ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, March 12, 1997 TAG: 9703120097
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ALMENA HUGHES THE ROANOKE TIMES
PEOPLE SEEKING fun, food-filled ways to celebrate St. Patrick's Day are in luck. At least two of Roanoke's more Irish-friendly restaurateurs are planning to fill their cooking pots with some traditional dishes to celebrate the holiday named after the patron saint of Ireland.
Hurley's, on Grandin Road in Southwest Roanoke, always offers an intriguing menu: a curious mixture of Irish and Mexican fare.
"I'm Irish," owner Mark Hurley explained. "But I was born in Mexico and grew up part of the time there in Mexico City. That's how I learned about that kind of food."
David O'Dell, owner of O'Dell's on Salem Avenue in downtown Roanoke, also is Irish by way of a great-great grandfather who came to the Chesapeake Bay area around 1840 and sprouted a family tree that eventually rooted in West Virginia.
"But I think the closest my Irish traditions come is that I was raised Catholic," O'Dell said.
Regardless, this weekend both restaurateurs are planning to celebrate the spirit of "Ireland forever," or "Erin Go Bragh."
"We'll be serving corned beef and cabbage, homemade potato soup and Irish stew made with lamb," Hurley promised.
He'll also have cold Guinness and Harp's beers on tap.
"This is more of a neighborhood restaurant, with Mexican food and an Irish atmosphere," Hurley said. It is easily recognizable by the colorful umbrellas on its outdoor patio. Hurley has run the eatery for the past three years. Previously, it had been Corned Beef & Co.
"It's a friendly little place where people can come by for a few beers. Eventually, I'd like to make it into an Irish pub, if the neighborhood would accept that," he said.
In addition to the home-cooked Irish foods this weekend, Hurley's will also offer its regular fare of burritos, quesadillas, fajitas and chillitos, served with made-from-scratch salsa and guacamole.
Live Irish music will be featured on Friday and Saturday; live music will be played on Sunday; and on Monday, the Still Life Trio from Blacksburg will perform.
O'Dell - anticipating that this year's St. Patrick's Day parade will be more impressive than it was three years ago, when it had only 50 participants and took only 45 seconds to pass by - has recently made some changes that he hopes will attract the parade crowd as well as everyday customers.
"Originally, downstairs was all restaurant seating," O'Dell said of the eatery he opened in November 1995. "Then, about two months ago, we converted the back section into
more of a tavern atmosphere. The front is still a tablecloth dining area.
"In the beginning, I tried to serve Irish food every day. But there just wasn't a great demand for it. I ended up throwing away more than I served."
Not that the food wasn't good, he said. It just seems that diners had more of a taste for the restaurant's signature smoked, hand-pulled lean meat pork barbecue and its baby-back barbecue ribs.
On Saturday and Monday, O'Dell's menu also will include corned beef and cabbage with red potatoes, a Reuben sandwich, which is not usually on the menu, and Irish stew.
This year's St. Patrick's Day parade will be on Saturday and is supposed to include seven marching bands, military color guards, a fife and drum group, clowns, floats and other participants. It will wind through downtown starting at 3 p.m.
O'Dell said that he plans to give away balloons and hats to passers-by and participants along the way. "I'm hoping to find a leprechaun to do it," he said, adding that he'd settle for an actor, if necessary.
O'Dell's will open at noon on Saturday and have its last call at 1:30 a.m. Classic rock band Vertigo, scheduled to play at the restaurant that night, might weave a few Irish tunes into its repertoire, O'Dell said. There will be room for dancing, if revelers feel so moved.
There will be a $2 cover charge after 9 p.m.
The restaurant, which usually is closed on Mondays, will be open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. on St. Patrick's Day.
Hurley's will open at 11 a.m. each day and close at midnight on Friday and Saturday and 11 p.m. Sunday and Monday. Other restaurants around town, albeit ones with less Irish roots, also are no doubt planning St. Patrick's Day specials of their own.
In deference to a tradition of dubious origins, both Hurley's and O'Dell's will make available green beer.
"Oh, yeah, the color green is great," Hurley said without much conviction. "It's a nice touch, but you don't need it."
"I've never gotten into green food," O'Dell said. "But the beer isn't affected, so no harm."
Personally, he said, he will probably confine his greening to his garments - depending on the weather, maybe a sweater and/or tie.
LENGTH: Medium: 94 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: 1. JANEL RHODA/THE ROANOKE TIMES. David O'Dell ownsby CNBO'Dell's on Salem Avenue in downtown Roanoke. 2. CINDY PINKSTON/THE
ROANOKE TIMES. Mark Hurley owns Hurley's on Grandin Road in
Southwest Roanoke. color.