This family-friendly Irish themed bar/restaurant has only been around since 1998 and moved to it’s new, bigger location in May of 2005. The place offers lots of good pub grub, but the thing to come for is a horseshoe sandwich, also known as a heart attack on a plate.
A horseshoe is the signature sandwich of Springfield. D’Arcy’s serves up over a dozen varieties of shoes. The base sandwich is two pieces of Texas toast with meat placed on each slice, served with either a traditional or spicy white cheese sauce and what seems like a pound of crinkle cut fries. Meat choices include corned beef, walleye, Italian sausage, and breaded pork tenderloin. The customer favorite is the Buffalo chicken horseshoe which is served with a side of hot sauce and blue cheese dressing. If someone in your party is afraid of ordering a pint (horsehoe) or half-pint (pony shoe), the menu also features traditional Irish favorites, bar food, and other famous sandwiches including breaded pork tenderloins, muffalettas, New York-style corned beef, and Reubens.
Here is a little more background on horseshoes: local lore generally places the birth of the horseshoe at the Leland Hotel (closed in the 1970s) in 1928. A few sources name other spots, among them the (Wayne’s) Red Coach Inn, as the originator. The original horseshoe was an open-faced sandwich consisting of two slices of thick, toasted bread with ham placed on top of each piece, and a pile of fries, with the whole heap drenched in cheese sauce. The sauce is typically a closely guarded secret and varies from place to place but most published recipes use a variation of Welsh rarebit sauce. Typical ingredients in the sauce include beer, egg yolks, butter, Worcestershire sauce, cheddar cheese, and a combination of spices. Horseshoe history decrees that the original sandwich used ham steak, which looked like a horseshoe after it was cooked. The French fries are supposed to represent horseshoe nails. The plate is an anvil and slices of bread represent hoofs. Today, there are many variations in the meat part of the sandwich and a few restaurants even pony up an occasional vegetarian version.
Overall Rating
21 out of 22 people found the review helpful. Was it helpful to you?
No
Yes
Darcy's is about as close as you will find in a restaurant to getting an authentic horseshoe. They are great! My family has been in Springfield and the restaurant business since the late 1800's. My great-grandmother worked with the chef who invented the horseshoe at the Leland Hotel. My grandmother worked at the Leland several years later and was also very close to Wayne of Wayne's Red Coach Inn over the years until he passed.
The reason there is some debate over where it was invented is because one of the sous chefs at the Leland was hired by Wayne, the owner of the Red Coach Inn, in order to get this particular recipe. My grandmother made them for us for years and the original recipe does not contain beer. Everyone has a slightly different version of the original. Wayne's served the original for years after the Leland closed. It was originally served on a metal hot plate to represent the anvil.
Bravo Darcy's; your horseshoes are plate lickin' good!
Overall Rating
2 out of 12 people found the review helpful. Was it helpful to you?
No
Yes
