LINCOLN SQUARE — How does one celebrate the birthday of a poet who's been dead for more than 200 years?
If the restaurant is Fountainhead and the poet is Scotland's beloved bard — Robert Burns — the answer is heavy on the Scotch.
Essential components of a "Burns Supper," held across the world to commemorate Burns' Jan. 25 birthday, are haggis and good Scotch, and Fountainhead, 1970 W. Montrose Ave., has both of those covered.
Thursday through Sunday, the gastropub will offer specials on "nips and pints" (a glass of whisky and a beer), flights of Scotch whisky and whisky-based cocktails.
Chef Cleetus Friedman has also whipped up a couple of additions to Fountainhead's menu: a Scotch egg (hard-boiled egg wrapped in sausage) and a haggis patty — think hamburger patty but instead of beef it's made of sheep's heart, liver and lung.
Haggis is considered the national dish of Scotland largely because of Burns' "Address to Haggis" in which the poet proclaims the culinary oddity "Great Chieftain o' the Puddin-race!"
If, to the modern American palate, haggis still sounds less than appealing, well that's what the Scotch is for.
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