Business Profile: Annie Molloy’s Irish Castle, Putnam Lake
Patrick Stewart has worked for 40 years in the restaurant business, 20 as the bar manager at Washington Irving Boat Club in Tarrytown. When he and his wife, Kristen, decided to open a restaurant, Stewart went back to his childhood.
“I grew up in the Bronx, through the 60s, when there were more Irish in the Bronx,” Stewart said. “My neighborhood in the Bronx was very Irish at the time. It was a lot of fun—tons of Irish bars. The music was mostly Irish in background. It was guys from Ireland and their kids; first and second generation Irish. Everybody hung around partying, having a good time, the way it was then. I miss it.”
Stewart is reclaiming that atmosphere with his restaurant Annie Molly’s Irish Castle in Putnam Lake.
“We’re trying to bring one of the old Bronx-Irish pubs to Putnam Lake,” said Stewart. “To me it always seemed different. There was never any trouble, never any fights. Everybody was in a good mood; just dancing in the bars, kind of a carefree kind of life. It was a time where families could bring their kids into a bar and not worry about them.”
The restaurant, located in a castle-like building with an expansive view of Putnam Lake, is named after Stewart’s mother, whose parents, like Stewart’s father, were immigrants from the county Offaly, which Stewart described as “right in the middle of the Republic.”
“If you threw a dart at the map of Ireland,” Stewart said. “Bulls-eye.”
Annie Molloy’s is not about shamrocks or leprechauns.
“The theme of the place is Irish immigration to America,” said Stewart. “The pictures depict traveling from Ireland to here. There are no shamrocks or leprechauns. It is a celebration of immigration to the United States.”
Stewart geared his restaurant away from the loud, 20-something, club-like atmosphere to a more mature clientele.
“The crowd here is a local, neighborhood, mature, afternoon crowd into the evening,” Stewart said. “For the dining crowd, we’re very child friendly so it’s a lot of families through the dining hours which would be five to 10 p.m. Then at 10 p.m. when the dining room closes the crowd is anywhere from 25 to 65. It’s a pretty good mixed crowd.”
For St. Patrick’s Day weekend, Stewart has a DJ playing on Saturday night (March 16). “The music will be a little Irish, a little country, a little rock, a little of everything,” Stewart said.
Then on Sunday afternoon on March 17, there will be a full Irish menu available. “And there will be live Irish music. I will be on the accordion doing some Irish songs and I have a trio with my bartender Jamie and his dad, Scotty Cairney, who owns Putnam Lake Liquor,” Stewart said. “We have a little trio and will be doing all the traditional Irish songs, kind of an impromptu music session on St. Paddy’s Day that should bring a lot of local people in.”
Stewart describes the food as “high end pub fare.”
“Everything is fresh as possible; we stay away from frozen,” Stewart said. “We have sandwiches, appetizers, burgers and blackboard specials, some with an Irish theme. We also have bangers and mash.”
Of course for St. Patrick’s Day there will be corned beef and cabbage, fish and chips as well as Guinness-cooked beef stew on the menu.
“One of our specialties is our soup which is the Irish and Ale soup, similar to French onion but we make it with sherry and Smithwick’s Irish ale,” said Stewart.
Stewart is especially proud of their signature burger, the Fat Boy Molloy.
“That’s one-half pound of black angus beef, cheese, melted onion, bacon, served between two grilled cheese sandwiches,” Stewart said. “It’s very popular. The food is much better than you would expect at a pub. People leave here thinking, ‘Wow’.”
Annie Molloy’s Irish Castle is located at 173 Haviland Drive in Patterson, just three minutes from Brewster, phone: 845-278-8601, open Mon. thru Fri. 3—close, Sat. and Sun, noon—close.
By Larry Miles
Adam has worked in the local news industry for the past two decades in Westchester County and the broader Hudson Valley. Read more from Adam’s author bio here.