NEW CARLISLE — No reward without risk.
That’s the motto the co-owners of Kate O’Connor’s Irish Pub, Amanda and Mike Aurenz, have been living by since they decided to buy the pub they were once known as regulars at. Some days, it still feels surreal that they own it, the couple said.
“We drive past it like, ‘Oh yeah, we do own that,’” Mike said.
“It’s been two years, and some days feel like 20 and some days feels like one, you know?” Amanda added.
Not much has changed in the two years since the Aurenzes bought it. The walls are still lined with old Irish poems, Guinness ads and photos of American Celtic band Gaelic Storm. The pub still gives customers the same authentic Irish atmosphere and a place to stop for a quick beer or a long dinner.
The original owners of Kate O’Connor’s were Steve and Mary Brooks, who met in Cork, Ireland, and fell in love before moving to the U.S. for work. Steve took up an old dream of opening a pub, and together, the couple spent a full year on a makeover on the New Carlisle location before it opened in 2007.
Amanda and Mike never learned why the Brooks wanted to open a pub in a small Northern Indiana town, but they didn’t exactly have an explanation for why they wanted to buy it either, they said.
It started off as joke. One day on a drive through the town, they saw a “for sale” sign in front of the building and teased each other about buying it, Amanda said. Eventually, the joke became reality.
Despite feeling nervous about keeping his full-time job as an engineer project manager and Amanda keeping hers as a civil engineer, Mike said seeing the happiness of the original owners as they geared up for retirement made it feel worth it.
Mike took two month off of work while Steve and Mary “showed me the ropes of everything for the first couple of weeks,” Mike said. Since then, the couple has learned to juggle being full time employees and business owners.
Staff members like Katie Winter, who joined the pub in 2020, got the opportunity to work with both the Brooks and Aurenzes. Winter described Steve as a “character. He was always sitting down here watching golf, talking [expletive] to one person and challenging another to pool.” Winter said Mary is “the sweetest woman you’ll ever meet.”
Watching the business be passed down was bittersweet, but Winter knew it was in good hands.
“We’d known Mike and Amanda as regulars for a while before that,” Winter said. “It couldn’t have gone to better people. You want your boss to be somebody that you like. You want it to be somebody you trust and someone that appreciates the place and appreciates the people that work here.”
Traditional Irish or classic American
Kate O’Connor’s, a combination of the names of the original owners’ kids, Kate and Connor, became a beloved stop in New Carlisle for locals, individuals passing through for work and families visiting for University of Notre Dame football games, Amanda and Mike said.
“There’s a guy that comes in, and he’s been coming in for years,” Mike said. “He always brings his kid. They go to the football game, and they always come back in. He makes a point to make sure they come up and say hi.”
Their customers hold the food to a high standard thanks to the foundation of authenticity laid by the original owners. Traditional Irish meals, such as shepherd’s pie and corned beef and cabbage, have been menu stables since the doors opened.
The creamy potato soup’s recipe comes from Mary’s mother, and Amanda said if it’s not prepared perfectly, customers notice. And Amanda couldn’t forget to mention the pub’s golden crispy fish and chips, a northwestern European delicacy and customer favorite.
However, there’s also traditional American food, including burgers, pulled pork sandwiches and wraps, for individuals looking for a familiar yet flavorful dish.
No meal at Kate O’Connor’s is complete without a classic Irish beer, which the pub sells four of, Mike said.
“We sell a lot of Guinness,” Mike said. “Smithwick, Magner, Harp. All of our Irish beers move pretty well here. … We have a customer that comes in all the time, and his number one beer is Harp. I’ve never seen it anywhere else.”
St. Patrick’s Day brings unexpected energy
When Mike and Amanda first bought the bar, they weren’t aware they’d be gearing up for one for one of the biggest days of the year for bars around the nation: St. Patrick’s Day.
“We were just so blind, like little kids,” Amanda said. “Even after we bought it, I was like, ‘What did we just do?’”
That holiday could only be described as “a four-day nightmare” with “great energy,” Mike said. The day always makes for good stories, and the atmosphere brings people together like a family.
The day is supported by “weeks of preparation behind the scenes that nobody knows about, but once that weekend comes, it’s so fun,” Mike said. “Everybody is in a good mood.”
There’s always a sense of accomplishment that hits Mike and Amanda when the entire bar stops to enjoy a live bagpipe performance every St. Patrick’s Day. The look around the room is awe, and for 10 minutes, there’s peace in the chaos and a moment for the owners to reflect on a risk that brought them the biggest reward of all — camaraderie.
“It was cool to stand on the other side of the bar and watch it happen,” Mike said. He thought “there’s no way we’re going to do it. We have no idea what we’re doing. … We just appreciate everybody’s” patronage.
Kate O’Connor’s Irish Pub
● What: Authentic Irish Pub with traditional Irish food and beer
● Where: 415 E. Michigan St., New Carlisle
● Hours: 11 a.m.–9 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays; 11 a.m.–10 p.m. Fridays; 11:30 a.m.–10 p.m. Saturdays; 1–9 p.m. Sundays; closed Mondays
● Price: $2-$20
● For more information: Call 574-654-8114 or visit its Facebook page.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Authenticity and consistency established at Kate O’Connor’s Irish Pub
Reporting by Jessica Velez, South Bend Tribune / South Bend Tribune
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
