Chef Cornelius Gallagher

Sound familiar? The Zagat Survey released its 26th annual New York City Restaurant guide last week to much fanfare. It marks a year of classic and recently opened city restaurants, reviewed by the people who frequent them and edited into trademark "witty, pithy" style.

Not making it into the famous survey, though, are the many restaurants in Manhattan alone that serve standard Irish fare, though they do far better in a companion volume, the "Zagat's New York City Nightlife" guide.

This begs the question of what exactly is Irish cuisine, and will there ever be an hour's wait for a table?

While the jokes about boiled meat and vegetables have gotten old, can Irish cuisine attract an audience in a city that prides itself on a refined palate?

"I don't think the cuisine is deep enough," mused Cornelius Gallagher, executive chef at midtown's Oceana, a seafood restaurant.

The Bronx-born Gallagher took over at Oceana in 2002 and has been named as one of the top 10 chefs in New York. Trained at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y., he has studied French and Asian techniques under such famed chefs as David Bouley and Gray Kunz.

"Many chefs in Ireland and England borrow from French and Chinese techniques, even Spanish techniques," Gallagher said. "They've have been cooking for thousands of years."

While it is true that the staples of many Irish foods are meat and potatoes, chefs have been doing interesting things with the most mundane ingredients. Will there ever be a time for puddings?

"The ingredients that come from Ireland are actually really great, even more so than the cuisine itself," said Gallagher,

Something the Irish and their English neighbors might actually agree on is food. While there might be slight differences in the preparation of favorites like fish and chips, shepherd's pie and bangers and mash, it is always of similar style and can usually be found in many of the pub and restaurants throughout the city.

New York has seen a growth in smaller, trendier shops that cater to homesick ex-pats and those Americans brave enough to find out what a fried Mars bar actually tastes like.

The Chipper, a short-lived Irish-run venture in Sunnyside, Queens, was given glowing write-ups in both Time Out New York and the New York Times, in no small part due to the stylish exterior and original concept.

Serving battered fish and fries, it buzzed along until the allure faded, and a fire in an adjacent building slowed business on the block to a crawl.

Chip Shop, a trendy Park Slope, Brooklyn, outfit has been doing well enough to open a second location in Brooklyn. Lovingly wrapped in English newspapers, the battered haddock is almost as good as what usually comes out of a van.

Tea and Sympathy, owned by Englishwoman Nikki Perry and situated in trendy Greenwich Village, unapologetically serves homey mushy peas and beans on toast to a predominantly English clientele.

It could be the problem with serving food so suited to a Sunday dinner at home is just that -- most people would rather eat their home cooking at home, and making reservations defeats the purpose.

There is one day a year everyone is Irish, of course, and most people will attempt the typical corned beef and cabbage, or at least sidle up to the buffet at a local bar.

Chef Gallagher claims the only time he cooks at home for his family is St. Patrick's Day, when he makes a reinvented "Corned Beef Sous Vide," a horseradish and creme fraiche-encrusted home-cured beef brisket with perfectly blanched cabbage and pearl onions in multiple sauces of cabbage with chicken stock with a Dijon mustard and a caraway-based emulsion.

"The recipe is on Oceana's Web site." he said, "The process breaks down the meat so that it's not so tough."

Gallagher actually came close to taking the auld route, when the family that owns Oceana looked into opening a restaurant serving Irish classics.

"I actually did a lot of research into it," said Gallagher. "But there isn't enough depth to the types of food you could make. You really only have so much to go on."

Many successful chefs coming out of Ireland, however, have learned to embrace the country's changing ethnic landscape and fuse it into techniques learned from global schooling.

One example of it working is in Las Vegas, of all places. Nine Fine Irishmen opened last year in the New York, New York Hotel and Casino to much ado. Between the bar having been built in Ireland and shipped to the desert, and bringing in chef Kevin Dundon, one of Ireland's most well-known chefs, the restaurant prides itself on "fertile and un-spoilt" ingredients.

Dundon, who owns Wicklow's Dunbrody House hotel and restaurant, is betting on Las Vegas becoming one of the world's top dining destinations. He is in good company, with leading chef Jean-George Vongerichten having recently opened a steakhouse there.

Dundon's menu relies on classics like lamb stew and colcannon but also incorporates some of the fine ingredients coming out of Ireland, like mussels and fine cheeses.

Landing back in New York, Sutton Place's Neary's had the distinction of being the sole restaurant mentioned in the 2005 guide that is listed as "Irish."

Sligo-born owner Jimmy Neary, who Zagat respondents described as "puckish," opened his restaurant in 1967 and has never looked back.

"It's plain, basic food that people like," he said. "We do specials, different every day, and things like steaks and chops. That's what people want."

He might be on to something. Zagat's Theresa Mullen believes that what makes a place so popular is the obvious.

"Good tasting food you can eat with pleasure day after day," she said. "In our surveys, Italian is often heralded as the favorite cuisine, followed by French and Asian [which has seen great increases in popularity over the past few years]."

While the Irish may not take Manhattan's foodies, they do have a commanding leg up in the "Zagat's New York City Nightlife" guide. There are 102 Irish nightspots listed in the book, and of 78 serving "pub grub," 36 fall under "Irish" in the "Foreign Appeal" index.

"It happens that many of these places offering pub dining in the Nightlife guide are more bars and pubs than restaurants, and therefore are included in the nightlife guide only," said Mullen.

In the meantime, those wanting a taste of the real thing can look no further than Zagat's as well. They publish a guide to European capitals' top restaurants, and Dublin makes the grade with 34 restaurants, many of which serve "Irish" cuisine.

"Irish cuisine in Ireland is experiencing a resurgence and it is possible any redefinition of Irish cuisine could make its way over here in due course," Mullen said.