Update Oct. 7: Restaurateur Victor Rallo announced Wednesday night the new restaurant where Molly Maguire’s operated will be called Surf BBQ and award-winning pit master Billy Durney will be a consultant.
“Everyone needs barbecue. There’s not too many good ones around,” said Rallo on Wednesday night. “It’s going to be very traditional. You walk up to the counter and place your order. We’re going to have American whiskey, American bourbon, American wines, American craft beer and real Southern barbecue.”
RUMSON, Oct. 6 – Molly Maguire’s Gastropub closes today. After nearly four years in business, Kathy and Mike Maguire have sold the restaurant.
Restaurateur and TV personality Vic Rallo, the owner of Birravino in Red Bank and Undici Taverna Rustica in Rumson, confirmed he is under contract to buy the property.
“We have definite plans about what we want to do there, but I don’t think it’s right to talk about until we close on Thursday,” said Rallo by phone today, declining to address speculation that his plan is for a barbecue restaurant.
The cozy corner pub and restaurant on River Road was beloved by its patrons for its big rectangular bar, sports broadcasts, Guinness drafts and family friendliness.
But it was also a destination for fans of the Irish-American cultural arts. It was the only local place where, on a Sunday afternoon, you could hear young and old Irish musicians come together for a traditional, informal musical seisún. When Brookdale Community College’s Lifelong Learning program held Irish poetry readings, more than 50 people filled the dark wood-and green-themed dining room. And it was a meeting place for organizers to plan and celebrate the annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Rumson.
“Molly Maguire’s was the go-to place,” said Joe Dunne, an Irish button accordionist and bodhrán drummer, who regularly joined 7-10 other musicians, at those informal monthly musical gatherings. “It was a jolt when I got the call that is being sold and becoming a barbecue place. It had an open door to us.”
He said the musicians will continue playing at The Dublin House in Red Bank, twice a month on Monday nights, but will have to travel to places like Clark and Maplewood to continue the Sunday afternoon acoustic jams. “Or we’ll have to get together in someone’s home. But it’s nice to expose the music to the public. At Molly’s, people would get up spontaneously to sing a song. Or you would get the occasional step dancer,” he said.
Mike Maguire works fulltime in the medical industry; Kathy Maguire was the face of the restaurant. As Kathy Maguire tells it, Vic Rallo stopped in a few months ago and made an offer they couldn’t refuse.
She confessed that closing down the kitchen and bar was very sad, and hard on her loyal waitresses and disappointing to patrons – some of whom can walk or bike over for a beer and conversation.
But personally it was a liberating prospect. “We have five kids. I actually feel like I’m Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz and I’m going home. I feel like I haven’t been home in a long time,” she said. The family, originally from New York, has no plans to leave Rumson, where they feel tightly knit into the community.
Meanwhile, the Irish cultural program is looking for a new home for its field trips. “We’re moving onward, but we certainly will miss Molly Maguire’s,” said Linda Martin. To augment its campus programs, such as Irish language classes and lectures on the Easter Rising and IRA, the lifelong learners also gathered on winter nights throughout Monmouth County for poetry in the pub, as served by Carl Calendar and Jack Ryan and other readers, or to hear a musical travelogue of Ireland, highlighting songs of the region. “Some of the classes we’ve done, hosted by Molly Maguire’s, have really been a fun combination,” she said.
