Tony's Maloney's

Maloney’s East
7660 Beechmont Avenue (513) 232-8484

It’s usually easy to tell the difference between a restaurant owner from the staff. Let alone the owners from the cooks. One is usually dressed in cruddy Chucks, crumb crusted checks, sauce stained T-shirts and dirty-damp bandanas. The other is often seen strutting faux fashion in pressed white collar dress shirts, fancy “slacks”, slick soled church shoes and the obligatory pimp perfect gold accessories. A hardy nose stinging overdose of Hugo Boss or Armani to top off their decked out digs.
One has the air of haute, the other just needs some air from being hot. One is full of confidence, the other full of competence. What do you think would happen if they had to switch places for a week, a month, or even for good? “Never happen” you say. “It could happen” I say... It did happen at Maloneys East.

Long time Maloney’s grill-meister Tony Braun bought Maloney’s from his employers. Tony’s calling all the shots now, staffing, creating promotions and paying the bills. Did Tony trade his crumb crusted cook clothes for swanky slacks? No way. He’s still on the grill, putting in just as many hours as before, and about 50 more a week to boot. Is he raking in the cash though? Not exactly, with the increased hours he’s probably lucky to average the same as the other cooks he works along side do. So why did he do it? Because the pub life is just his thing. He’s a true pub-man. The name still says Maloney’s but it’s really Tony’s. And it’s never been better.
One thing any good cook would do is change the menu to suit his tastes. Take Maloney’s burgers for example. Tony decided to drive 90 miles every week to his favorite butcher and he drives back grinning ear to ear with his fresh batch of beautiful beef. You can sample his hard earned efforts on Mondays. That’s Maloney’s Burger Mania day.
You and a friend (unless you’re a hard core porker) both get a fresh hand patted burger with two (count em’ two) sides for $8.50. Just look at Tony’s pretty, prized beef sizzlin’ on that griddle (bottom left). At $4.25 per plate it’s even cheaper than the bottom dollar, bone chipped, beef flavor sprayed, soggy grey meat discs McD’s chucks out across the street. Crazy cheap, uber-good burgers.

Maloney’s takes pride in the beef yes, but much effort has gone into the pub’s fish selections too. Every Saturday Tony & crew are furiously frying, baking and broiling more fresh fish than Red Lobster on a Senior Sunday Special. Check this fish pic out (right). In the center you see some fine Apple wood smoked salmon. Smoky and sweet, it’s worthy of gracing the plate at a joint like Mitchell’s, at twice the price. To the left lies the citrus-peppercorn tilapia. Bright, snappy and well seasoned this white fish features fantastic flavor. On the right rests the Rustic Italian herb cod loin. This fat slab sings with savory herbs and a touch of spice. Sitting pretty in the back is the behemoth beer battered cod sandwich. Crisp beer batter forms a thin skin around the flaky white meat. It’s served sticking off all sides of a hoagie bun, topped with fresh lettuce and thick cut tomato slices. Like any good pub fish sandwich it comes sandwiched with fries.

Speaking of fries, here’s a wig flip... Maloney’s serves five kinds of fries. Waffle, fresh cut, crinkle, crunch coat crinkle, and seasoned fries. You can’t complain you don’t dig the fries here folks. Regardless of what your favorite flavor may be. I go for the fresh cuts myself but the fact that you need all five fingers to count their offerings is cool.
By now you definitely have a trickle of drool and a grumble in your gut. But here’s the Pièce de résistance, “Maloney’s Way” wings. A good wing is a thing of beauty, a great wing is worth skipping out on a filet mignon to me. Maloney’s Way wings can go toe to toe with any in the city. First, Tony only buys the big meaty mothers. Second, he flash fries them in oil (dedicated to only wings). Third, he tosses them in sweet BBQ, then flash fries them again. Finally you have the option to have them tossed a second time in either sweet or hot sauce. They are exquisite. I tried them both ways. After much consideration, I decided my heart fell for the single tossed. The fried sauce creates a crispy crust that snaps as your teeth sink in. I dig the heat though so Tony fried me some single tossed in just hot sauce and my wing dreams were fulfilled. Maloney’s has a family from freakin’ Forest Park that drives out weekly to order a hundred. I’m damn glad I live closer.
Tony still works full time in the kitchen. He always will. After the last order is served and the mops are stowed to dry you’ll see him hanging ‘round, beer in hand, happier than a nun with a new whip. Getting his first much deserved break of the day. No holier than thou BS, no arrogant attitude or unjustified airs. Just another good hard working American like yourself. He’s good people, serving damn good food. He may still call it Maloney’s, but we call it Tony’s.