Patch Picks: Where to Celebrate St. Patty's Day

You took the time to find that green shirt, the shamrock earrings or your lucky Irish tie.  And after a long week, you deserve to kick back and enjoy this mid-week holiday.   In fact, sit back right now and let Patch pick out a couple places that just might be perfect for your St. Patrick's Day celebration.

• 14401 Excelsior Boulevard in Minnetonka
• In honor of St. Patty's Day, the Gold Nugget Tavern & Grille will be cooking up a special burger topped with Swiss cheese, corned beef, sauerkraut and 1000 island dressing. And of course the only beer to have with it is Guinness!

Kip's Authentic Irish Pub and Bar

• 9970 Wayzata Boulevard in St. Louis Park
• Kip's Irish Pub & Restaurant is centrally located near the intersection of 394 & 169 in St. Louis Park – just minutes from Minnetonka. On St. Patty’s Day, plan to spend your day at Kips. Start off at 6am with KDWB's Dave Ryan in the morning show broadcast live from Kips, $5 breakfast buffet and green beer specials starting at 8am!

Maynard's Restaurant

• 685 Excelsior Boulevard in Excelsior
• Maynard's has got corn beef and cabbage plus green beer and margaritas on their St. Patty's Day menu. They will also be featuring their world class happy hour specials from 3 p.m.-6 p.m. and from 8 p.m.-midnight!
 And for a little twist on things, they will be playing the German drinking game Hammerschlagen outside!

Jake O’Connor’s Public House

• 200 Water Street in Excelsior
• From 10 a.m. until 1 a.m. close, this authentic Irish restaurant will feature live music from local bands Traveled Ground and Capel Street. On the menu are Irish favorites like corn beef and cabbage and pot pie. Drink specials throughout the day/night including tap beer, house wines and rail drinks for $4.

O'Gara's Bar & Grill

• 164 North Snelling Avenue in St. Paul
• O'Gara's will be celebrating it's 70th anniversary starting at 8 a.m. this St. Patrick's Day. The event will take up the entire establishment's lot with music, food, drinks and bagpipers inside and out. There will be a tent set up in the parking lot with various vendors and musical acts performing throughout the afternoon.

Kieran's Irish Pub

• 330 Second Avenue South in  NE Minneapolis
• This Minneapolis staple is hosting nine musical acts on the big holiday starting at noon on the main stage.

O'Donovans Irish Pub

• 700 North 1st Avenue in Minneapolis
• O'Donovan's is hosting an all-day tent party with bands and bagpipers from around the Twin Cities. Enjoy drinks, food and authentic Irish music from open to close.

 May the luck of the Irish be with you Thursday and please make arrangements for sober transportation if you're taking in the green beer. In 2009, there were 103 crash fatalities on St. Patrick’s Day in the United States—37 percent of those crashes involved an impaired driver and/or motorcyclist with a (BAC) of .08 and higher. Click here to play a  St. Patrick’s Day impaired driving simulation video game if you need more evidence that “buzzed driving” is “drunk driving.” 

Happy St. Patrick's Day!