How to celebrate St. Paddy's Day in the city's Irish enclaves

St. Patrick’s Day in New York brings with it a palpable level of dread most often associated with SantaCon, NYU move-in day and the increasingly-elusive Yankees World Series victories.

On March 17, much of Manhattan will become impenetrable as a sea of suburban law enforcement officers and their families flock to Fifth Avenue for the largest St. Patrick’s Day parade in the country. Over the next 12 hours, Jameson-fueled college kids wearing Kelly green T-shirts and Mardis Gras beads to match will spill out of every bar from the Upper East Side to the Financial District with little regard to their bodily safety or yours. 

It doesn’t have to be this way. The city’s rich Irish heritage, which stretches back nearly 200 years, is worth celebrating beyond lining up behind a barricade with 2 million other people to get a glimpse of a sullen Eric Adams trying to trip Andrew Cuomo.

There’s no shortage of chiller festivities planned at Irish pubs in all five boroughs this weekend. Skip the trip to Midtown and tap into your inner Brendan Gleeson for an Irish trad seisiún in Southern Brooklyn, feast on corned beef and cabbage egg rolls in Staten Island, or organize your own bar crawl on the Bronx-Westchester border.

If it’s been donkey’s years since the last time you enjoyed St. Patrick’s Day without getting shamrocked, don’t fret. Soon you’ll be telling your friends, “What’s the craic?” and “You’re some yoke,” before they make their Irish goodbye.

The Bronx

Getting to the largest Irish enclave in the city isn’t easy but you’ll find more than a keg of Guinness at the end of your journey.

Woodlawn Heights, also known as the Bronx’s Little Ireland, is tucked above Woodlawn Cemetery, Van Cortlandt Park and the Bronx River, and has been home to Irish-American families for more than a century. The area still attracts new arrivals thanks to the Emerald Isle Immigration Center and an abundance of Irish pubs, grocery stores and restaurants on Katonah Avenue and McLean Avenue (which is technically in Yonkers). 

This is where you want to do your pub crawl. Take the 4 train to the end of the line at Woodlawn and catch the Bx34 or Bx16 bus to Katonah Avenue or get on MetroNorth’s Harlem Line for a 40-minute ride to Woodlawn Station, which is three blocks away from the Little Ireland strip. Grab brunch at the Irish-Mexican restaurant The Kitchen to load up on their Irish spice bag, a Chinese-Irish specialty consisting of fries, chicken tenders, sauteed onions and peppers in an addictive spice mix. 

Then stop at Mulligan’s Fireside Pub, the oldest bar in Woodlawn, which is known for its shamrock-shaped burgers, shepherd’s pie, Irish spice bags, and live Irish music. The nearly-50-year-old pub is a favorite of location scouts too and has been featured in The Hoax, God’s Pocket, and Law & Order: SVU (Ice-T called their burgers the best in the Bronx). 

Farther up on McLean Avenue in Yonkers, Rory Dolan’s Restaurant and Bar is offering a medley of specials for the holiday including corned beef and cabbage, beef stew, and chicken pot pie, if the spice bag wasn’t filling enough for you. Much larger crowds are expected for the McLean Avenue Parade on March 22 but the mood will be plenty festive on St. Patrick’s Day too. 

“People m​ostly go from bar to bar, you bounce around,” one bartender from Mulligan’s said. “Have some fun, mate! You’re here to enjoy yourself.”

If you’d prefer to stay in one place, there’s another option. An Beal Bocht Cafe in Riverdale, just off the 238 St 1-train station, is hosting the World’s Shortest Parade at 8pm on Monday night; the parade will  proceed 47 steps out one door of the restaurant and into another. The event, which raises money for Irish Volunteers for the Homeless, features music by John Walsh and the Beal Bonds. Order the battered cod and chips, which are sliced by hand and are among the best in the city. 

Brooklyn

Nearly one third of Brooklyn’s population in 1890 was Irish, and many lived in working-class neighborhoods near the borough's waterfront docks and Navy Yard.

