70 years of tradition

January 09, 2011

Cozying into a booth over a plate of good, honest mashed potatoes and turkey tips on a wintry day at Cronin’s Publick House makes life feel simpler and slower than it does in the wired world outside.

Located up a side street from Quincy’s once-mighty Fore River Shipyard, Cronin’s has been open since 1938.

In those 70-plus years, the pub has had six owners, six names, and has plied generations of locals with food, drink, and refuge.

Owner Margaret Cronin has been at the helm now going on 21 years, and has covered the walls with photos — many of Boston sports greats — and murals of the Irish countryside. The nice, dark cave of a place was brightened on both my recent visits by the lovely vibe of Peggy Cronin, Margaret’s daughter, who has worked at the pub for the 20 years it’s been in her family, and two prior to that, when it was “owned by a family friend.’’

The simple menu is augmented by a few daily specials. And while Cronin’s isn’t trying to do anything high-end, what it does it does well.

I tried four of the pub’s homemade soups — two specials and two standard menu items. While I didn’t like the taste of the clam chowder, I found the other three perfectly satisfying. The special Italian wedding soup (which led with a parmesan flavor); the Cajun chicken (okra in an Irish pub); and the spicy sausage (packed with good greens) were each hearty with veggies, rich broths, and tasty meats. At $2.25 a cup, with a roll, you can’t beat them.

The fried clams with bellies in the (big) fried clam roll special ($10) were better than I’ve had in many a New England seaside shack, which is to say very good. The homemade coleslaw was tasty, too — not that sweet stuff you find many places. Only the tartar sauce could have been better — but then I would have eaten all the clams, and where would that have left me?

Instead, we moved on to main courses: the pub’s popular steak tips ($12) and turkey tips ($12), which both came with iceberg salads, terrific mashed potatoes (somehow light but not with too much cream or butter), and veggie of the day — canned corn. The turkey tips were plentiful, flavorful, moist, and filling: I’d have them again. And the steak tips were good, too, cooked to order with care, and tasty, but tough the way steak tips can be.

For a buck more, absolutely go for the 14-ounce New York sirloin strip ($13), which comes with the same sides and is terrific enough not to embarrass the best downtown steak house.

Also well above average was the pub’s baked scrod ($11) — its light butter and wine sauce hinting of loftier venues.