A Touch of Irish St. Paul in the Food Building: O’Gara’s Offers Corned Beef and Cabbage on a Stick

Dan and Kris O’Connor, proprietors of the Irish landmark O’Gara’s Bar and Grill in St. Paul, were sweating it out Sunday in the afternoon heat of the fair’s Food Building. This is the fifth year they’ve operated a food booth at the fair, and this year, they’ve got a new product — appropriately enough, Corned Beef and Cabbage on a stick.

Dan said that customers like it, as well as their other Irish food, which they’ve adapted from the bar menu.

During the 12 days of the fair, the couple shuttles back and forth along Snelling between the bar and the fair. They try to schedule it so they can each get their work done at the bar and still spend as much time as possible in the fair booth.

Dan is the third generation to run the bar; his grandfather, James, started it in 1941, followed by his son, Tim, who died in 2004. Dan said his mother, Anna Marie, is doing well, but was up at the lake, so I didn’t get to see her.

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