The South End News
honors J.J. Foley’s Café

September 12, 2009

The Boston PhoenixSeptember 9, 2009

Where everybody knows its name

J.J. Foley's Celebrates its 100th

By CHRIS FARAONE |

In describing the changes that have shaped the South End since Jeremiah J. Foley poured his first glass of whiskey there one century ago this month, one need not look far for metaphors. The space above J.J. Foley's bar — formerly known as Faye Hall, an old union hangout where Boston police famously voted to go on strike in 1919 — is now a yoga studio.

Aside from urine-stained sidewalks near the Pine Street Inn, the neighborhood outside today's Foley's hardly resembles the toxic boondocks that it was as recently as 30 years ago. For one, until the mid 1970s, East Berkeley Street was called Dover Street, and — get ready to be jealous, South End expats — there was an Orange Line T stop on the corner of Washington Street.

Third-and-fourth-generation owner-barkeeps Jerry Foley and his son, Mike, are faithfully nostalgic. Among their favorite family memories: esteemed visitors like Ted Williams and bare-knuckle boxing champ John L. Sullivan; frequent patronage of such legendary pols as James Michael Curley and Ray Flynn; Prohibition years when the bar fronted as a shoe store; obscenely drunken behavior of Herald employees and nearly every thirsty reporter in town.

Rich history aside, though, the Foleys are amazingly enthusiastic about embracing change. (If that sounds like an Obama-ism, chances are Barack got it from them; in 2004, the then–Democratic Senate nominee crashed a DNC party at Foley's.) In 2007, they opened an abutting pub café — before then, the only food available was cold clandestine ham and corned-beef sandwiches, made upon request for regulars. "It's a sign of the times," says Jerry. "The day of the bar just for drinking is over."

While Foley's cuisine no longer requires mustard packets — and its surrounding South End pocket has evolved from no-man's land to bourgeois wonderland — little has changed inside the bar. Like those before them, the Foleys and their employees (all of whom are unionized) keep a strict uniform — starched white dress shirts, neckties tucked near the belly, not a hair overgrown or out of place. They've kept that code since the bar's Dover Street door opened onto skid row. You might even say they fit in better now than ever before.

"We always used to joke that it was a neighborhood bar without a neighborhood," says Mike. "Now it's a neighborhood bar with a neighborhood. Some of the old customers probably wouldn't believe it — there are people who come in here to eat with their children twice a week."

Neighborhood Bar Most Needed by its Neighborhood: J.J. Foley’s Café
Opened in 1909 and run by its eponymous founder’s grandson and great-grandson, J.J. Foley’s (117 E. Berkeley Street, Boston, 617.728.9101) is the South End’s last authentic tavern. It still welcomes off-duty cops, reporters, and factory workers to its well-worn rail, but it began attracting new regulars last year when it converted a disused back room into a restaurant serving modestly priced Irish and American pub fare. Next to the delicate, expensive hothouse flowers that comprise the South End’s restaurant scene, Foley’s stands as a hoary old oak. Locals desperate for beers, burgers, and exurbanite-free bonhomie are exceedingly grateful.

The South End's great old watering holes are vanishing: Tim's Tavern was supplanted by the sleek new Coda; the DEA shuttered the Waltham Tavern. Aside from live-jazz haunt Wally's and gay dive Boston Eagle, all that's left standing is J.J. Foley's, a family-run saloon that has been in business since 1909, including a Prohibition-era stint as a suspiciously popular shoe store. Its rail has long been a favored gathering place for off-duty cops, newspapermen and Gillette workers to swap stories and toss back shots and beers. (Cocktail glasses mostly gather dust here.) Even the barmen are old-school: cordial but not too gabby, with neatly knotted neckties and crisp white shirts and aprons. For locals like me, it's a godsend: a no-frills, casual neighborhood hangout with cheap pints, no suits and space on the floor for my big, smelly dog.

