Story and picture by Jim Larson
Irish Johnny sits across from me in Butte’s rapidly forming new Shawn O’Donnell’s location.
Tradesmen take a lunch break to give us room for our interview, but just as they leave another comes in, anxious to complete an installation.
In addition to being Shawn O’Donnell’s point man in Butte, Johnny is one of the company’s corporate officers. He believes the new location will be open by “the eighth, ninth, or tenth of March.”
Noting that no plan survives contact with the enemy, I asked Johnny if any unforeseen obstacles appeared as the company moved to open their new location.
He says that the building is one of the oldest in Butte, built-in 1884. “It comes with great beauty. It comes with great history and many stories and a lot of secrets, but it comes with its challenges.” The location had a couple of plumbing “hiccups,” but he notes that “for any challenge that we ran into, the people of Butte had a solution.”
Pointing to community support for the endeavor, Johnny says that he was able to work with the city, and he worked with “local tradespeople who dropped everything to help.” There was nothing that slowed down the effort too much, he says.
When I ask if there would be anything “uniquely Butte” about the new location, Johnny says “We have a lot of memorabilia in particular that’s going to be unique to Butte. He said that he had acquired Butte police and fire memorabilia, and they also had some wonderful photos of Butte boxers. The boxing photos will go in the men’s room. Photos of prominent women from Butte will adorn the ladies’ room. The Butte America foundation donated a Columbia Gardens roller coaster car, and that will be prominently featured in the restaurant, he says.
The restaurant will serve top-of-the-line authentic Irish Pub food, and corned beef and cabbage will be on the menu daily, Johnny says. The corned beef will come with colcannon mashed potatoes, and a little side of soda bread. The bread is made there and is an old family recipe. The menu will also include fish and chips, a Butte favorite, and the shepherd’s pie is made “the traditional way, with lamb,” he says. Another menu item that Johnny predicts will be a hit, is Guinness beef stew. “I think the people of Butte will enjoy that a lot," he says.
Summing up, Johnny says, “I think what people need to know about Shawn O’Donnell’s is that we’re a family-owned and operated little Irish restaurant here in the heart of Uptown Butte, in the Ireland of the Rockies. We’ve got a couple of focus points, and the big one is great food and a family-friendly atmosphere. And you know, we’re traditional in our Irish values and how we operate. I think we’re going to have a good time here. We’re good people, good to work for, and we’re here for a good time.”
