All summer Restaurantarama has been dying to know what kind of renovations are going on behind that mysterious plywood façade in front of what soon will be Trinity Irish Pub on University Avenue. As we first told you in January, Chicago native Ryan Rooney and his partner, Kevin Badke, have been transforming the old beer-soaked and fraternity-basement-esque site of the former O’Neil’s Irish Pub into a more classic but sophisticated type of hang-out that Rooney says is characteristic of the Lincoln Park area of Chicago, where he has owned and run pubs. Rooney just happened to be sitting outside on a visit to Charlottesville when the building’s owner was having the “For Lease” sign hung in O’Neil’s window last year, and says he wanted to turn the prominent (and huge) Corner spot into the kind of place where professionals come for lunch and happy hour and then the younger people come out for the night, and “it all just seems to perfectly flow,” he says.
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Kevin Badke, pictured, and partner Ryan Rooney are bringing a sophisticated Irish vibe to the Corner. |
Trinity now has three carved wood bars, newly finished floors, better lighting, a new upstairs balcony, a second set of bathrooms, all new wiring and sound systems and, thank goodness, a much more functional and aesthetically pleasing façade with French doors in place of that weird white boxy window thing that used to be there. “It’s just simple lines. Real wood. It should be able to sit like it is for 50 years.”
Rooney says the place will be Irish pub more in atmosphere and attitude than in design or cuisine. Among the 16 taps, will be Guinness, of course, as well as other “mainstream beers,” says Rooney. “We aren’t going to paint big orange, green and white strips on the wall or anything. “We’re going to have a small menu—sandwiches, salads. It will be a little healthier and lighter than what’s typically associated with bar food. We aren’t going to have fried potato skins,” says Rooney.
Trinity may not be fat in the food department, but it will be fat in terms of TVs. Each of the three barrooms will have multiple big screens, and three separate sound systems will enable, for example, folks in one bar to watch the game while folks in another jam to a D.J. and folks in the third enjoy live music.
Rooney plans to open Trinity by the start of school.
Hot dogs and crazy dogs
We have two things to clear up this week. One is the location of What Up Dog—on the mall. Cart owner Tom Jakubowski is serving his Boar’s Head beef dogs—with 31 different toppings (seven kinds of mustard!)—in front of the Regal Cinemas, not on the other end of the mall as we’d told you two weeks ago. Apologies to Jakubowski for our mistake, which fortunately gives us the opportunity to tell you that as of two weeks ago, he added a Tennessee-style barbeque sandwich on Chandler’s Bakery rolls to his menu and soon plans to install lighting over his cart so he can serve his dogs after dark.
The other thing to correct is the name of the new place taking over from Il Cane Pazzo next to Vinegar Hill Theater. It’s Camino, not El Camino as had been advertised in the press release for its first event—a pre- and post-reception for the screening of Fresh, the Movie, a fundraiser for Kay’s Kitchen. While attending the event Restaurantarama learned that Camino will open shortly and serve Mediterranean-inspired fare from local, organic ingredients.
