Out & About

Claret's owners Jean Clancy and Niall Costello were very kind to donate a ton of food and wine for this event and again, you've got to give it to the Irish, they were out in droves and the place was packed.

The lady behind the event was none other than Maeve O'Malley, yes the same one who travelled down to Haiti and gave a lot of her time volunteering on behalf of Concern; what a woman.

Of course there was Noelle Clancy, hanging out with the famous Donie Carroll, and checking out all the talent as as they walked in for a nice glass of wine and also making a donation for a worthy cause, let me tell you.

Donie was off that night so I got a chance to talk to him and I will only say he is going to have a very busy summer season... Don't forget your old friend Donnie!

As we are talking about Donie Carroll, he and John Browne of the Grand Stand Bar and Restaurant (8535 Grand Avenue, Elmhurst, Queens) are doing a golf tour to Ireland and Scotland from August 5th to August 14th - so all aboard as I will be over in Ireland and I will tie up with the lads when they hit Cork. For more information call (718) 478-9633. Also at Claret was Aine Sheridan, Lorraine Turner, Dara Burke and loads more who came out to support this great cause.

I went to an event on Thursday morning to hear New York City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn, Council Members Chin and Thomas White, advocates from the food industry and community leaders who stood together to show their support for the redevelopment of the Fulton Fish Market at the South Street Seaport as a place to host a brand new market for local businesses and regional foods, maybe even a good Irish pub.

The coalition of local leaders, food advocates and businesses committed to ensuring that any new development at this site must include a food market.

Armagh's 2010 Dinner Dance was held on Friday at Battery Gardens and Kathleen Reilly McCrink, again performed a great job, as she always does, and I would just like to say that I tried to make make it and to thank Maureen McLoughlin for the invite.

I was down in Lillie's Irish Victorian Bar and Restaurant (13 East 17th Street; (212) 337-1970) on Thursday night and the place was again wall-to-wall. I was hoping to meet with Tommy Burke but he is a busy man with Papillon Bistro and Bar (22 East 54th Street; (212) 754-9006), so it's hard to track him down. Good on you Tommy, you're one of the best.

When I was down in the Seaport I called over to the Irish downtown bastion of Stone Street to visit some very good friends. I ended up at the Stone Street Tavern and got to meet the owners,  Ronan Downs and Croine O'Halloran, and who would you think I met at the bar? Only Mike Garvey and Bruce Caulfield. Yes, the same Bruce Caulfield from Tracks Raw Bar and Grill in Penn Station so, of course, we had a couple and were joined by Ronan and Croine who came over to say hello as you could not move in the place, or the street. See what a little bit of sun does... everyone comes out.

There's a big concert coming with James Keane and the Randal Bays which is part of the Blarney Star concert series. This one's on Thursday April 29th at Glucksman Ireland House  (One Washington Mews). Check it out at irelandhouse.as.nyu.edu.

I was also over in Houndstooth and had a pint with the Coffeeman Pete Scalley. (He really should be paying for all these plugs I give him...) Who else did I meet there? The one and only Nicholas Cohen, one of the owners. We had one or two and then we all moved over to the Pig'n'Whistle.

I was in O'Casey's on 41st Street on Friday morning to meet up with Frieda Klotz, a freelance journalist based in New York who reports for the Irish Times who was covering a new organization called Failte 32 - set up as an excellent project to help young people coming to New York who do not have the right contacts for work and accommodation when they come over.

This organization hopes to attract other Irish organizations to join together to help and advise newcomers on work and provide information to them via computers and laptops.

The owner of O'Casey's, Paul Hurley, is providing space and complimentary refreshments, reaching out to new arrivals and helping them to feel comfortable when they land.

The Irish Examiner newspaper is offering free space in the classifieds section of the newspaper to all employers no matter what field you're in to put your ads in. Again this will be a free service.

Today, we all have to step-up to the plate and make this happen and I do mean all organizations. If we all work together it will happen since together we the Irish and Irish Americans are so much stronger and more effective.

So let's do this and show these new jobseekers what we can do. Didn't everyone of us get some help when we needed it?

See you all next week!