Page 20
www.celtic-connection.com
JULY/AUGUST 2001
Zest for Living and High Flying Adventures - all Part of Mick McHugh's Unique Style
By CATHOLINE BUTLER
ESTAURATEUR Mick McHugh is a legend in Seattle for living life to the fullest.
With an affable manner and a ready smile, energy just crinkles around his Irish eyes. He loves a challenge, in fact he dares a challenge, and there are numerous newspaper articles attesting to his extraordinary accomplishments on the wall of his famous restaurant, F.X. McRory's.
Life is an adventure for Mick McHugh and he meets every new challenge with energy, curiosity and fun, while adding his own unique style. He takes great pride in his city and on numerous occasions has brought world attention and great pride to his beloved Seattle. But, the project that gives him the greatest joy, is working with the Seattle Irish community.
I asked Mick McHugh how he would describe himself, and he replied laughing, "I'm a team player who loves anything Irish. I'm willing to roll up my sleeves to make things happen. We have a great group of people working here in the Seattle Irish community and the ringleader is John Keane."
Speaking about his family background, he said, "I haven't been able to trace my Irish heritage back beyond my grandfather, who was born in Cincinnati in 1869.
"That's as far back as I could go because there was a fire in the Cincinnati City Hall that destroyed all the records. That's been a bit of a roadblock, however, on my visits back to Ireland, Gal-way always seems most likely where the McHugh family immigrated from. That's a project I still need to complete."
McHugh works as a volunteer with many charitable organizations, one of which is the Matt Talbot Centre. This centre is dedicated to Matt Talbot, a Dubliner who became an alcoholic at 16-years old when he worked as a delivery boy for a wine store. Talbot eventually dedicated his life to sobriety and helped the Dublin dock workers. He has been beatified by the Church.
"We have a lot of missions which help the alcoholics and homeless during the night but then thev kick them out on the street during the day," explained McHugh.
"I attend a Catholic layman's group weekly and we wanted to help these people so we started the Matt Talbot Centre to provide a place during the day for them.
"Here, they can go to Bible study and attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. We've had three locations in 15 years because landlords don't like having a drop-in centre as a tenant. Eventually, we finally purchased our own building which is located at Third and Bell."
McHugh also sits on the Board of Regents at Seattle University. He said, "I'm a mentor for the students in the Albert School of Business working on their Masters of Business Administration. Each year, I serve as a mentor
MICK McHUGH
while I help recruit students, along with anything else I can help with. The Jesuits (a teaching order of priests at the University) have been very patient instructing all of us McHugh kids over the years, so I thought I'd better give a little something back."
A major contributor to the local Irish community, McHugh had an instrumental role in helping twin Galway and Seattle as sister cities. He is also involved with the big annual St. Patrick's Day parade and hugely successful St. Patrick's Day dash which drew 11,000 runners this past March.
One of McHugh's most flamboyant escapades involved replacing Pope John Paul IPs papal ring. He explained saying,"Several years ago, the present Pope, who is known as the travelling Pope, made a visit to South America.
"After visiting the wealthy Rio Janeiro, the Holy Father decided to trek up into the hills to a little village. He was so moved by the people there and their faith that he took off his papal signet ring and gave it to the local bishop, saying that he wanted this gesture to serve as a symbol of his love and concern for the folks in that village."
Shortly after reading about the Pope's gift to the people of this village, McHugh's mother (who has since deceased) called him up and said, "Mickey, you've done some crazy things in your day, but I think that you should replace that ring that the Pope gave to those poor people in Brazil."
"I thought, oh boy, I've done some crazy things, but I don't know if I can pull this off. The whole thing just kind of sat in my subconscious for awhile," he said.
"Finally, I thought, what the heck, I'll call Bishop Nick Walsh at the Seattle Chancery and ask him what he thinks. He thought it was a great idea and said he would start correspondence with the Vatican. This is a lengthy process, because they're never in a hurry.
"After three to four months of correspondence, the call finally came from the Vatican. The Holy Father would be happy to receive the Seattle delegation in three weeks, on one condition. The group must consist of Catholics, Protestants and Jews.
"Their vests were popping, they were so proud of that supersonic plane and they'd never been to the aviation capital of the world, which is Seattle, or for that matter the West Coast. "
"With only three weeks to put it all together, I went to see jeweller Sid Thai of Fox's Jewellery in Seattle to make the papal ring. He needed pictures of the Pope's hand to judge the size of the ring. I also told him we had no budget to work with and he said he'd be honoured to make the 24-karat gold ring for no charge.
"When we had fulfilled all the requirements, I called Bishop Walsh and told him to call the Vatican and tell them that we'd be there with bells on.
