The old St. Bernard's Dining Hall on the corner of Dan Patch Avenue and Cosgrove Street has been transformed into O'Gara's at the Fair.
The new building's décor features pieces of the original bar from O'Gara's in St. Paul, century-old chandeliers that once hung at the University of Minnesota and a huge antique wooden arch from northern Minnesota.
The revamped dining hall building also has two new kitchens. Workers will cook up items from an expanded menu which includes breakfast items.
"We're doing eggs to order and sausage and bacon and homemade pancakes," O'Gara said. "One thing that St. Bernard's did was great home cooked meals. We're really trying to focus on the food and doing a great breakfast."
Also on the menu this year, the popular O'Gara's Reuben sandwich, four types of burgers and sweet potato tater tots.
Which all sounds well and good. But when you hear the name O'Gara's, there's only one star of the show:
Fairgoers hoping to wet their whistle won't be disappointed either. O'Gara's at the Fair will have 10 different beers on tap, including Guinness and Smithwick's.
Yaggada yaggada! Not sure if Guinness or Smithwick's will be the optimal compliment for the glorious heat and grease of a MN State Fair. But I'll be happy to painstakingly test for a superior option among each of the other eight brews. This is also good news for the Scotch Egg eating contestants as well, who will now have easy access to the perfect digestive aid as they attempt to devour their deep fried sausage and eggs on a stick.
No sign of the complete Fair beer list at O'Gara's Web site. But they do have some other details of their State Fair activities:
We'll have Tom Dahill and Ginny Johnson playing Irish music … weekends 1:00 - 3:00 PM and 5:00 - 7:00 PM.
Well all right, time to get my jig on! Conveniently timed for when the NARN First Team wraps up it's broadcast day at 1PM.
Note for fans of Mitch and Ed on NARN 2, that lively, jumpy fiddle and tin whistle music you'll be hearing in the background is not due to signal shortcomings and a 24/7 Gaelic reel station bleeding through. No, it's that way by design.