You’ll still find remnants of Brooklyn’s early 20th-century Irish heritage at Farrell’s Bar & Grill, which has been a Windsor Terrace neighborhood watering hole since 1933. Farrell’s was a favorite of Pete Hamill’s and he even brought actress Shirley McClaine there in the 1970s (she was unofficially the first woman ever served at the bar). It has a reputation as a cop and firefighter bar these days but you’ll see a mix of neighborhood regulars and former FBI agents if you brave the crowds above the 15th St-Prospect Park subway station on Monday.

In Williamsburg your best bet is Iona, a Scottish-Irish bar celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. The bar is known for its Guinness taps and will feature corned beef and cabbage as well as an Irish session featuring fiddler Nathan Bishop at 9pm (Take the L to Bedford and walk six blocks south).

Or you can head to the last stop of the R train in Bay Ridge, where the Wicked Monk is celebrating St. Patrick’s Day with live music all weekend, as well as corned beef sandwich specials. On Saturday night, the Irish-American folk rock band the Narrowbacks takes over, while traditional Irish sessions will take place on Sunday and Monday afternoons, when the vibe will be more like the Banshees of Inisherin than Colm Tóibín’s Brooklyn. 

Wicked Monk manager Chris Byrne suggests bringing your own instrument, although he won’t be participating. “You don’t want to hear me play a session and you don’t want to hear me sing either,” he said.

Staten Island

The heart of Staten Island’s Irish-American community is in West Brighton, which has hosted an annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade on Forest Avenue for the past 61 years.

The parade already happened  on March 2 — this was the first year parade organizers allowed an LGBTQ group, the Pride Center of Staten Island, to participate officially in the march after years of exclusion. 

But aside from the parade, several Irish restaurants on Forest Avenue are worth a return visit including Jody’s Club Forest which is known for their corned beef and steak dishes (take the Staten Island Ferry and get on the S48 bus to Forest/ Hart Blvd).

Farther down Forest Avenue there’s O’Neill’s which features some of the best shepherd’s pie in the city. Be sure to try their Irish egg rolls, which are stuffed with corned beef, sauerkraut, and Swiss cheese and served with a side of thousand island dressing. 

Queens

Another great option for a bar crawl is the smattering of Irish pubs along Queens Boulevard in Sunnyside, a neighborhood established by Irish settlers in the early 20th century.

Head on the 7 train to the 40 St-Lowery St. station and kick off your tour at Courtyard Ale House, which has 27 craft beers on tap and bartenders actually from Ireland pouring them for you. 

Stop by Maggie Mae’s Bar and McGuinness’s Saloon too before making your way up Roosevelt Avenue to Donovan’s Pub which has been serving some of the best burgers in the city from its Woodside restaurant since 1966.

On Monday, Donovan’s booked bagpipers to go from room to room and play a medley of Irish songs throughout the day. They aren't taking reservations so you might have a short wait if you get there after 4 pm. The burgers and Guinness are well worth it.

Manhattan

If you truly have your heart set on celebrating St. Patrick’s Day at one of Manhattan’s landmark Irish bars, be prepared to wait.

McSorley’s Old Ale House, the oldest continuously-operating saloon in the city, typically has long lines outside its door even when it isn’t a holiday. Your best bet to get in is to line up on East 7th Street in the East Village before it opens at 11 am, or wait til much later in the evening. 

For better luck, try Molly’s Pub and Restaurant Shebeen on Third Avenue, which first served beer to the thirsty public in 1895. The shebeen will feature a special St. Patrick’s Day menu with an Irish quesadilla filled with corned beef, cabbage, and Irish cheddar cheese, as well as a late-night menu with mozzarella sticks and loaded fries with melted cheddar and curry sauce.

Molly’s waitress Cara Mullin recommends coming before the parade kicks off at 11 am or well after.

“Even if people are eating, you’re not waiting more than 15 to 20 minutes for a table,” she said. People do have work on Tuesday.”

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