a bar and high-top tables on the other, lots of flat-screens to keep you busy. The menu is short and sweet, nothing to keep you guessing: shrimp cocktail, crab cakes, spinach salad, broiled steaks, lobstah. From the official PR verbage: "We wanted to create a welcoming and warm atmosphere, a place suitable for everyone from the businessman to the late night locals,” says Riordan. “And I wanted it to feel like you’d stepped back a page in time.”
