New Fall Menu Items!

We’ve kicked off some brand new fall menu items this week! 

Chef Scott has an appreciation for all things locally sourced and really sought opportunities to incorporate fresh, seasonal ingredients into the new fall dishes. Browsing the St. Paul Farmer’s Market is his favorite inspiration.  If you ever catch Chef Scott there, please stop and say hi. He’ll give you his business card (worth 25% off your next meal at Cork’s)!

New Fall Dishes Unveiled This Week

Bangers-n-Mac:

Penne pasta in a cream sauce with cheddar, monterey jack, smoked gouda and parmesan cheeses tossed with (locally produced) grilled lamb sausage.

Shepherds' Pie:

Classic country stew with seasonal vegetables, lamb, and beef in rich Jameson beef gravy.  Finished with piped yukon mashed potatoes and lightly gratineed.  

Sea Scallops with Corned Beef and Cabbage:

Pan-seared sea scallops on a bed of braised cabbage, scented with caraway and chunks of our slow-cooked corned beef, braised with just the right amount of Finnegan's Ale.

Irish Potato Pizza:

Thinly sliced fingerling potatoes on a white pie with mozzarella, cheddar, bacon and green onion

Stop in and try something new today!

Exciting Happenings for Fall!

As your neighborhood Irish bistro, Cork's is happy to announce several upcoming events for you to keep on your calendar this Fall. Make sure you follow Cork's on Facebook and Twitter to stay up-to-date on all the latest news and happenings!

1. New Menu
We roll out our new fall menu this week! Check our Facebook page for pictures and more information about the new items.

2. Live Music
Cork's is continuing our commitment to the local live music scene, in that we will be offering live music every Thursday. Our Fall line-up is already squared away, so please check our Facebook page regularly for updates on events and happenings.

2. Know your Cork's Contest
How well do you know the people behind Cork's? Each week we will be featuring a different staff member. We will post fun facts about the selected member on Facebook as well as tweet facts via Twitter. Guests are encouraged to start conversations with their servers, bartenders, and even hosts about the clues and try to figure out which staff member is being highlighted. The first person to post the correct staff member to our Facebook page wins a gift certificate!

3. I'm With Leprechaun - Begins October 1st!
Facebook fans are encouraged to post their best picture that includes themselves and a leprechaun of their choosing. Other fans are then asked to vote on their favorite picture. The picture with the most votes will be announced at the Cork's Halloween Bash and will win a big ole' gift certificate (in addition to infinite Cork's fame).

4. Trivia Mafia continues every Wednesday with our Love Your Bartender Special!
Each Wednesday, our resident bartender extraordinaire, Savannah, rolls out one of her fabulous favorite concoctions at a great price for that evening. Then, Trivia Mafia shows up at 8 to get the party started! Cork's throws in gift certificates for the first and second place trivia winners each week!

We can't wait to see you this fall! Stop in and say hello, or feel free to throw some Facebook salutations on our wall!

  Follow Cork's on Twitter

 Follow Cork's on Facebook

Slainte!

Concrete and Grass Music Fest

Calling all Twin Cities music fans! Support local sounds with the Concrete and Grass Music Festival. Running through today at Mears Park, the festival celebrates the opening of performance season and features a variety of music types.

Headliners included Dessa, Communist Daughter, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and more!

Today's Line-Up for the rest of the afternoon:

Saturday Sept 11th

Main Stage:

4:00 SPCO 
6:30 Communist Daughter
8:30 Suicide Commandos 

Acoustic Stage

5:00 Moses Oakland 
7:30 Young Relics 

Come on out! It's a beautiful day to enjoy an outdoor music festival!

MORE INFO

A picture's worth a thousand bites!

Megan Conniff expounded on the shift in food photography from being more heavily styled to being more realistic in her blog post from today, Picturing the Perfect Meal. (http://smartblogs.com/restaurants/2010/09/03/picturing-the-perfect-meal-trends-in-food-marketing/)

Conniff indicated that many restaurants (and food photographers) were subsequently moving to a "what you see is what you get" mentality when it came to representing their dishes. This goes directly along the lines of stimulating clients' palettes before they even sit down at your restaurant by enticing their appetites with good visual images of your product. 

Not only is this a good way to get guests in the door, but it also goes a long way in pushing for repeat business when showing guests all of the different (and delicious!) options available to them. Remember, even though the trend is to more realistic images, you still need to take (or have taken) quality, styled photographs of the dishes you would like to feature. (This fully assumes that your chef is already handling plating with some semblance of artistry). 

One necessary place for good product images remains your restaurant's website. Use mainstay (this is what we're famous for) dishes and incorporate these images on your website. Another great option is to include product images when you convey messages via social media. 

Facebook is a fantastic example, in that you are able to email pictures of your daily specials directly to your Facebook account. For our picture of our Chicken Cordon Blue pasta special, we simply added the caption in the Subject field and emailed the picture to our special Facebook upload address. 

 http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/photo.php?pid=7086982&fbid=471136385258&id=273930965258

Twitpic is another great tool, in that you are able to share your pictures via Twitter in real time. 

Honestly, with all of the great buzz about social media, having a presence and getting your guests hungry is worth the time and expense related to obtaining some quality food photographs for your restaurant.