![\"RedLepBackPorch\"](\"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/RedLepBackPorch.JPG\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The Red Leprechaun’s outdoor patio. Photos by: Jason Ruiz<\/em><\/p>\n Next Tuesday, the green beer will flow like the River Shannon and \u201cI\u2019m Shipping Up To Boston\u201d will become as unavoidable as shamrocks and \u201cKiss Me I\u2019m Irish\u201d t-shirts as St. Patrick\u2019s Day takes over Long Beach. As nearly everyone of drinking age discovers that they\u2019re tenuously connected to the Emerald Isle, it will whittle down the chances of finding an establishment to celebrate the Irish holiday without revisiting your party-self of yesteryear.<\/p>\n Tracy Ames, a first generation Irish-American and owner of The Red Leprechaun, believes she has struck the balance between a lively congregation point for the day celebrated with Irish grog, and a family-friendly atmosphere. For the third year in a row, the Leprechaun will open its doors to all ages to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day at the Irish-American pub located at the corner of Anaheim and Termino.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that people are almost in shock because they can\u2019t believe that there is more of a kids\u2019 environment in here than the green beer environment,” Ames said.<\/p>\n As they have every year, the Leprechaun is upping the ante for St. Patty\u2019s, offering up a literal buffet of Irish-American staples like corned beef and cabbage with red potatoes and fish and chips, as well as bread-pudding french toast and garlic chicken sausage. The Claddagh School of Irish Dance<\/a> will perform at the Sunday \u201cfamily day\u201d event which runs from 12PM -6PM will also include children\u2019s games, live music from The Whooligans<\/a>\u2014whose upcoming album includes a song they wrote specifically for the Leprechaun\u2014and a green-beer alternative\u2014a mixture of grenadine, Sprite and the traditional green food coloring\u2014for the younger attendees.<\/p>\n Tuesday’s adult crowd can look forward to all-day green craft-beer, corned beef and cabbage and a live set from Paddy’s Pig.<\/a> The pub will also have an outdoor tented area to accommodate the anticipated crowd that will start flowing through the doors when the Leprechaun opens at 10AM. <\/p>\n \u201cThree years ago we were a startup,\u201d Ames said, recounting their first run at celebrating the holiday. \u201cThis was a gutted Blockbuster. We didn\u2019t know what we were doing. This has been a work in progress, even the holidays themselves, but each time we\u2019ve done a holiday we\u2019ve done it better.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you actually brine the meat and you\u2019re putting the juices, the salts, the spices, all of that goes into the meat and what it does is it takes the muscles and literally goes into and breaks down the tissue and makes the meat soft,\u201d Ames said. \u201cOur corned beef actually falls apart.\u201d<\/p>\n Although her parents emigrated from Cork County on the southern tip of Ireland, her love for cooking originated in a vastly different geographic region of the world. Facing a crossroads in her career path, Ames moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico to undertake a crash course in cooking. Working with women of varying descents\u2014Lithuanian, Mexican, Lebanese\u2014she developed her passion.<\/p>\n![\"amesMeat\"](\"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/amesMeat.JPG\")
Corned beef, an integral part of celebrations in the United States, is a point of pride for Ames. The Red Leprechaun is one of few, if not the only establishment in the city that brines their own beef. And there will be plenty to go around. Ames currently has some 700 pounds sitting in brine, a process that takes seven days, creating a tender, juicy product that will be served with cabbage and red potatoes, or as savory sliders.<\/p>\n
![\"Mark\"](\"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Mark.JPG\")
Aside from that, Truzzolino, who curates the rotating tap list said that in three years the Red Leprechaun has never served a domestic macro-brew. Going against advice from \u201cBig Beer\u201d reps, Truzzolino opted for smaller craft beers which eventually led to Los Angeles\u2019