On a trip to St. Louis earlier this spring, I got a great deal on a room at the Union Station Hotel which is part of the historic St. Louis Union Station shopping and entertainment complex on the west end of the downtown area. The Union Station Hotel had been a Marriott property for a number of years and had recently changed to a Doubletree property under the Hilton Hotels umbrella. The hotel - which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places - featured a number of updated rooms and, of course, the lovely and ornate Gothic beauty of the Grand Hall (pictured above).
While I can't say enough about how nice the hotel was, the adjacent Union Station shopping and entertainment facility has fallen on hard times. Once one of the premier shopping and restaurant destinations in St. Louis, over half of the spaces available for retail or restaurants at Union Station are now closed. On a nostalgic walk through the place, of the remaining retail spots I counted no less than four different stores that sold baseball-style hats and urban t-shirts. Union Station is a far cry from the retail and entertainment center that it was when I first came here over 20 years ago. Pictured at left is the Midway at Union Station. There were only two stores that were opened in this area when years ago it featured probably four times that many. However, I understand that the Doubletree is looking to expand into parts of the Midway beginning later this year.
It had a been a long day of travel when I got into the hotel around 6:30 p.m. I didn't feel like heading out anywhere far away from the hotel to get something to eat. Most of the remaining dining places in Union Station were of the fast food variety or national chains that I had no interest in visiting. I remembered there was an Irish pub just down the street from the hotel that I'd been to with a friend of mine a few times a number of years ago. The place - Maggie O'Brien's - is still open. I walked the block and a half from the hotel to the restaurant on a beautiful St. Louis evening to get some dinner. (see map)
Maggie O'Brien's has been in business since 1979 and is owned by brothers Pat and Eddie McVey. They bought the business a few years ago from original owner Harry Belli, who also owned the Harry's Restaurant and Bar just up Market Street to the west (as well as two other former Harry's locations in greater St. Louis). Maggie O'Brien was named in honor of Belli's great-grandmother, Winnie O'Brien. It's a popular place to stop before and after events at the Scottrade Arena just three blocks to the east.
The restaurant also has a recent sad past - a bartender was shot to death during a late night robbery attempt in 2009. One of the two would-be robbers was also shot to death, inadvertently it turns out, by the other robber. A former long-time employee of Maggie O'Brien's was sentenced to jail for masterminding the robbery attempt, as were the robber and the look-out. It put a damper on the spirits of bar patrons for a few weeks after, but it's in a relatively safe and high traffic area of St. Louis. Like I say, I walked to and from the bar from the Doubletree.
Maggie O'Brien's hadn't changed much, if any, from the last time I was in there probably 8 or so years ago. Actually, the first time I had been in the place was around 1997 when I went there with my-then-boss and another colleague to check on a Runco projector that was acting up in one of the big rooms in the back that was used for parties, meetings and receptions. The company I was working for at the time was representing Runco. I remember not caring much about what was wrong with the projector, I was much more interested in the selection of beers they had to offer.
Years later, an old roommate of mine from my days at the University of Iowa would meet up with me at Maggie O'Brien's from time to time for a few beers and some food. He's since moved out to the far southwestern suburbs of St. Louis and we see each other sporadically now. So, it was sort of nice to see the dark wood walls and the old Irish pub-style bar area again.
I took a seat at the bar and was greeted by the bartender, Paulie. I asked him if I could get a Smithwick's that they had on tap. I then asked him if he could change the channel on the television in front of me to a game I wanted to watch. He grabbed a remote and did just so. A few moments later, I got his attention and asked if I could get a menu. He quickly said, "No!" I was sort of taken aback, but then he said, "You've asked for too much already!" And he handed me a menu. I immediately liked the guy.
The menu at Maggie O'Brien's is your typical Irish pub fare - appetizers, soups, sandwiches, and entrees such as fish and chips, Irish stew, corned beef and cabbage, and something called the "O' Hen-essy" which was a deep friend chicken breast topped with a lemon butter sauce and cheese. They also have burgers, wraps and St. Louis-style pizza with provel cheese instead of mozzarella. I'll eat a St. Louis-style of pizza from time to time, but I'd rather have mozzarella than provel.
They also have something on the menu Fat Eddie's Big Boys - four sandwiches that include a reuben, a brat burger and something called Paddy Babe's original smoked corned beef. They pile the cornedbeef high on a Kaiser roll and top it with pepper jack cheese, cole slaw and horseradish mustard. I didn't look at the menu any further. After finishing my first Smithwick's of the evening, Paulie came over to get me another and I ordered up the corned beef sandwich, as well. Fries came with the sandwich. I could have cared less about the fries.
The sandwich was placed in front of me about 15 minutes after I ordered. Sweet marinated cole slaw - the kind of cole slaw that I love - was slathered across the top of a pile of smoke corned beef. The pepperjack cheese was underneath the meat. Thick, succulent slices of corned beef poked out from underneath the cole slaw. I took a couple bites of the cole slaw on its own and determined it was very similar to the marinated cole slaw my wife and I simply go nuts over at the Belgian Village back in Moline, IL. (Click here to see my entry on the Belgian Village.) I even pulled a couple chunks of the corned beef out from under the slaw to give it a try. The meat was flavorful, tender and juicy.
Putting the lid down on the sandwich, I was a little worried that all the taste sensations would counteract each other. But the first bite diminished any trepidation I had originally. The taste of the cole slaw, the pepperjack cheese, the great corned beef - even the bun - was exceptional. I couldn't believe that I'd never had this before - or maybe they didn't have it on the menu when I had been in years ago. I didn't even bother with the fries - they were sort of cold and lifeless, like they'd been sitting in a bin under a tepid heat lamp for a couple hours. I honestly can't tell you anything about the other food on the menu, but the Paddy Babe's original smoked corned beef was simply outstanding.
It was good to reconnect with a place like Maggie O'Brien's. My sandwich was great, Paulie did a good job of taking care of my requests, and the bar still had that old Irish Pub feeling to it. I don't know if I'll get a good deal on a room at the Doubletree on future visits to St. Louis, but for a good corned beef sandwich just a short walk from anywhere on the west end of downtown St. Louis, Maggie O'Brien's is tough to beat.
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