McMenemy's Irish pub

McMenemy’s Irish Restaurant & Pub in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, by Nathalie Strassheim

Portsmouth, N.H.—After wind and rain scuttled plans to see Portsmouth on foot and from a harbor cruise deck, I settled into McMenemy’s Irish Restaurant & Pub ready for something independent of the weather. Now, my son back at home had noted that mommy wasn’t going to like eating on the seacoast because I don’t like seafood. But he forgot that I enjoy one form very much: fish and chips. McMenemy’s didn’t disappoint, serving up a fine pyramid of lightly batter-fried haddock and nigh-homemade fried potatoes. The secret, says owner Traci Shaake, is the haddock fresh daily off the boat. (The other secret is her mother’s recipe for slicing the potatoes a little thicker and the long way.) (The Hurricane Hut in Bayfield, Wisc., employs much the same fresh-fish methodology, albeit with Lake Superior whitefish instead of Atlantic haddock.) Anyway, the pub’s warm, homey atmosphere was just the antidote to my afternoon dampening.— Nathalie Strassheim