Dickie O'Neal's pub makes it easy to eat, drink and toast the Irish

Dickie O'Neal's owner Michael Farber wasn't feeling very lucky last December when rain storms caused the roof of his Palm Springs pub to collapse.

Open for business for barely a month, he was forced to close.

While devastating, Farber saw it as an opportunity to make some tweaks and come back stronger.



“When we first opened, we noticed a couple of things that could have been done better,” he admitted.

“Restaurants don't often get a chance to take care of those little opening problems, but we did.”
If you're looking to raise a glass to St. Patrick tomorrow night and chase it down with some tasty grub, consider the newly reopened Dickie O'Neal's. The public house is getting a rare second chance to make a first impression. And that, you could say, is really the luck of the Irish.



Sitting below a portrait of the pub's namesake, Farber revealed the origin of the red-bearded mascot: “Dickie is a pure figment of my imagination.”



Figment or not, there are several portraits of Dickie scattered about the pub, designed by Joey Leffel, including a set she designed that could have been painted by Andy Warhol.



Farber pushed hard to get the building repairs completed by St. Patrick's Day — when everybody is at least a wee bit Irish. He made it by days, opening at 7 a.m. on Saturday.



“I wanted to give the cooks a couple of days to get back up to speed,” he said.



The menu — featuring recipes gleaned from “varied sources and taste-tested by the staff” — offers several traditional Irish dishes and others that have undergone Celtic makeovers, including:

St. Patrick's Corned Beef and Cabbage — slices of corned beef piled high over cabbage, boiled potatoes and carrots ($8.95).
Garnish Island Fish and Chips — deep-fried North Atlantic battered cod and fries, served with house made coleslaw and tartar sauce ($11.95).
Barryscourt Castle Shepherd's Pie, with bits of beef and/or lamb and garden vegetables in a savory gravy, topped with mashed potatoes and cheese ($8.95).
Bangers and Mash — sausages and mashed potatoes; a pub favorite across the British isles ($6.95).
The traditional dishes, along with burgers, chicken, salads and pizzas, all go down better with one of the eight beers on tap, including Guinness.


While Farber originally planned a larger St. Patrick's Day celebration at Dickie's, he's keeping things in perspective.


“We're happy to be open,” he said.”


Judith Salkin is a features writer. She can be reached at (760) 778-4771 or judith.salkin@thedesertsun.com.