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by Tamar Love Grande
Publication date: 03/12/2003
in The San Francisco Examiner
Most people know that St. Patrick, the missionary who converted the Emerald Isle's pagans to Christianity, is honored annually on March 17, but few understand why this festival is remembered by ingesting plate-loads of corned beef or gallons of beer.
Long observed in Ireland as the one day during Lent when good Catholics don't have to abstain from good food and liquor, the holiday gained importance outside the country during the mid-1800s, when the Great Potato Famine drove close to a million Irish emigrants to America.
As the Irish began to organize into a cultural force in America, St. Patrick's Day was observed more widely. In 1948, President Harry S. Truman cemented the day as an American holiday by attending the St. Patrick's Day parade in New York.
Now celebrated as the day to honor everything Irish -- including shamrocks, corned beef and the color green -- Americans of all persuasions, Irish or otherwise, use this once-holy day as a fine excuse to drink up and play hard, regardless of whether they're enjoying a reprieve from Lent.
This year, fete St. Pat's like a true child of Eire. Put on your greenest shirt, pinch those who forego Ireland's "national color," and belly up to one of San Francisco's many authentic Irish pubs, bars and restaurants.
Begin your day in the Financial District, at The Irish Bank Bar & Restaurant (10 Mark Lane, 415-788-7152, 6-2 a.m.), which will host Alice 97.3 FM's morning show on Monday. Radio personalities Sarah and No Name will get the day rolling with a three-piece Irish band, as well as with demonstrations of hurling and football. After a hearty lunch of cabbage and corned beef, revelers can enjoy the music of Buckfest live at 4 p. m., followed by a DJ at 6 p.m.
Then move slightly uptown to Johnny Foley's Irish House (243 O'Farrell St., 415-954-0777, 10-1:30 a.m.), where patrons can hear live Irish music all day and nosh on food specials until 6 p.m. Celtic dancers and musicians will drop in throughout the day to entertain revelers looking for an authentically Irish experience -- good food, comfortable chairs and good conversation over a few pints -- before early evening, when the true insanity begins.
Haight Street's An Bodhran Irish Pub (668 Haight St., 415-431-4724, 12 p.m.-2 a.m.) -- the name is Gaelic for an Irish goatskin drum -- celebrates St. Pat's Day with curry and chips, which make lovely happy-hour appetizers. You won't hear live music on Monday, but you can enjoy it all day Sunday if you feel like celebrating early. An Bodran also offers cocktail specials all weekend, including Monday.
The Plough and the Stars (116 Clement St., 415-751-1122, 10-2 a.m.) is one of the best places to experience Irish culture at its rowdiest. Get there early for a seat at the front banquette; otherwise you'll be relegated to standing room only at this Irish pub and pool hall. At 6 p.m., enjoy a performance by the Kennelly School of Irish Dance, followed by live music from Culann's Hounds.
Although Ireland's 32 (3920 Geary Blvd., 386-6173, 10 a.m.-2 a.m.) might play tricks on drunks and tourists, they know how to throw a true St. Paddy's Day bash: enjoy Celtic and Irish rock music all day, free corned beef sandwiches and all the free Irish tchotckes you can carry.
Afterward, stagger to the nearby Pat O'Shea's Mad Hatter (3848 Geary Blvd., 415-752-3148, 6-2 a.m.), where you'll find Irish insanity tempered by sports -- the bar boasts 21 TV sets broadcasting sports around the world. Five different bars will provide enough beer to loosen not only tongues, but also purse strings, as the bar is hosting an all-day fundraiser, aptly titled "Give or Get Pinched," for St. Anthony's Kitchen. Corned beef sandwiches, free tchotckes and live bagpipe music round out the celebration.
What better place to end your day of drunken revelry than The Bitter End Bar and Grill (441 Clement St., 415-221-9538, 3 p.m.-2 a.m.)? Before hailing a cab home, stop into one of Clement Street's coziest Irish bars for cabbage, corned beef sandwiches and live, traditional Irish music. Perhaps a mournful chorus of "Danny Boy" will help send you off to sleep.
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