By Paddy McCarthy
I did tell you last week that I was taking a trip up to East Durham in the Catskills and yes I did. I was at the Grand Opening of Five Furlongs Tavern, and boy was it a blast. It was all down to Garrett Doyle, founder of New York City’s Tuttles Bar & Grill (www.tuttlesnyc.com) that his newest restaurant Five Furlongs Tavern (2478 New York Highway 145; www.five furlong.com) opened its doors on August 12th and I was invited along together with Eamonn Maher of Foxy Johns (45th Street, between Third and Lexington Avenues) and of course the Coffee Man himself, Peter Scalley, now where would yea get it. We got to East Durham at about 3 pm and we checked into The Shamrock House which is only about 100 yards down the road as we were staying overnight, I am sure you can understand why…
We knew we were in for a very long evening so we decided check out one or two other Irish establishments as we are now in the ‘Irish reverie’ as it was known for all those years and years. It did not disappoint either as it seems this is the place to go if you are not traveling overseas because it’s like any country town in Ireland and if you close your eyes you would think yourself in Kerry, Cork, Galway or anywhere in Ireland for that matter. Five Furlongs has thirty-two flagpoles outside carrying the flags of all the Counties of Ireland, now isn’t that nice.
Now as we’d traveled a long way, we had to check out the neighborhood and that we did that starting a couple of pints in The Shamrock House. Along with warm Irish hospitality comes a warm family-friendly and relaxed dining experience. Lunch is available in the bar featuring great ‘Pub Grub’. Food at the Pub is available all day, every day. This is where we stayed and the staff were just excellent and so nice with a great welcome. They seem to be very busy in their restaurant and yes, we also had a meal that you can write home about it was so good. We hung there for maybe an hour so we decided to take a trip to another well-known establishment and that was Gavin’s Irish Country Inn that has been in business since 1961 and run by the same family. The lady behind the scenes that promotes it all is none other than Bernadette Gavin and a great job she is doing as well. Here is some of the entertainment that she said will be coming up at Gavin’s: Derek Warfield and the Young Wolf Tones are hoping to play here Labor Day weekend. They will also have the very popular Andy Cooney, playing for the whole Labor Day weekend, Diddly Idols, Nial O’Hagan, Brian McArtin and a few others.
On our visit we got to meet John Gavin Jr. whose dad had the same name, who was serving in the outside bar when who did I meet? Only Susan Gillespie and her husband Gerard Corbett who are also firm favorites in Gavin’s Irish Country Inn. Again we tested the drinks and had a good chat about the history of Gavin’s as the last time I was up there it was when the great Joe Murphy was my boss when I was with The Irish Voice. Joe was so well known to everyone in the Catskills. Gavin’s have some fabulous packages that are well worth checking out. For more information call (518) 634-2582 or go to their website at www.gavins.com.
We also checked out The Michael J. Quill Irish Cultural and Sports Center whose objective is to preserve and promote Irish/ Irish American culture and artistic heritage. They host, sponsor and promote several Irish festivals and events, most notably the Catskills Irish Arts Week. The Quill Center is home to the Irish Park, a one-acre map of Ireland constructed entirely of red bricks. This map has the distinction of being the largest map of Ireland in the world, with all the counties correctly laid out and named.
Other East Durham Irish Resorts of note include The Blackthorn, The Country Place, McGrath’s Hotel, Michael Dee’s Motel, Weldon House, and Stack’s Lamppost as East Durham is the ‘Emerald Isle of the Catskills’. It also has one the best Irish gift stores called Guaranteed Irish that has almost every gift you might need from Ireland. Here are some pictures that got from East Durham. Being in East Durham is something I will not forget and I’ll hopefully be back up again soon. I have a great feeling that Five Furlongs Tavern will fit in very nicely.
See you all again when I am Out&About…