I've often wished I could get a sandwich or pickled egg here to go with my brew and BoSox. So I hooted with joy upon learning that Foley's was repurposing its seldom-used private room as a restaurant, leasing a gleaming new kitchen to Katie Grealish, of Costello's Tavern in Jamaica Plain. While there probably aren't any James Beard awards in this kitchen's future, the food is everything a South Ender sick of trendy eateries could want: well-executed, rib-sticking fare in generous portions, attractively priced for regular weeknight visits.

The fourth-generation owners began sprucing up this well-worn local institution a few years ago. The result is clean and retro, befitting a century-old establishment: pressed tin ceilings, dark wood, exposed brick, stone tile. The dining room's bar seats are comfy, the TV placed high where the whole room can see it. Widely spaced tables and banquettes fill the rest of the space. The menu is a "greatest hits of bar food" (wings, nachos, potato skins) with some British Isles pub classics. Mussels and garlic fries ($9) are representative: two dozen mussels topped with very good skin-on fries (ubiquitous here) and a ladleful of aioli, enough for four to share. The mussels' simple broth improves once the garlicky mayo drips its way in. Curry chips ($6) are a heap of fries splashed with brown English-style curry gravy -- you'll need help to finish them before they get soggy. Crab and shrimp cakes ($8) are floppy, mostly filler-free pucks, tasty despite muted crustacean flavor. A special of "stuffies" ($6), quahogs with their meat chopped and mixed with chorizo and bread crumbs, are likewise delicious without much clam flavor shining through. A Caesar and a house garden salad (both $6) are ample, fresh and not overdressed.

Sandwiches impress with size and quality, like a sub-sized BLT ($7) on a good baguette with fries and pickle slices. The classic burger ($8) and turkey burger ($9) are both excellent, each a half-pounder with a nice char, properly cooked to order, and served on a sturdy egg-brushed roll with fries. I expect the pizza to be a frozen-crust, pan-baked, Greek-style mediocrity, but Foley's surprises with an 8-inch-wide oval with a very thin, barely crisp, almost bubble-free crust sliced into squares. The house pizza ($7) starts with two cheeses, then drizzles on very fine pesto and sweetish red sauce. The crust's lightness makes this pie a nicely shareable appetizer for two, though I eagerly destroy one myself. The steak-and-onion pizza ($9) is less successful: cheeses, mashed potatoes and caramelized onions (sans marinara) are undercut by insipid, frozen-tasting shaved steak.

Entrées do Foley's Irish heritage proud: The enormous shepherd's pie ($14) has a beautiful layer of coarsely minced beef and lamb topped with mashed potatoes. With what must be a quarter-pound of added butter, it's so rich that I can forgive frozen instead of fresh corn and peas. Steak tips ($14) are another winner, five large pieces of flap steak barely tenderized by a sweet Long Island-style marinade, grilled to order and flanked with mashed potatoes and terrific grilled zucchini rounds. Their fish and chips ($12) is also superb: two or three giant haddock fillets in thick beer batter, fried crisp (almost to the point of scorching) with little residual grease, plus tartar sauce, lemon wedges and malt vinegar for seasoning.

The dozen draft beers run to the usual Irish suspects (properly pulled Guinness, Harp, Smithwick's), locals (Harpoon Summer Beer and IPA), Americans (Long Trail Ale, Blue Moon, Pabst) and continentals (Pilsner Urquell, Stella Artois) at a wallet-friendly $4 per pint. Another dozen bottles are available. Wine drinkers can choose from eight economical New World entries ($22-$24/bottle, $6-$7/glass), like the 2005 Concannon Cabernet Sauvignon from California (soft and quaffable) and Washington State's 2005 Covey Run Riesling -- a lovely little food wine, with good acidity to balance its grapefruit-scented sweetness.

Our servers are sweet, friendly and efficient; making sure our next drinks hit the table as we're draining the last ones. Despite having decimated rafts of hearty fare, we squeeze in one dessert, a rich creamy, pudding-like chocolate torte ($6) with a wafer-thin brownie-like crust and a sprinkle of raspberries. For a digestif, we head over to the saloon side for darts, videogames and Jameson Irish whiskeys ($6). We've been fed and watered like Irish royalty, yet our check barely nudges $25 a head. I ruefully recall spending twice that recently on a decidedly middling dinner at a new hipster joint just blocks away. With many South End eateries overpromising and underdelivering, I expect Foley's will draw crowds of neighbors who've been longing for just this kind of restaurant: one that doesn't aim high but always manages to hit its modest target.

