Out & About

We visited the Fitzpatrick's Grand Central hotel last Thursday night and sat out in the rear courtyard under the Stars on what was a beautiful evening. John Fitzpatrick has done it again - a great place to meet with superb service and management, the pints were flying so we stayed for a few.

Barry Twomey of O'Connor's Fairways Travel was seen back in town after his long trip to Europe - some like it hot!

Also back from his Easter break with his suntan from Arizona is Eamonn Maher from Eamonn's Bar and Grill, some guys have all the fun.

Last Friday night, Stitch on 37th street between 7th & 8th Avenues on the west side was packed again... hosts Nick Cohen and Kevin McKenny were there to greet us. You have got to visit as it has got everything just right in terms of food and atmosphere...A tribute to Tommy Makem will be held on this Friday March 28th at 8pm at the Lauralton Town Hall, Millford featuring The Makem and Spain Brothers with the John Whelan band. For details call (203)882-0251.

Gerry Adams was also in town last week for a few events... we met up with him for a breakfast meeting at the Affina hotel with Sean and Larry Downes... thank you boys for the invite.

Bobby Van's restaurant on east 54th Street is a great place to visit when your in town. Get to meet the boss, Joe Smith, a Belfast native. Just up the road Papillion Bar & Restaurant has two huge floors, try to meet the manager Carol O'Connor from Dublin who always has a smile and a warm greeting for everybody that steps inside.

A big upset last Friday at the Mohegan Sun Arena for the Irishman from Limerick, southpaw Andy Lee. Fighting against Brian Vera, the fight was stopped in the 7th round as Lee had a cut over his eye, I am sure he will get a rematch... As we are on boxing, congratulations to James Moore on his victory over veteran J.C. Candelo at Madison Square Garden, a win on unanimous points.

On our travels this past week we met Christopher Reilly, Vice President for Setanta Sports who have just moved into their new office in the Empire State Building. We also met up with Thomas Farley, Senior Editor of Town & Country magazine along with Robert Gibbons from Enterprise Network Services and a member of IBO who certainly gets around, you never where you are next going to meet him... The Irish American Cultural Institute were out in force also last week - Jackie Walsh, Executive Director and Geralyn Keating, Director, good to see them making the rounds... We visited the Galway Hooker on Friday. A capacity crowd was installed for the March Madness Basketball. We had a wonderful pint with owner Johno before he headed off to the big fight at Mohegan Sun with the boys in their stretch limousine - I bet some drinks were had on that trip, we also saw Donald entertaining other customers at tables... well somebody had to work!

Hope you all had a great Easter weekend see you next week