New Lakewood Ranch Restaurant Draws From Owner’s Irish Roots

LAKEWOOD RANCH, FL — Though Bruce Mahnke was young — about 2 or 3 — when his great-grandmother died, decades later he still has powerful memories of her in the kitchen cooking for their family.

When his maternal great-grandparents, John and Irene McGrath, immigrated to Pennsylvania from Ireland, they settled in and watched their family grow.

“A large, Irish family,” Mahnke said, noting that his mother was one of 17 siblings. “By the time you got to me and the great-grandkids, I don’t know even know how many of us there were.”

Preserving their Irish roots through food was important for his great-grandparents, and meals were special events for the family. Irene, the matriarch, dug deep into her repertoire of recipes, cooking traditional dishes that, eventually, got passed down generations.

Today, these recipes and the memories that accompany them are among Mahnke’s most precious heirlooms.

They mean so much to the restaurateur that he leaned into them for his latest concept, McGrath’s Irish Ale House in Lakewood Ranch. The restaurant opened at 8110 Lakewood Main St. in mid-November, in the space that had been occupied by the former Scottish-themed McAllister’s Restaurant for 13 years.

McAllister’s closed early into the pandemic, Mahnke said. “It was not totally the pandemic, but that was part of it. They just never opened back up.”

Mahnke and his business partners — Bob Bender and father-and-son Albert and Adam Myara — already owned a restaurant across the street, Ed’s Tavern. He and Bender were also part owners of an Ellenton restaurant, Sixty East, located just outside the outlet mall.

Like many in Lakewood Ranch, he and his partners wondered what might replace McAllister’s. The landlord had received numerous inquiries about the space but wanted to be selective about who moved into it.

“The landlord said people were interested in it, but they weren’t hands-on operators,” Mahnke said. “They were people who just wanted to throw money at it, turn the key and have it open back up the way it was before.”

After 13 years, the space “needed a facelift,” though, he said. The décor was heavy on stone, matching the Scottish concept, and “dingy.”

The wheels in his head began to turn, despite the fact that the middle of a pandemic was probably the worst time to open a restaurant, he said.

At Ed’s Tavern and Sixty East, he laid off around 80 percent of the staff at both restaurants. They were able to make it through the worst months of COVID-19 thanks to takeout orders and community support.

“Obviously, we went through the whole COVID situation just like everybody else. It was very intense,” Mahnke said. “I’ve been in restaurant business for over 25 years now, and it was probably some of the most trying times of being in this business, the ups and downs.”

Despite the trials and tribulations of the pandemic, he began dreaming of — and then actively working toward — launching a new concept for the McAllister’s space: an Irish restaurant.

“Who really knows what Scottish food is? Who really knows about Scottish food?” he asked. “Why not just change it to Irish? Everybody knows Irish, and it’s similar enough to the Scottish brand that those who were coming to McAllister’s would give us a chance.”

He added, “And I’ve got all these great recipes from my great-grandma.”

His business partners loved the idea. They loved it even more when he invited them over for a feast, cooking them all the recipes that had been passed down through his family.

And as they named the restaurant, it seemed natural to tap into his mother’s maiden name, McGrath.

Mahnke never felt more connected to his roots and, especially, to his great-grandmother. He always remembered her as happy to be in the kitchen, creating traditional dishes for the family she loved.

“Once I made the recipes, I realized why she was so happy in the kitchen,” he said. “Literally everything she made had some kind of alcohol in it. Guinness or Jameson or wine. Even her desserts. She would marinate the raisins for her bread pudding in Jameson, and it would just absorb it all. As a kid, you don’t realize it. I think Gran did ‘a little for you’ and then ‘a little for her’ when she was cooking.”

His partners were blown away by the dishes.

“That dinner was when we decided, hey, we have something here,” he said.

When they brought in an executive chef, Isaac Johnson, they told him not to alter those Irish dishes and directed him, instead, to “make them look as good as they taste,” Mahnke said.

They also gave him free rein over other parts of the menu: the European dishes and others with New England flair.

“The only direction we gave him (for those sections) was, ‘Do whatever you want,’” Mahnke said. “He really embraced it and help us form the menu.”

The goal was to create an authentic, traditional Irish experience, he said. They import specific ingredients, including rashers, which are slices of bacon, and Irish butter. And everything is made from scratch.

“We embrace quality. Everything, including our dough, is made in-house,” he said. “A big thing for us is quality — quality of operations, quality of help and quality of food. We really want a great experience when guests come out and make sure they’re getting good food.”

One of their most popular menu items is the shepherd’s pie, he added. “Made with lamb, not beef. That’s how everyone makes it, with beef. That’s cottage pie, but whatever.”

Lamb is notoriously difficult to cook with, Mahnke said. “So many people don’t like lamb because it’s too gamy. But the way Gran makes it is she cooks it up real fine and cooks it in Guinness beer, and it absorbs those sweet flavor profiles. It takes the gaminess out of it and makes it delicious.”

The traditional Irish feel extends to the bar, as well, he said. McGrath’s offers around 50 different whiskeys, and half of the beers and ciders on tap are Irish.

“As an Irish guy, every time I go travel, I have to find an Irish restaurant or bar to go to,” Mahnke said. “A lot of the places say they’re Irish places and they’re not. They have Guinness and that’s it, and they say they’re Irish. We have every Irish draft you can buy in the state of Florida.”

When they remodeled the restaurant, they reworked the spacing, adding open, modern touches, and built outdoor seating so people would feel comfortable coming out to eat as the pandemic continues.

As the restaurant celebrates its first St. Patrick’s Day on Wednesday with a street festival with music, dancers, family-friendly entertainment, and Irish beer and food, Mahnke is grateful for the experience.

Throughout his life, he’s always loved serving his great-grandmother’s dishes to family and friends.

“That’s always been one of the great rewards for me,” he said. “These amazing dishes I grew up on, now I get to serve them to everyone in the community and everyone is love them. I really love that. Everyone has been incredibly welcoming and open to what we’re doing.”