James Joyce Irish Pub & Eatery opens in Patchogue
Buffalo wings are on the menu at the James Joyce Irish Pub & Eatery, a 4,200-square-foot space that has opened in Patchogue. Credit: James Joyce Irish Pub
Was James Joyce exhausted or exhilarated after writing the 730-page masterpiece “Ulysses”? It’s hard to say. At a new Patchogue pub named for the author, though, you can study his painted face on a mural and decide for yourself, possibly while nursing a beer.
The cavernous, 4,200-square-foot James Joyce Irish Pub & Eatery has opened on South Ocean Avenue in Patchogue, with 20 taps, an undulating centerpiece bar, an Irish-inflected menu and a mural devoted to the author and life in Dublin in general.
It’s the newest venture from partners Lorcan Phelan, John Murphy and Colm Ashe, also the owners of the Irish Times pub in Holbrook.
They’ve spent months converting what used to be Jay’s Cotton Shop into a soaring space of warm wood walls and booths, pressed-tin ceilings and a dining mezzanine overlooking the main floor.
The pub’s starters are anchored in bar and comfort food — like Buffalo wings ($9 to 16) and poutine ($9) — with healthier outliers such as pastrami-smoked salmon with caper vinaigrette ($13). The kitchen grills up four burgers ($12 to 15), include a vegan version, as well as wraps, sandwiches and dinner plates that bounce from corned beef and cabbage ($19) to crispy IPA chicken with onion-panko crust and beer cheese ($20). Anyone who’s ever hankered to top their mac-and-cheese with corned beef can do that here, for $18.
Phelan said there will be live music, and eventually, a downstairs space may be converted into a speak-easy.
James Joyce Irish Pub & Eatery, 49 S. Ocean Ave., Patchogue, 631-562-4000, jamesjoyceny.com
