Okay, it’s that time of the month...time for Lunch With The MBIP Contributors. The Shamrock recently reopened in a new location and if you read yesterday’s post, you know I’m no fan of St. Patrick’s Day, so no way was I going near it anytime before or after that schmoliday. Well, I think we’ve had a safe buffer zone, so let’s go have lunch there at the new spot and check it out with some of the MBIP contributors!

Here's a shot of the new Shamrock as I pull up to the bar in my car. It looks great from the driver's seat!

I've decided to come back after work and take more shots of the bar, it'll give the place a more natural look to take photos of it during the night. Today, I'll just "focus" on our lunch.

As I made my way towards a booth, I met Ryan, who told me he's the new owner of the bar. I was a little shocked that long-time owners Terry and Molly Donnelly had sold the tavern, but then he told me they were staying on as consultants. And then he told me his last name was Donnelly, he's their son. Cool that the bar is being taken over by the second generation!

Here's Sarah, the pretty official waitress of the MBIP Contributor's Lunch. I took her photo the last time we had a Contributor's Lunch at the old location, but accidentally deleted most of the photos.

The first contributor shows up, Mike Foster. This is his reaction when I told him he was going to be picking up the bill for the lunch.

The gang's all here, clockwise from left, Bob Gordon, Yours Fooly, Mike Foster and Bob "The Whale" Miller. M.I.A. are "Boris" Boden, Gene Rubbico, Jaws the Cabbie and Jeff Putnam. I really want to thank all of them for their contributions, it's made for a nice dimension to MBIP on the weekends, they've all done great work!

And here's what we had for lunch, Mike got a tenderloin.

Whale got the hamburger horseshoe piled high with fries.

And I got the Irish sausage sandwich with Jack cheese and grilled onions. (I accidentally deleted Bob's roast beef sandwich, I really need to start watching the delete button on my camera!) The food was delicious and it was a fun and lively lunch as always with topics ranging from: The Who, comments at MBIP, POP magazine, The Teenage Nukologist, the internet, vinyl records, Greg Batton, The Teenaged Nukologist, WMBD radio, the Peoria Journal Star, local blogs, porn and dead people. Looking forward to next month's lunch. Who knows, maybe an additional contributor or more will show up, stay tuned!

After lunch I stopped at the bathroom, Ryan told me he was very proud of the way it turned out and suggested I stop by to take a couple photos, so here we go.

Wow, very nice in here and I'm glad they've transported the "Urinals of Ireland" picture from the old bar in here.

While I'm here I may as well take an obligatory bathroom mirror shot. It's been a while since the last one. Okay, I have to go to work, we'll see you back here in about nine hours.

And through the magic of the internet, here we are at nighttime, the right time to be shooting photos of a bar. The new sign is great.

The building is done in classic Irish Tavern style, white paint, green borders and a dark wooden doorway.

Here's the bar area in front. Gene will be happy to see the big screen TV's and I'm happy they're built into the wall, because that way they're not so obtrusive. They've done a great job in here, let's go snag a seat.

Nate, the friendly bartender serves up an ice cold bottle of Budweiser. After I asked him his name, he reminded me I took his photo at the other bar. So many bartenders, so little memory!

The patent-pending shot of the taps for Spike. They've enlarged the beer list here and have a lot of new choices.

I love all the dark wood behind the bar.

Communal tables are positioned directly behind the bar.

Comfortable padded booths line the wall in the front bar room.

Behind the bar room is a spacious dining area that packs them in at lunch and dinner time. Donnelly's is probably three times the size of the old place, but they managed to retain the charm and style of the original pub. This place is destined to become a classic Peoria Tavern.