J.J. FOLEY'S CAFÉ

117 E. BERKELEY ST., SOUTH END, BOSTON

617.728.9101 JJFOLEYSCAFE.COM

LUNCH & DINNER DAILY / SUNDAY BRUNCH 10AM – 4PM

BAR: 11AM-2AM DAILY

December 17, 2008

J.J. Foley's Café
An old standby starts low and aims high

J.J. Foley's Cafe, founded in 1909, has survived two world wars, Prohibition, and urban renewal. It's also survived the contraction of the Boston Herald, whose printers and writers were its more loyal patrons when it was a real drinking-man's bar — the kind of place that could live up to Oscar Wilde's joke that "Work is the curse of the drinking classes."
But can it survive bistro-ization?

The other J.J. Foley's, on Kingston Street, has made the transition nicely, but it didn't start so low nor aim so high. This fourth-generation Foley's on East Berkeley, however, has a new kitchen, a chef, and even a cuisine: Irish, although compromised with thin-crust pizza and standard pub grub.
Nevertheless, the most upscale item, and the most unusual, is corned beef and cabbage ($13). How on Earth could they fancy up that? Irish-American readers will cross themselves or reach for lucky shamrocks when I tell you that at J.J. Foley's Cafû the corned beef and cabbage has a sauce. It's a light white sauce with cumin and hot pepper in it. It works very well with lean, sliced corned beef, remarkably well with boiled cabbage (which can be watery and horrid when overdone), decently with carrot strips, and only begins to feel like overkill on heavily spiced potato slices.

Chowder ($6) is creamy, but not as strongly flavored with bacon as the menu suggests. My usual trick with chowder is to close my eyes and taste just the broth. There ought to be fish or clam flavor there; there often isn't. Instead, I tend to encounter a meat base; bacon gets into the broth too. Here we had pretty much just cream, however any spoonful with chopped clams or potatoes in it was fine.

The house salad ($7) and the grilled salmon salad ($12) both showcase another aspect of J.J. Foley's move to bistro cuisine: too much dressing. It's not a bad dressing, though, and the nice slice of salmon, perhaps a little overdone but crusty, makes the latter salad a light lunch or dinner. It was also dressed up with morsels of artichoke, red and white onion, and cherry tomato. For bar-food fans, a combination appetizer ($13) turned up typical versions of chicken wings, cheese-stuffed potato skins, mozzarella sticks, and such.

The real test of frying was fish and chips ($14), ordinarily not two things that can be fried at the same oil temperature. The British Isles versions — employed here — work because the heavy breading can survive the high oil temperature needed for good fried potatoes. At Foley's the fried potatoes are exemplary, full-flavored, steak-cut, skin-on, and semi-crisp. The fish our night was two filets of pollock, one of which tasted like it was getting on in fridge age. The large portion solved this problem: I simply ate the other, fresher filet. Cole slaw ($3 as a side dish) was unusually excellent. Perhaps it's made with a touch of curry powder?
Pizza is not usually the way to go in an Irish pub, but the bistro leanings pay off here with thin, crisp crust, and perfectly rendered toppings on a tricky shrimp pizza special ($10). Divide it up for an excellent appetizer.

Back on the Irish theme, bangers and mash ($11) was a classic mix of the stodgy sausages and okay (but not transcendent) mashed potatoes. The same potatoes weren't enough to absorb an excess of salt in the shepherd's pie ($14). It could be fixed the day the chef reads this review, as the mixture of chopped beef and lamb (I think) was otherwise in proper order.
Not feeling Irish? The classic burger ($9.50) is almost that, only bigger — maybe a pound before cooking, with lettuce, tomato, mayonnaise, and those wonderful fries. A pastrami sandwich special ($9) was boiled pastrami, alas, but somewhat redeemed by the fact that the sandwich was grilled, like a Reuben.

