Beer belly

James Joyce

Beer belly: Native mussels in Guinness stout at James Joyce Irish Pub

Ingredients: Mussels and Guinness sauce with garlic, butter and tomatoes

Damage: $9.95

Skinny: Mussels are mussels--they are slimy and chewy, and eternally icky no matter how much you pay for them. In my opinion, this reality makes the way they're prepared the only thing that differentiates them from worms. With that in mind, the salvation of this selection is in the sauce. The mixture of garlic, butter and tomatoes was rich and delicious, and once I dipped everything I could find in it, I considered swirling my napkin around in there and gnawing on that for awhile.--Jen Bunty