An authentic Irish pub to settle down and have a good time is at Fionn MacCools. Located at the Jacksonville Landing under the Main Street Bridge, Fionn MacCool’s offers a family friendly Irish pub experience for everyone. I sat down with Patty Trousdell and she let me explore the history of Fionn MacCools.
Owned by Amy McNulty; Patty’s sister, she travelled to Ireland several times and got to work with Guinness concept pubs. Amy always dreamed about having an Irish pub and wanted it to become a reality. All the materials for the restaurant were shipped from Ireland, and the restaurant opened at the beaches in 2005. The restaurant later moved to the Jacksonville Landing, opening in March of 2011, just in time for St. Patrick’s Day. Its current location has a community feel, with business influences, and is surrounded by great hotels.
The executive chef of Fionn MacCools, John Walker, is the man that makes it all happen. He is a fabulous chef and makes everything in the kitchen from scratch. John started as a line cook for 4 years and worked his way up to become a sous chef. He handles high volume well on days like the Florida/ Georgia game, Tax Slayer Bowl, New Year’s Eve celebrations, St. Patrick’s Day, Fourth of July and so on. The recent high volume for the restaurant was the Tree Lighting Ceremony at the Jacksonville Landing. Speaking of handling high volume, John runs his kitchen efficiently, the staff is close to each other, and everyone is treated like family.
While talking about the food at Fionn MacCools, I got a chance to try one of their favorite dishes; Fish and Chips which is made with Atlantic Cod from Safe Harbor, deep fried in their beer batter, and served up with fries and peas. Another one of Fionn MacCools favorite’s is the Shepherd’s Pie made with ground lamb with diced carrots, onions, celery, and peas in a rich sauce, and topped with mashed potatoes, cheddar cheese, and then stuffed in a pie crust and baked. I asked Chef John what his favorite dish was, and he said that his favorite is the Pork belly, topped with BBQ sauce, and served with bacon and cheddar risotto and sautéed spinach. Other favorites from Fionn MacCools are Reuben Spring Rolls, Corned Beef and Cabbage, Guinness BBQ Wings, and Irish Whiskey Cake.
Spring Rolls Whiskey Cake Fish & Chips
Fionn MacCools holds many charity events at their home base. Recently they had the Pig Jig, a BBQ Cook off that benefited Operation New Uniform. An upcoming event coming to Jacksonville is the Cupid Undie’s Run that will be held in February. In April, they will be having a corn hole tournament with proceeds going to the Down Syndrome Association of Jacksonville. Many more events will be held there in the future.
They have a cool happy hour called BWX: Beer and Whiskey Exchange everyday from 5-8pm and have additional Happy hour Friday and Saturday nights from 10-12. They have over 40 beers on tap including local craft beers, Guinness heart mix and seasonal beers. This is like the stock exchange but with alcohol. Come out to supply and demand your next drink. As they say, “Buy Low, Drink Up”!
