Not Mint, just Stone

WHATEVER Rustic Stone is, it’s clear what it isn’t.

It isn’t Mint. Mint, the Ranelagh restaurant in which Dylan McGrath made his name during the giddy boom years, is by now a Celtic Tiger cautionary tale. It blazed like a comet across Dublin’s culinary firmament, wowing critics and winning McGrath a Michelin Star (and a reputation as the psychotic genius of Irish celebrity chefs) within a year.

McGrath was a bully in the kitchen, but his cooking could be exquisite — evoking that great scene in Ratatouille when the sheer deliciousness of Remy’s dish shocks the dour food critic into sentimentality. At its best, it tasted emotional.