Seven Tasty St. Patrick's Day Happenings This Weekend

St. Patrick's Day — at least as it's celebrated in the good ol' U.S. of A. — is an amalgamation of cultural pride, immigrant history and really, really bad beer. This year, instead of pointing you in the direction of every Irish pub serving whiskey and green beer (and misspelling "Guinness"), we're skewing a bit towards the sustenance end of the spectrum. Don't think that means authentic Irish fare, though; the evergreen St. Paddy's Day meal of corned beef and cabbage is more Boston than Blarney and baffles most residents of the Emerald Isle. Nevertheless, take a gander at seven festive food events and deals to help you celebrate St. Patrick's Day.
Rackhouse Pub
2875 Blake Street
720-570-7824
Watching a St. Patrick's Day parade at the crack of dawn from a German pub drinking lager — there's nothing at all strange about that. Embrace the weird at 7 a.m. the Rackhouse's Dublin Down on Lager celebration, where you can enjoy an Irish breakfast — a hearty fry-up of eggs, sausage, taters and blood pudding (if you're lucky) — and a pint while you peer out the bar's windows into the Coors Field parking lot to watch floats for the city's parade be assembled. Stick around the rest of the day for Irish coffee, pipes and drums, and corned beef sandwiches for lunch. There will also be beer — beer-colored beer, the only color of beer that God smiles upon. Find out more at the pub's Facebook page.
Steuben's
523 East 17th Avenue
303-830-1001
7355 Ralston Road, Arvada
303-830-0096
Denver's beloved comfort food emporium and cocktail bar is kicking off the drinking of the green with beverages a tad more sophisticated than green Bud Light, and a lot more interesting than Guinness. This St. Paddy's Day, the Uptown outpost will mix up a Tipperary Cocktail (the only green you'll see in the glass is from Chartreuse) and Arvada's bar will be debuting So Fresh and So Green (an herbal concoction loaded with sage and cucumber). Of course, plenty of Irish whiskey will be available, and both dining rooms will serve corned beef and cabbage to those who just can't pass up a taste of tradition. Visit Steuben's website for hours, so you can calculate the exact moment the doors open and you can start imbibing.
Interstate Kitchen & Bar
1001 Santa Fe Drive
720-479-8829
Interstate's kitchen turns out surprisingly good fare, so this is one of the places in town that's worth hitting for grown-up food and drink. In addition to its regular menu and ubiquitous Irish-themed drink specials (Jameson, Guinness, the unfortunately named Car Bomb), Interstate will be turning out corned beef and cabbage with soda bread and horseradish cream sauce that will certainly be satisfying enough to soak up all the booze you'll be downing. The bar's doors open at 11:30 a.m., though if you want to get a jump on Saturday's action, the special will be on the boards starting Wednesday, March 14.
Thirsty Lion Gastropub
1605 Wynkoop Street
303-623-0316
201 Columbine Street
303-377-7000
The chain of pubs is isn't particularly authentic (although, as we've already established, not much on this list is) but still gets credit for its commitment to the holiday. Rather than one measly corned beef and cabbage special, Both locations are boasting an entire St. Patrick's Day menu, which is currently available through Saturday. There's corned beef three ways (in a Reuben, in mac and cheese and with cabbage); Scotch eggs; shepherd's pie; and lamb in both burger and shank form. How could we possibly fail to give props to a pub with such a devotion to all foods vaguely Gaelic? Find the full seasonal menus at Thirsty Lion's website.
Stir Cooking School
3215 Zuni Street
720-287-4823
There's more to Irish food than corned beef and cabbage (you know this, gentle reader, because we've already covered the plate's provenance above). But if you're looking to create a meal to honor the Gaelic tradition in this country, look no further than Stir's St. Patrick's Day Feast cooking class. From 6:30 to 9:30 p.m., you'll whip up soda bread with currants, beer-cheese soup, potato and turnip gratin and the aforementioned Yankee creation paired with a whiskey-spiked marmalade. Get your tickets, $75, now at the cooking school's website.
The Farm House at Breckenridge Brewery
2990 Brewery Lane, Littleton
303-803-1380
Makers of American beer are getting in on the Irish action too. The Farm House is Breckenridge Brewery's official restaurant and, as such, is cooking up specials on Friday and Saturday that will warm a leprechaun's heart. On Friday, there will be $4 pints of Nitro Irish Stout all day, giveaways of Nitro Irish pint glasses to the first 100 people to buy a pint beginning at 6 p.m., music and dancing from the Mile Highlanders Irish dance and bagpipe group, and specials all day on corned beef and Irish soda bread; mac and cheese made with corned beef, cheddar mornay; Nitro Irish Stout “Beerdalise” corned beef and cabbage; Irish stew; and a Michael Collins burger topped with Derby sage cheese, Nitro Irish Stout caramelized onions and bacon. On Saturday, expect the same food and drink specials, with the pint-glass giveaway beginning at 3 p.m. and live music at 4 p.m. For brunch on Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m to 2 p.m., there will be corned beef hash and a banger and egg skillet. Because you'll be at a brewery, the beer will be flowing, so Breckenridge recommends finding alternative transportation. In fact, the company has provided a promo code — BRECKBREW18 — that you can use with Lyft for a free ride home between 2 and 11 p.m. on Saturday, March 17.
Fractured Prune Doughnuts
9696A East Arapahoe Road, Greenwood Village
303-759-0645
You may be craving something other than beer and meat this week, so Fractured Prune has something sweet to liven up your St. Patrick’s Day morning: green doughnuts. For $15.99, you can land a dozen sugary gems in the Leprechaun’s Box O’Dough(nuts), with two each of six different flavors: OC Emeralds, Paddy Cake, Irish Envy, Irish Creme and Cookies, Black Irish and Cliffs of Moher. Doughnuts are made fresh to order, so call when you're on your way to save a few minutes.