Irish Pub

If tonight's presidential debate takes place, an Irish bar in Center City will be in the limelight, hosting Gov. Sarah Palin at a pre-debate party. The Irish Pub, 2007 Walnut St., will open its doors at 5 p.m. to receive ticketed guests for the private function. Paul Lindsay, the McCain campaign's spokesman, declined to release any details about tonight's event, or why the Irish Pub had been picked to host the Alaska governor and Republican vice presidential nominee. All Lindsay would say was that Palin, who landed in Philadelphia yesterday, was here to do some preparation for her own debate against Democratic vice presidential nominee Joseph R. Biden Jr. But Mark O'Connor, one of the pub's three owners, said the McCain campaign told pub managers to expect 400 people, a number he said would fit in the tavern's five rooms.

The Irish have a word for it: craic. It means fun, good times, being silly. Combine a little craic (pronounced crack) with failte (fall-cha), meaning welcome, and you have the two biggest reasons people love to kick back in an Irish pub. Since St. Patrick's Day is tomorrow, it's probably too late to celebrate the feast day of Ireland's patron saint in some of Dublin's 1,000 pubs. But don't let that stop you from toasting the holiday. You don't even have to leave Philly.

AH, ST. PATRICK'S Day. Pub crawls, yards of green beer and bowls of mushy corned beef and cabbage If that's not your idea of fun, you're in luck. At many local bars and restaurants, the holiday traditionally celebrated as a raucous rite of spring has gone upscale. This means that if you love to paint shamrocks on your cheeks, pile obnoxious plastic green beads around your neck and get in line outside your favorite taproom at 6 a.m. for your chance to chug dyed Miller Lite, you may find yourself in the minority this year.

THE LONG-shuttered space at 17th and Green where Cuvee Notredame once delighted is finally open for business. Jeff Keel of Bishop's Collar and James Stephens of the Black Sheep and Dark Horse formed their own partnership to create St. Stephen's Green. While the name may be ser- endipity- Stephens, an owner, located on Green Street and the original St. Stephen's Green is a historic park in Dublin, Ireland - the pub needs time to work out some inconsistency in the kitchen.

TO NIKKI Carter (letters, Sept. 27, "A mother's angry cry") about the state of the black community: I can't agree more. Bill Cosby said the same thing, but the NAACP shouted him down - the very people supposed to make a difference. The government can't stop the crime or lack of caring about anything. The solution starts at home, then on our block, then in the neighborhood, the town and the city. It isn't even really a case of race, it's about right and wrong. How did students start going to school for everything but learning?

What it is: Sligo, an Irish pub in Media. What we like about it: This pub - a tribute to the rugged County Sligo on the western coast of Ireland - just celebrated its first anniversary. It offers tasty Irish and American fare that adds to the smorgasbord of ethnic cuisine in this county seat. Enjoy the Irish music and warm up with savory seafood chowder ($4 a cup; $5.50 a bowl). Lunch fare on a recent weekday included tempting specials such as fresh oysters for $8. Like its namesake, Sligo, which means City of Shells, is known for its seafood and oysters.

The sixth child of a fiddle player from Donegal and an accordion player from Tyrone who met at a Ceili dance, John McGillian seemed destined to be an Irish musician. He grew up in a household filled with Irish song and began playing traditional Irish button-key accordion music at age 6. These days, McGillian spends almost every Sunday performing at The Plough and The Stars, an Irish pub in Philadelphia. "It's traditional Irish dance music. No words, all tunes," McGillian, 30, said.

Eugene O'Brien grew up in the Irish pub run by his family, and Eden offers ample proof that he took a large grain of salt when he listened to the tall bar stories. His play consists of dual monologues delivered by a husband and wife trapped in an increasingly insecure and stressed marriage. While theatergoers have good reason to be wary of yet another dose of Irish fatalism laced with ready wit, Eden has a craftsmanship to its writing and insight that will reward them. The terrain traversed by O'Brien is as well-trodden as the path to the village pub that Billy (Bill Zielinski)

Irish pubs are nothing new, but one place in Ambler, the Shanachie, is about as authentic a place as I've ever seen. Or should I say, "Irish restaurant, I hardly knew ye. " The Shanachie (pronounced SHAN-ih-kee) opened in October in a former retail store opposite the historic Ambler movie theater. Its authenticity comes only partly from its role as a stage for live Irish music, and its hunter-green, dark-wood pub decor. The restaurant goes through about 30 cases of potatoes a week, but that, too, is only part of the story in this literary-theme restaurant (shanachie means "storyteller" in Gaelic)

Every neighborhood in America, it seems, has an eatery like Brittingham's Irish Pub: cozy, noisy, crowded, and crammed with memorabilia. Two things - one, if you see Irish food and Irish music as part of the same world order - set Brittingham's apart. You can get great-tasting fish and chips here, but also such chophouse standards as juicy burgers topped with bacon and Thousand Island dressing. The setting is somewhat old-hat, too, beginning with - pardon the pun - the hat-check girl.