Corned beef & cabbage dinners abound on St. Patrick's Day and I've been known to partake from time to time. But allow me to make a St.Patrick's Day lunch suggestion: a Corned Beef Special. That is, if you can find a place in the Berkshires that makes one.

What I once thought was a common deli staple was an adventure to track down. I seem to recall it was in 2012, the last time St.Patrick's Day fell on a Saturday.  My order at the well-known sandwich shop's counter was met with a quizzical look.  "Oh, you mean a Reuben?"  No, that's a grilled sandwich with sauerkraut. The Special is cold, with corned beef, cole slaw, Russian dressing and Swiss cheese (which some purists deny), all piled on good rye bread. "Oh, sorry, we don't have cole slaw."   I left empty-handed & hungry. Another joint didn't have the dressing. "Is mustard OK?"  Sorry, that wouldn't...cut the mustard on a Special.

The trick it seems, is finding a place that has both the Russian dressing and cole slaw on hand. At some point I managed to do that and even though they weren't familiar with it I talked them through the sandwich assembly as shown above, and sure my non-Irish eyes were smiling. But I've forgotten where that was. So if you can help point me in the right direction I'd be much obliged. And have yourself a Happy St. Patrick's Day!

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