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On a Wednesday evening at Daedalus last week, Portishead wafted sensually through its two floors while a crew of friends lingered at the bar over beer and artfully prepared plates. If it wasn’t amply clear that the Grafton Street folks’ latest venture — Harvard Square’s newest, red-walled Irish pub — has upscale aspirations, cracking open the menu did the trick.

There, smack in the middle of an ordinary list of entrées, sat " Ostrich Au Poivre Noir, " a peppered steak of the bird better known for its plumage than for being, well, snatched from a farm in New Jersey, spiced up, and plunked on a piece of porcelain in the middle of Cambridge.

We had to try it. The waitress — the only one, it seemed, who wasn’t actually Irish — applauded our selection. " Nice choice, " she said. " People love the ostrich. "

Confronted with the thinly sliced, fanned filets, I didn’t know whether to be hungry or scared. But hunger won, and I sliced right into the cherry-red rare center. True to the waitress’s description, it tasted like a gamier version of beef. The tough edges, hardened and blackened by the almost overwhelming peppery spice, required a vigorous chew. But the lean meat in the center was flavorful and soft. Word to the wise for those on the hunt for ostrich: get it rare.

Daedalus also has a mean take on shepherd’s pie ($8.95), a savory, spicy blend of chopped lamb and beef, framed by whipped potato instead of pie crust. Of course, that’s only one of the restaurant’s many non-ostrich alternatives — for those less, um, game.