Slainte! Saint Paddy’s Day is still more than a week away, but shamrock season has already started in Bay Ridge. And Bay Ridge Nights has a modest proposal or two for your week’s end.
Don’t let the German last name fool you — your Bay Ridge Nights guide is bursting with half-Irish pride (case in point — did you know that a proper shamrock has only three leaves, as Saint Patrick used it to teach the Catholic concept of the Trinity to the Irish pagans?). So head on down to the old main drag this weekend, and raise a pint of Gat to the Emerald Isle.
Start Friday at one of Bay Ridge’s finest Irish public houses, Pipin’s Pub [9701 Third Ave. at 97th Street], where singer — and former police officer — Brian Monaghan will regale the audience with acoustic Celtic tunes starting at 9 pm. Or if you would prefer to dance and have a bit of craic, head to the Harp [7710 Third Ave. between 77th and 78th streets] at 10 pm for the “Saturday Night Dance Mix” with DJ Sally B. The man at the tables may be Italian, but the bar is pure Eire.
Aye, but Saturday is when the streets really run kelly green. Have a whale of a time down at the Yellow Hook Grille [7003 Third Ave. at Ovington Avenue] with John Rafferty, a Brooklyn-born Irish rocker whose original songs bear hints of both traditional Celtic folk and country music — and, of course, classic rock. Or stop by another of the neighborhood’s esteemed Irish institutions, Hunter’s Steak & Ale House [9404 Fourth Ave. between 94th and 95th streets], where Frankie Marra — the president of Bay Ridge’s famous Saint Patrick’s Day Parade committee — and Tony Monier will strum a set of classic crowd-pleasing ditties.
If you really want to say “cead mile failte” to the Irish spring, head up to Kitty Kiernan’s [9715 Third Ave. between 97th Street and Marine Avenue] to catch all-original singer-songwriter Brion Riborn on the acoustic guitar. The music is not quite Irish, but the bar’s ambience is enough to have you thinking you’re back in dear, dirty Dublin.
Erin go bragh!