There's a wisp of a wine list, not big enough to panic the regulars, but the real treats are on draft, such as a clean Guinness ($4.25) served in a Magners cider glass, which is about the same shape as the canonical Guinness pint.

Desserts include a chocolate cake ($7), an apple crisp ($7) that isn't crisp and is mostly ice cream, and chocolate-banana bread pudding ($7) that must be made from cake crumbs to get its homogenized, steamed pudding-like texture. It tastes like British Isles pudding.
Service on two early weeknight visits was everything one could ask for, but the place was nearly empty both nights. So we ate at a quiet bar, something nearly extinct in the hub of the universe. The loudest sound was the narration on a television tuned to sports. Fortunately, the owners hadn't read deeply enough into the bistro-ization manual to find out that the cool cats keep the sports on without sound.

The dûcor keeps the best of the old (tin ceiling) and adds modern bare brick, quarry tile, and dark-wood booths and chairs — always in good taste. Right now J.J. Foley's is an undiscovered bargain in the South End. If the recession keeps receding, there'll be lines out the door and the owners of real bistros will be sneaking in to steal the format. Ironically, the big portions and moderate prices are obvious, while the smidgeon of bistro DNA in the sauced corned beef and cabbage is apt to evade detection.

By ROBERT NADEAU | December 17, 2008 |
Robert Nadeau can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Monday, October 20, 2008
J.J. Foley's
by Peter

Having recently moved to a different section of the South End, Bryan and I were anxious to try out some of the local eateries that we normally wouldn't have ventured to. Topping the list was J.J. Foley's for the mere reason that I heard Justin Timberlake had gone to party here (or at its sister location in the financial district) after his concert in Boston last year.

Yesterday, the cold weather got our appetites rumbling for some pub food so Bryan, Adam and myself headed over to J.J's (do they call it that?) for a bite to eat. From the outside of the pub, J.J.'s looks a bit rundown. The sign is very nice though and states that the pub's been in business since 1909. We walked in and were pleasantly surprised.

In my past experiences, I've come to realize that pubs are not known for their cleanliness. Patrons are usually greeted with sticky floors or tables and a worn out atmosphere. So imagine how happy I was to discover the complete opposite at J.J.'s. The atmosphere at J.J.'s is warm and friendly. We were greeted by both the bartender and the waitress when we entered and were told we could sit anywhere. The pub was clean and actually quite pretty. There was a new tin ceiling that was bright and shiny, what looked like newly shellacked wooden panels covering the walls, and the floors were tiled and very clean. The bar had a large plasma screen above it playing the football game (not too loud I might add...a good thing for me).

Our waitress for the day was a feisty woman with an Irish brogue (points for authenticity!). She was extremely pleasant and took our order, refilled our drinks and cleared our plates without delay. She even offered us some Irish mustard to try (we did and it was good). The menu at J.J.'s is simple pub food at decent prices. The burgers are about 9 bucks and so are most of the sandwiches. I ordered the taco burger that came with guacamole, salsa, sour cream and a side order of fries. The burger was good and so were the fries. I was completely satisfied. Bryan ordered the blue cheese burger and he liked it as well. Adam ordered the potato skins (you get 3) and the Reuben which he commented to the waitress that it was probably one of the best Reubens he's ever had...she ventured to say that it was perhaps even the best corn beef in Boston (one can only dream!). The only complaint I have about the whole experience is that we were charged for our refills on our soda (2 bucks a glass) without being told they would cost extra. After two refills though, they stopped charging so maybe that's the rule? Or maybe the waitress was amazed we could drink that much soda and felt pity on us?

Overall, we had a great experience at J.J. Foley's in the South End and would recommend this location to anyone in the area craving friendly service, good comfort food and a cozy local hang-out.

J.J. Foley’s South End Opens Cafe
Published on October 20, 2007
Author: Boston Real Estate Observer

We had the opportunity to stop into J.J. Foley’s in Boston’s South End for a grand opening expansion party. The well known bar has just expanded to add a cafe where one can now get lunch, dinner and weekend brunch.

