Sports bar and Irish pub combine in a sprawling space right on the Miami River with view of downtown across the water. Many folks arrive by boat and dock for lunch or dinner. The owners took over a closed marina and developed it into a neighborhood hangout, adding a patio, pool (bring a swimsuit), pub bar and raw bar with cherrystone clams, crab caws, oysters and peel and eat shrimp on ice, served with cocktail sauce or ground horseradish. The burgers are also popular along with pulled pork barbecue sandwiches, whole roast pork (Sunday afternoons), steaks, salads, pizza, catch of the day and bar food like creamy cheese and spinach dip with chips, spicy wings and oysters Rockefeller. Come in shorts and flip-flops or business attire.
Virginia Kay is the soul of Finnegan 's River, where everyone will be Irish in spirit on Tuesday when green beer, Guinness specials, a DJ, live music, a bag piper and a green-dyed pool (bring a swimsuit) mark St. Patrick's Day.
Kay spent the first half of her life as a schoolteacher in Chicago. Then her son Tony discovered a cheap hotel in South Beach on spring break in 1984 and enticed her to come down and search for investment property. She bought and opened the Clevelander on Ocean Drive, sold it in 2000 and opened the first Finnegan 's. Another on Lincoln Road followed.
About three years ago, Kay set her sights on a closed-down marina on the Miami River, where she envisioned customers watching tugboats guiding giant cargo boats through the narrow river passage. Once she obtained the space, Tony renovated it, adding a walkway, patio and pool. Its docking space accommodates both mega yachts and small boats, and many customers arrive via water. Late afternoon manatee sightings are common and crowd-pleasing.
The sprawling complex has an interior bar, typically Irish with an old red phone booth fitted with a jukebox and another bar in the center of the patio surrounded by shaded tables encircled by walls of leafy vines. To one side is the popular raw bar with sushi. Currently in season are cherrystone clams from Massachusetts, local peel-and-eat shrimp and stone crab claws. Not to be missed are Apalachicola oysters from Eastpoint, Fla., with a clean, dense taste that requires no sauce, although three are offered (cocktail, honey mustard and ground horseradish). A squeeze of lemon suffices.
The menu offers bar food like spicy wings, creamy baked cheese and spinach dip with chips plus salads, wraps, sandwiches, burgers, pizza, steaks, lobster, and catch of the day. Live Maine lobster are kept in a tank and steamed or grilled to order. Or get the surf and turf with broiled sweet Florida lobster tails and grilled filet mignon served with drawn butter and a choice of spuds. Wash it down with Magners Irish cider or Harp draft beer.
Corned beef and cabbage and shepherd's pie will be added to the menu when St. Paddy's day festivities begin at 4 p.m. Slainte! (Cheers!)
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