Satisfy your corned beef craving at Coralville's Pat & Fran's Irish Pub - The Gazette: Eastern Iowa Breaking News and Headlines

About a month after Pat & Fran’s Irish Pub Nov. 27 opening, a petite, elderly customer ordered a Guinness and the corned beef dinner. An Irish coffee finished off her meal. Before she left, the woman told co-owner Nick Carroll that she hadn’t eaten corned beef that tasty since the death of her parents, both Irish immigrants.

“That made my day,” said Carroll, who also is of Irish descent.

The first Carroll in his family to emigrate from Ireland arrived in the United States in 1867, landing in Iowa three years later. A highlight of the pub’s Irish- and Iowa-themed wall decor is the 1948 wedding photo of Pat and Fran Carroll, Carroll’s grandparents, and the bar’s namesakes. Theirs was a traditional large, Irish Catholic farm family, Carroll said.

But the food served at Pat & Fran’s isn’t based on his family recipes. Instead, he and co-owner Robert “Bobby” or “Rob” Olson II relied on their kitchen manager Rick McCombs. He developed Irish-inspired dishes that would appeal to Iowans.

In the United States, corned beef is synonymous with Irish food. Traditionally corned beef begins with beef brisket that is cured in a pickling brine that gives the meat a distinctive taste. Most Americans know it best from St. Patrick’s Day corned beef and cabbage specials or Reuben sandwiches (corned beef, Swiss cheese, sauerkraut and Thousand Island salad dressing on rye bread).

At Pat & Fran’s, the slow-cooked, housemade corned beef serves as the base for many dishes, from appetizers to sandwiches and entrees. There’s Corned Beef Dip served with housemade kettle chips and crab rangoon-inspired Reubetons stuffed with the same. The Corned Beef Dinner gets topped with — what else? — corned beef gravy and is served with a side.

The sides aren’t just the same old, same old you’ve come to expect. Sure, you can choose housemade kettle chips or seasoned French fries and the Caesar salad is familiar. But the fried red potatoes are tossed in butter and ranch seasoning. Mashed potatoes are taken to the next level with garlic and fire-roasted corn. And mac ’n cheese starts with pasta spirals smothered in one of several house cheese sauces.

And then there are the Irish green beans. Fresh beans, onions and bacon are sauteed in butter before a splash of Jameson Irish Whiskey bursts into flames and deglazes the pan. Jameson also is added to a barbecue sauce, one of several sauces offered for dipping Jumbo Chicken Wings, Saucy Nugs (boneless chicken nuggets) or Vegetarian Saucy Nugs of fried cauliflower.

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Vegetarians will find plenty of options on the menu. There’s Pat & Fran’s House Mac slathered in cheddar cheese sauce or sub an Impossible Burger for any beef patty on the menu. As a burger lover, Carroll was surprised by how much he loves both the Avocado Reuben and Veggie Sandwich.

Meat-loving burger eaters will likely choose from the fresh, never-frozen, hand-formed six-ounce patties of ground beef options. Served on your choice of a pretzel bun, marble rye, or sourdough, burgers can be beefed up with a second patty. Pat & Fran’s offers regular burgers and cheeseburgers, plus a Mushroom & Swiss and Patty Melt featuring Swiss cheese. A unique creation is a Chicago Dog Burger with both a beef patty and all-beef hot dog topped with sport peppers, pickle relish, tomato, celery salt and a pickle spear.

A heartier appetite will be satisfied by a bowl of Irish stew or something from the Mac Attack section. Smoked chicken mac has pepper jack cheese sauce, the Irish Mac Swiss cheese, peas and carrots and corned beef. Can’t decide between mac ’n cheese and a burger? The McKelvey Mac ‘N Cheeseburger includes both plus bacon and pepper jelly.

If you think drinking when you hear the word Irish, the 20 on-tap beers and variety of Irish and Iowa whiskeys aren’t likely to disappoint. Whiskeys — local Short’s and Cedar Ridge plus Irish mainstay Jameson and single-pot Redbreast and Green Spot Irish whiskeys — form the base of cocktails with a new twist. Beers include regional pours from Iowa Brewing, Lion Bridge, Reunion and Big Grove plus perennial Irish favorites Killian’s Irish Red and Guinness stout.

Guinness also is added to the beer cheese sauce for dipping pretzels, cheese soup with veggies and an ice cream float with chocolate and caramel sauced scoops of vanilla ice cream floating in a cold Irish stout.

Carroll, a Coralville resident, and Olson of North Liberty have known each other for years. They connected through Carroll’s day job as regional manager of a hospitality company that runs bars. Olson’s kids had worked with Carroll.

It was Olson’s son, Robert “Bo” Olson III, who planted the idea the two should open a bar together. It was on the bucket list Bo Olson gave to his parents while he was battling aggressive brain cancer. He died in August at the age of 25.

It was around then that Carroll noticed the building that formerly housed Tap ’N Tacos was available in an area short on late-night food options. He pitched the idea to Olson, and they went for it.

Despite opening during a pandemic, Carroll was confident that the area needed a neighborhood bar and a late-night option for food: he lives two blocks away. He walks his dog past the pub every day. The pandemic had an upside: good staff from restaurants that hadn’t survived were available for hire.

“We’ve got a nice team of people put together,” Carroll said.

Working in hospitality and owning a bar hasn’t diminished his enjoyment of Pat & Fran’s.

“It’s about being social whether you’re on the bartender side or bar side having a beer and relaxing,” he said. “I take pleasure in taking care of others.”

If you go

• What: Pat & Fran’s Irish Pub

• Where: 808 Fifth St., Suite 8, Coralville

• Hours: 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. seven days a week; the kitchen is open until midnight

• Details: (319) 351-1459, patandfrans.com

Published On: Thu, 11 Mar 2021 15:08:46 GMT