"What an unforgettable experience. We had seats right up on stage, next to the pulpit where the Holy Father gave his address. It was really thrilling. We also presented the Pope with a cheque for 8100,000 to help the poor people in Brazil."
Another McHugh caper involved chartering the Concorde to bring a bottle of wine to Seattle. "In France, November 15 is the day they release the first bottles of Beaujolais Nouveau wine. This is a big deal all over Europe and everyone competes to get it into their restaurant or bar the fastest.
"They use helicopters, motorcycles or whatever is going to get it there the fastest. Even in New York it's a big deal. So, I thought if we used the supersonic Concorde, we could leave there while picking up eight hours in the time difference coming this way and really be here before we left there.
"So, I contacted British Air and said, 'how would you like to bring the Concorde into Seattle'? Well, I tell you, their vests were popping, they were so proud of that supersonic plane and they'd never been to the aviation capital of the world, which is Seattle, or for that matter the West Coast.
"So, they said they'd love to bring their big bird over to Seattle. Because it was so expensive, we worked out a deal to sell all 100 seats on the plane at 85,000 a seat.
"Coming back into Seattle, we had to turn the engines off at Mount Rainier and glide the rest of the way because it's so noisy. They let us do a kind of fly-by and the plane circled around' Elliott Bay, so all of the office buildings could look out and see the Concorde.
"All the traffic on Interstate 5 was stopped and all the truckers, were standing on top of their trucks. At Boeing Developmental, all the Boeing workers were up on the roof of their building to see this beautiful plane coming into Seattle. It gives me goose bumps just to talk about it. It was a sight I'll never forget."
After 25 years working together and six restaurants later, McHugh and his business partner amicably decided they wanted to go
their separate ways, but, he says in typical fashion, "we wanted to do it in a very fun way."
They could have done it in an attorney's office or at the restaurant but he says, "that wouldn't have been any fun. So we decided to flip a coin off the Space Needle and we spoke to the manager and he said, 'you're crazy'. But we insisted it was true and we really wanted to do this.
"He asked if it was our intention to shove one another off and when we assured him it wasn't. We would each wear a harness and take out the proper insurance. An accountant would also be on hand when the coin hit the ground to make sure everything was legal.
"They were good sports about it all and after we threw the coin off, we came down off the roof and learned that the coin had come up tails, which was my pick. So I had first choice on the restaurants and I picked, F.X. McRory's, Lusheye Lake Cafe on Lake Washington and Jake O'Shaughnessy's in Bellevue Square."
Recently, McHugh opened another establishment with an Irish influence on the upscale Mercer Island called The Pleasant Hour Pub.
Any project undertaken by Mick McHugh will reflect his vitality, energy and unique style. For more information about the other McHugh establishments, call (206) 223-9353.
Kells: A Seattle Institution for 18 Years
By CATHOLINE BUTLER
SEATTLE - Kells Irish Restaurant and Pub located at 1916 Post Alley has been a local institution since 1983, when the McAleese family opened the first authentic Irish-owned and operated pub in Seattle. It offers a warm and cozy atmosphere with traditional surroundings. When I stopped in recently, Patrick McAleese was the only family member not visiting their home in the Glens of Antrim in Ireland.
Along with live entertainment seven nights a week, Kells is renowned for its excellent food. Since I arrived in at 5 PM, I decided to order dinner while speaking to Patrick. He told me that the chain of family-owned pubs continues to grow. "We have the flagship here in Seattle, along with Kells in Portland and Kells San Francisco and we're still looking at Southern California for another location."
Patrick then introduced me to their chef, Abdul Boury. Originally from Morocco, Boury has lived in the United States for nine years and studied to be a chef in San Francisco.
He has worked at Kells for the past seven years and explained, "our menus change with the season. Since we're in the summer season, our menu will feature more salads, fish with sauces and lots of seafood, we cut down a bit on the meat in the summer."
Kells has access to the best quality produce in the Northwest with the famous Pike Market just down the hill from the restaurant.
9
PATRICK MCALEESE and Abdul Boury
Everything is brought in fresh daily and the McAleese family insists on the best meat, poultry, fish and vegetables on their dinner menu. Boury explained however, "one feature on our menu that never changes is the McAleese family traditional Irish whiskey cake, which can only be made by a family member."
The presentation of each dish was very attractive. I had the crab cakes which were delicious and of course for dessert, I couldn't resist trying the Irish whiskey cake. It was rich and scrumptious but not too heavy. Kells certainly lives up to its reputation as an authentic taste of Ireland.
For more information about Kells Pubs, visit their website at: www.kellsirish.com.