Fulfill Your Sundays with Garryowen Irish Pub’s New Brunch Menu

With the Garryowen Irish Pub’s owners hailing from Northern Ireland, it’s only right that the meals are as authentic as their roots.

As guests find themselves on Chambersburg Street in Gettysburg, they will see a few steps leading to the lustrous, dark green pub door. Once opened, a traditional Irish feel is hard to miss—from the main bar area filled with whiskey, rustic wooden chairs and Irish décor that says, “My goodness my Guinness” to a menu that includes bangers and mash, a dish of onion sausages over seasoned redskin mashed potatoes and brown gravy.

Garryowen

What’s more, the pub recently introduced its new brunch menu and expanded its walls to accommodate the ever-growing business it attracts.

Owners Joanne and Kevin McCready came to America in the early 1990s. About 15 years later, the two found themselves in Gettysburg visiting old friends and came across a bar for sale—Hamilton’s Tavern. The space was transformed into the Garryowen Irish Pub, and its doors opened for the first time in June 2007.

“Our thing was to take the best of Ireland’s favorite pubs and bring it here,” said Joanne.

Garryowen

Spring 2015 was a big year for the McCreadys, as they added two rooms—the Gosford room and the Scullery—to accommodate more patrons.

The Gosford room bears an upscale feel, with white walls and a wooden chandelier. In addition, various local artwork is displayed on the walls. Every three months the featured artist changes and people have the opportunity to purchase a piece if they desire.

The Scullery, which means “peasants’ kitchen,” is a smaller room with light-green walls. Four barstools are positioned at the bar and four tables are placed precisely around the room. License plates from Ireland decorate the walls and lights dangle from the ceiling.

“It replicates a small-town neighborhood Irish pub,” said general manager Vishaal Kansagra.

Garryowen

On Sundays, people have the opportunity to try the Garryowen’s new brunch menu, which was implemented toward the end of January 2016.

“We felt there was an opening,” said Joanne. “There’s no one in Gettysburg doing brunch right now.”

Brunch is served from 11 a.m.–2 p.m. Sundays. The menu ranges from classic omelets to a bangers n’ beans dish, which includes Irish breakfast bangers, English-style beans, house soda bread and an over-easy egg.

Chef Joe Lapp has worked in the Garryowen kitchen for five years and moved his way up from line cook to sous chef and finally to chef.

Lapp had a hand in creating the brunch menu, finding flavors and favorites that would go over well with the crowd.

Garryowen omelet

Although one may think an omelet is the same at any establishment, Lapp’s creations put that statement to shame.

Patrons can pick three ingredients, such as spinach, tomato or provolone cheese, to add to their omelets. The creation is served with home fries, filling the plate from left to right. The potatoes give off a salty-yet-fresh smell, cooked just right with a hint of crispness. As for the omelet, it easily breaks apart and presents with a variety of colors from the ingredients stuffed inside. The key element in the dish is freshness.

Also on the menu is a lox sandwich, made with raw salmon that Lapp cures with salt and fresh dill for 24 hours. The flavors soak in the lox, which is then paired with an over-easy egg, Dubliner house cheese and a tart tomato relish on a French roll.

Garryowen lox sandwich

The roll adds a needed crunchy texture to the smooth sandwich. Once bitten into, taste buds are greeted with a tangy, sweet sauce that pairs well with the savory egg yolk. The side of home fries offers a salty bite to offset the combination of flavors in the sandwich. Every part of the dish blends well and nothing is overpowering.

To cleanse your palate, the Garryowen’s brunch menu offers specialty cocktails. Guests can enjoy a classic mimosa or try an apricot bellini, made with apricot nectar, Grand Marnier and champagne. If those don’t fit your fancy, there are plenty of other choices.

The popularity of some main dishes on the regular menu also found themselves transformed into a brunch plate. Lapp noticed popularity with shrimp and grits and put a unique spin on it for the early birds.

Garryowen shrimp and grits

He fills a bowl with cheesy grits and tops it with fresh cherry tomatoes marinated in balsamic vinegar and brown sugar. Four shrimp gather together in the center and are covered with small bite-sized pieces of bacon and drizzled with a sherry cream sauce. The bacon provides just enough bite to the creamy dish. Its brown sauce combined with red tomatoes and yellow grits offers an abundance of colors and is appealing to the eye. Each component could stand on its own, but the combination of flavors creates a phenomenal and comforting taste.

The new brunch menu is currently available only on Sundays. However, Joanne said she may make the decision to change that based on its success.

Find the Garryowen Irish Pub at 126 Chambersburg St. in Gettysburg; phone: (717) 337-2719.

  • Photos: Davin Jurgensen

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