Fitzgerald's Shamrock Restaurant

2019 Frederick

FAMILY IRISH FARE

Fitzgerald’s Shamrock Restaurant

Doris Fitzgerald & Donna Fitzgerald Demmon

The mantle above the fireplace at Fitzgerald’s Shamrock Restaurant in Thurmont is graced with an autumn-hued painting that spans time in an ethereal manner. Exercising artistic license, local artist Rebecca Pearl fondly captured many special memories for the Fitzgerald family in this painting.

The gentleman walking with two young lads represents “Dad, Pop-pop, Mr. Fitz., Himself,” the family’s revered patriarch, Donald “Mike” Fitzgerald.

Mike and his wife, Doris, established the Shamrock in 1963, and over the years four generations of Fitzgeralds have worked there.

The family says they see a lifetime of memories in that beautiful painting above the mantle. Just as their restaurant represents their family’s values, so does the painting.

The boys pictured are Mr. Fitzgerald’s first two grandsons, Christopher and Douglas, born eight weeks apart in 1973. The stylish lady at the front door represents “Mom Fitz,” Mike’s mother and the first cook at the Shamrock. She taught the next generations how to make potato salad and cut vegetables for crab soup, how to pick the shells from crabmeat and peel carrots and potatoes. In the dining room window sits Doris, with one of her four daughters. Across the yard walks one of five sons coming from the little barn that housed our two riding horses.

The American flag and the Statue of Liberty in the painting both represent Mike’s pride in being an American, and the nine little apple trees not far from the flag represent his nine children, all of whom have a first name beginning with the letter D.

Visitors to Fitzgerald’s Shamrock Restaurant can see this painting up close, and feel the real family spirit that has surrounded the establishment for decades.

When they opened, Mike and Doris desired to bring fresh seafood to Frederick County. Today, the Fitzgeralds shop fresh seafood markets from the West Coast to Europe, seeking out American shad as it swims up the East Coast in the spring and procuring the best West Coast oysters in the fall and winter. A Chesapeake Bay crabber supplies them with fresh soft blue crabs, as well.

Over the years Irish dishes were added to the menu, and the Shamrock’s annual Saint Patrick’s Day celebration has grown to a three-week Celtic event with live music each March. In 2019 the Shamrock is adding St. Pat's Day-ja-vu Celebrations the 17th of each month throughout the year with Irish music and foods. Slainte'!

7701 Fitzgerald Road, Thurmont 301-271-2912 shamrockrestaurant.com

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