Delany's Public House

Lakewood Ranch has spent years building the kind of Main Street that fills up on a Friday night, and this week it gets something it hasn't had before: a proper Irish pub. Delany's Public House opens Wednesday, and the people behind it did not cut a single corner on the "authentic" part. Tory Delany, her husband Darren Shore, and their partner Kevin O'Hanlon are all Ireland natives, and they built the room to feel like the real thing — a bar and furniture crafted by Irish-born woodworkers, antiques shipped over from the old country, and a few of the small enclosed booths called snugs that you'd find in a pub back home.

The commitment runs all the way into the kitchen. The sausages, the bacon, the breads, the cheeses — much of it comes straight from Ireland, which is not something most places flying the shamrock can claim. The plate to know is the bangers and mash, done with Guinness gravy over Irish-butter mashed potatoes, and there's a proper pour to go with it. There's a stage for live music, too, so it's built to be the kind of place you settle into rather than pop by.

If you've been missing a real pub — the warm, unhurried, nobody's-rushing-you-out kind — this one is worth the drive out to the Ranch. Doors open at 2 p.m. Wednesday, July 23, at 8110 Lakewood Main Street, and they'll be pouring late into the night the rest of the week.

The scoop: Delany's Public House, Lakewood Ranch.