Pub owners hope diners will give British food a chance

British food? Mark McGarry and his partners would love to show you that it's probably not what you think.

And that's one reason McGarry and partners Nick Jones and Nick Elliott two months ago opened The Queen Victoria British Pub at the Riviera, 2901 Las Vegas Blvd. South.

While it's the first restaurant the partners have opened, they aren't culinary novices. McGarry is a chef, while Jones was, McGarry says, "actually a master butcher in London."

Their goal, McGarry says, is to offer "100 percent authentic" dishes prepared from recipes devised by McGarry and Jones and using such homemade ingredients as Jones' own bacon and sausage.

The owners are out to prove the stereotypes of British food as boring and bland are wrong. McGarry says that bad rap stems from World War II, when Americans stationed in Great Britain experienced not true British cuisine but inventive cooks making do with rationing and shortages.

In addition to the expected English pub classics, the menu offers dishes representing the best of the British Empire, from Aussie meat pie ($10.75) to lamb vindaloo ($13.95).

The pub's beer selection includes 24 drafts -- Bass and Guinness among them -- as well as 40 to 60 bottled beers from Australia, Belgium, Germany and other brewing locales.

The pub features dark woods, British window scenes and classic pub appointments, as well as a stage modeled after that of The Cavern Club, the Liverpool venue in which the Beatles played. Entertainment is provided on Saturdays, with a more extensive performing schedule in the works, McGarry says.

The Queen Victoria British Pub is open 24 hours a day. Reservations aren't required.

Starters: Scotch egg, $5.25; sausage roll, $5.25; handmade crisps (American chips served with Marie Rose sauce, curry sauce and cheese for dipping), $4.75

Soups and salads: Victoria's Chef salad, $12.75; Ploughman's lunch (Stilton, mature English cheddar, pickled onions and Branston Pickle), $12.95; Cock-a-Leekie (a Scottish soup of chicken and leeks in chicken broth), $5.25

Entrees: Steak and mushroom pie, $11.25; fish and chips, $12.95; Bobotie Pie (South African beef pasty), $10.25; Full Monty British Breakfast (British back bacon, bangers, grilled tomatoes, Heinz baked beans, bubble and squeak, eggs and toast), $13.25

Extras: Albert's Spotted Dick, $6.25; kippers and poached eggs, $11.75

Desserts: English trifle, $6.25

Information: 794-9260

By JOHN PRZYBYS