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Irish pub's lunch makes eyes smile

Garryowen offers welcoming atmosphere

Created: 08/10/2009 03:50:42 PM EDT

Bartender Shannon Hancock delivers a salad to Jim and Kathy Sandberg, who recently moved to Gettysburg, at the Garryowen Irish Pub. This is one of those places that I will come to over and over again because it feels like home, Kathy Sandberg said. (Evening Sun - Eric Drummond)

I'm beginning to think this whole Internet fad isn't going away anytime soon.

Just about every person, place and thing needs a Web site.

Fine. But now, even a good, old-fashioned, nitty-gritty Irish pub has to have a MySpace and a Facebook page because that's where the kids waste their time, posting the minutia of their lives.

The Garryowen Irish Pub in Gettysburg has all the Internet stuff, but owner Kevin McCready lets someone else take care of that nonsense. He's busy running the bar, stocked with a large selection of Irish whiskeys and beers, and playing music in a fun atmosphere.

Located about two blocks off Lincoln Square on Chambersburg Street, Garryowen has been a pub under different names since around the 1930s, McCready said. It's completely different now and refurbished on the inside.

Originally from Ireland, McCready has no idea how to run an American-style bar, he said. So he opened what he knew best - an Irish pub - and has been in business at the site since June 1, 2007.

He modified the interior to give it a comfortable feel of wood, brick and soft tones. It's the kind of place you're glad to come in to from out of the rain.

McCready was a carpenter before he became a bar owner. He ripped out the old bar and built his own mahogany bar, which stretches just about the length of the building, from the front entrance, to a seating section around the large fireplace. His goal was to rebuild it into a welcoming atmosphere to meet his philosophy as a bar owner.

"We have a pub philosophy," he said. "In Gaelic, it's 'ceol, cainte agus craic.'"

That means, simply, "music, talk and fun" (in no particular order).

The pub has music many weekends and every Thursday has a jam session where anyone can join in, play some music and have a few laughs.

The nightlife might be the most hopping part of the day at Garryowen, but it's open for lunch with a wide fare of Irish specialties - and burgers and wings and other items popular on pub menus.

The shepherd's pie is an old family recipe from McCready's wife, Joanne. It's one of the pub's signature selections, along with the fish and chips, which I tried.

It's a large piece of beer-battered fish, sticking out on both ends over the plate and served with fries. It's a form of comfort food - something to get you through the rest of the day if you're there for lunch, or a tasty bite to pad your stomach for a night of ceol, cainte agus craic.

It's a fun place to get away from any piece of technology that begins with a lower-case letter "I" and actually interact and have fun with real, live human beings.

Then, you might actually have something worth Twitter-ing about.

Ticket to Lunch is a weekly column focusing on local restaurants' meals available during the lunch hour. Contact Steve Marroni at smarroni@eveningsun.com.