02/06/2016
A piece of advice for those venturing to eat at Dan Rooney’s, a new restaurant at the ever-expanding Empire City Casino at Yonkers Raceway: after consigning your car to a valet, take the escalator to the second floor, weave your way through the chiming slot machines and, just beyond the case of silver trophies, step out onto the terrace overlooking the racetrack. There, at dusk, one can watch beautifully gaited harness horses as they trot around the same dirt oval where Seabiscuit once outran his competitors.
This little brush with history might help you appreciate the nostalgia behind Dan Rooney’s, which despite its 35 flat-screen TVs and the casino’s glossy facade, is billed as an authentic Irish pub. Timothy J. Rooney, the majority owner of the casino complex, named the place for a Pittsburgh speakeasy run by his grandfather. The kitchen is overseen by a Michelin-starred and James Beard Award-winning chef, Christopher Lee, who in conceiving the menu was forced to work with the motto: “Fuel up on your way to fortune.
