It’s difficult to imagine a man who was hanged and then drawn and quartered finding solace in much of anything, but Robert Emmet should
be able to glean some consolation from his namesake pub Emmets (6 Beacon St., 617-742-8565). A trip there Friday found the place teeming with patrons, alive with conversation and couched in the comfort and conviviality that escaped Emmet and his United Irishmen in their quest for Catholic emancipation. The promise of Catholic and Protestant Parliamentary parity that led to the botched Emmet-led uprising in 1803 and Emmet’s demise in Dublin’s Thomas Street the same year may be lost in a pub setting, but conversation and camaraderie at Emmets embody an ideal he may have seemed like a lost cause. I was assuaged only by a strong bacon cheeseburger, a somewhat viscous side of curry fries and a perplexing conversation with a friend who’d busked in Ireland, flavored his music with elements of Irish folk and has played every St. Patrick’s Day for as long as anyone can remember — but recently came out as French Canadian and not at all Irish. The combination of the three was somewhat mindblowing, but a steady stream of well-poured Half and Half pints from an attentive wait staff took the edge off. Though the outcome was secured days earlier, it felt that Everton was responding to the mood of the room: With Mikael Areta putting the Toffees ahead on a penalty kick and Tim Cahill putting Villa away with a late goal. Maybe now Lerner can focus on getting Brady Quinn some help on offense and not getting pummeled by the Steelers and Ravens this year. At night’s end, Emmets made a strong argument for future patronage through its understated quiet that allowed fluid Friday night conversation and the subtle attention paid to sporting events by patrons savvy enough to embrace silent appreciation. This is all anyone really asks of a good pub, and its something that’s lost when your pub turns into a beat palace or Bruins/Celtics cheering section at 8 p.m. It shouldn’t be a battle to get a pint and a chat, but sometimes there are less painful ways of achieving what you want. While Robert Emmet didn’t have such options, the spirit of the ideas that drove him have been embraced by the pub that bears his name.