The spread of food, including mimosas, bloody mary’s, and full samples from the new brunch menu, was excellent, the staff was friendly, and the atmosphere was great - hopefully they will keep the restaurant in the southernmost room, where they had the grand opening party, as it definitely has more of an upscale bar feel than the other two rooms in the property.
J. J. Foley’s is located at 117 E. Berkeley Street (between Harrison and Washington Streets) on the west side of Berkeley.

Meredith Goldstein
The Boston Globe
Aug 30, 2007

The last time I was at J.J. Foley's on Berkeley Street, it was after 1:30 a.m., about time for last call, and the bar area was packed with sweaty people who I could only assume were celebrating the end of a very long pub crawl. When I tried to escape the mob by going to the ladies room, a few women were illegally trying to smoke in it, and some of their clothes were falling off.
The entire place smelled like old beer.
That's why I got the chills when I saw a sign outside Foley's earlier this summer announcing that the South End location (there's another Foley's downtown) would start serving food at the end of July. But I put my doubts aside, and on a recent Thursday night at about 8, three friends and I decided to brave the new Foley's dining room.

When we arrived, we were surprised by the look of the place. The front room is still a dark bar with some video games and Guinness all around, ideal for late-night bargoers, but the new dining area in back, which had been used by the bar for storage, was like a different establishment all together. It's now a clean and cozy restaurant for casual dining by candlelight. Servers with Irish accents welcomed us and showed us to a corner table where we had no problem hearing one another and had enough space to throw our legs around.

We started with a salad, which was a bowl of crisp lettuce and tomato - fresher than I expected for a pub. We also split a spread of bar food: quesadillas, potato skins, and wings. The quesadilla had chunks of fresh chicken, and if the guacamole it came with wasn't fresh, it was at least tasty with hints of lemon. The wings wouldn't have satisfied our group of four on their own, but they were neat and meaty. The potato skins were cheese-packed and hearty. All of it was pub fare at its best.
We also split a pizza, a simple flatbread with minimal cheese and our choice of toppings (red peppers and pepperoni). It worked as a meal to share, and if multiple beers had been on our agenda, the dish would have helped us keep our wits.

Burgers came out juicy, sizable, and cooked just as we had ordered them. Beverages were refilled without us having to track down a server. And my real test for the kitchen at Foley's, the vegetable sandwich, came out as a fresh mix of zucchini and squash on doughy bread with a warm garlic aioli spread. Turns out, Foley's is great for vegetarians.
The desserts were nothing out of the ordinary but serviceable for bar sweets. The peanut butter pie was a whipped, chocolate-covered slice that worked well for a foursome. We were less impressed by the apple-raspberry crisp, which was a bit watery and hard to share.
As we finished the meal, I noticed that the people around us looked polite and sober. They weren't spitting beer or using upright video game consoles as furniture. No one in the bathroom was hiding a cigarette.

In fact, I think a few of the patrons may have been on dates.
My guess is that on the following Saturday night, Foley's became the packed pub that hosts one of the best last-call parties in the city. But casual diners in the South End should know that's not all there is to the bar. Go at a reasonable hour, and you can enjoy a tasty, dignified meal.
J.J. Foley's, 117 East Berkeley St., 617-728-0315. Appetizers: $5 to $12. Entrees: $7 to $16. Wines by the bottle: $22 to $24. Wines by the glass: $6 to $7.

Source: The Boston Globe

My heroes have always been cowboys
By now you’re thinking, Enough! You’ve had it with the newfangled, avant-garde concepts. You want good ol’fashioned salad simplicity. We don’t know about you, but we’ve always had notsosecret fantasies of a cowboy galloping in to sweep us away from the madness of this modern, highconcept world and carry us back to the basics. And of all places, we found him — or rather, it — at an Irish pub. Out of the newly added kitchen at J.J. Foley’s (117 East Berkeley Street, Boston, 617.728.0315) comes the Cowboy Cobb ($11). It’s just hearty chunks of steak, fresh corn, sweet potatoes, onions, cucumber, and greens languishing in a tangy buttermilk dressing. Its nofuss freshness suits the workaday folks and neighborhood hipsters who call this vintage watering hole home on the range.

Published Jun 13 2008, by Liza Weisstuch