Shea O’Brien’s chef Noel Farrell and manager Sean Ring pose for a photo over the holidays with their fabulous Champagne Buffet Brunch served every Sunday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. (photo by Lauren Thomas)
Long live the Irish
Long live their cheer
Long live our friendship
Year after year.
— Irish Saying
Shea O’Brien’s, the recently opened Irish Pub and Restaurant at 127 Main Street in downtown New Paltz, was hopping this past weekend during its weekly Sunday brunch, complete with an omelet bar, pancake bar, fresh fruit, salmon, salads and free champagne and mimosas — not to mention the traditional Irish music keeping the place warm and festive.
Already the word-of-mouth has spread like Irish wildfire, and one glance at the restaurant reveals New Paltz families, couples and business-owners who have already become “regulars,” even though Shea O’Brien’s only opened in mid-October.
We’ve been overwhelmed with the response — how friendly everyone is here, how genuine,” said co-owner Kevin Murtagh, whose family hails from County Sligo in the west of Ireland. “It’s the best county in the country!” he says with an Irish laugh. “Although my wife’s from Dublin, so I better be careful here!”
Murtagh lives in Pearl River and has owned a neighborhood Irish pub there, Murray’s, for years. “I wasn’t looking for anything. The pub runs great, life was good; but my friend Tim ‘Mickey’ Mahoney asked me to take a look at this place in New Paltz.”