A. LaBan

"There's nothing in the world
quite like an Irish pub.
It's a rare mix of music and conversation.
Of good food and drink.
Of hospitality and humor.
And an exceptional investment opportunity."
-The Irish Pub Company, Corporate Literature
Last month I visited Cuzco, Peru, the oldest continuously inhabited city in the Western Hemisphere. There, smack-dab in the middle of the ancient capital of the Inca empire, was Paddy Flaherty's, an Irish pub. Where once the fermented beverage of choice was "chicha de jora" -- maize beer -- you can now just as easily get a Guinness.

Irish pubs have spread all over the world, and the big barking dog of worldwide Irish pub design is, appropriately named, the Irish Pub Company. Headquartered in Dublin with a U.S. office in Atlanta, the company has built more than 300 pubs since 1991 in thirty-eight countries throughout Europe, from Spain to Russia, as well as cities like Hong Kong, Tokyo, Bangkok, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Dubai. Affiliated with Guinness Brewing Worldwide, the Irish Pub Company will not only design and build a pub with materials imported completely from the Emerald Isle, but will also recruit real Irish staff; set up the kitchen and train staff to prepare some 100 Irish recipes; identify quality suppliers for ingredients needed to make those dishes; help choose playlists of Irish music, or even steer you to a Dublin-based booking service for live music; supply you with "bric-a-brac and tailored merchandise"; and, last but not least, stock the bar with a complete Irish-drinks portfolio. Truly, a bar-in-a-box -- for only an estimated $140-$180 per square foot of public space.

The Irish Pub Company offers several designs, each highlighting a different period feel. There's the Gaelic style pub, with its prehistoric and medieval Celtic touches; the rough and cozy Irish Country Cottage pub; the Traditional Irish pub shop; the ornate Victorian Dublin pub; and the Irish Brewery pub, "reminiscent of St. James Gate Brewery in Dublin," home of -- you guessed it -- Guinness, the "world's most famous stout."

And then there's "fado"; meaning "long ago" in Gaelic, the fado concept was first introduced in the United States in Atlanta. Five different pub designs were blended into a multi-story environment to create "a walk through Irish pub history." It's been a huge success, and the Irish Pub Company notes the original investment of $1.5 million was paid off in less than three years thanks to annual sales of "$700-$800 per square feet" and margins "further enhanced by an eighty-twenty beverage-to-food mix."

Chicago is no second city to anyone when it comes to a love of anything Irish, especially anything Irish and related to drinking, and we got our own fado, in River North's Touristaville area, in September 1997. Notes Manager Chris Robinson, "By virtue of our location, patrons tend to be a combination of tourists, business people and regulars. I'd say, of the regulars, fifty to seventy-five percent are Irish."

Like the template in Atlanta, Chicago's version is a sprawling history lesson of multiple scenic rooms tracing the cultural development of Ireland. "Everything decor-wise, including the wood and stone, was imported from Ireland and then reassembled in Chicago," explains Robinson. The bar in the upstairs Victorian Pub room, for example, is more than 100 years old and came from a Dublin bar formerly known as the Pretty Kitchen.

In spite of what some would consider overdone kitsch, the place is frequently packed. fado lures in the crowds with live music and a full menu of Irish specialties, including boxty, aka Irish pancakes. Robinson says the fish-and-chips and shepherd's pie, both of which wash down well with a pint of Guinness, are by far the most popular entrees. Live music, ranging from traditional Irish to alternative (although not offered on Friday nights, fado's busiest), also helps bring patrons in on Sundays, Tuesdays and Saturdays.

But you don't have to be backed by a big corporate organization to open a cozy, traditional pub serving an authentic all-day Irish breakfast. Billy Lawless opened the Irish Oak in the heart of Wrigleyville in June 1998, after selling his hotel and bar in Galway and moving to Chicago. In opening the Irish Oak, he worked with the same independent designer in Belfast who created his former property. "Every piece of the bar -- from the wood to the wallpaper -- was designed and built in Ireland, and then shipped overseas in two forty-foot containers," Lawless explains. "The focus on design has made a huge difference. We're one of the most authentic Irish bars in the city. Most of the Irish who come in can't believe how much it feels like a pub at home. That was our goal."

fado, 100 West Grand, (312)836-0066

The Irish Oak, 3511 North Clark, (773)935-6669

(03/16/2000)


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