Her Dream Rides In On a White Horse

White Horse Irish Pub Now Open!

— by Cara Russell —

It’s been a great week for Orcas Islander, Shelbi Mattila-Patton, owner of the new White Horse Pub. On January 1, Shelbi, her father, and her husband, Aaron, opened the doors to the White Horse, located in the building of the old Vern’s Bayside Restaurant, and they couldn’t be happier at the community turnout and support.

It’s been nearly three years since Vern’s Bayside Restaurant closed, and Shelbi and her family worked very hard during that time to procure the space. “It took a long time and a lot of negotiations of the building,” Shelbi remembered, as her eyes welled up and she had to go for a napkin. “There was a time there where we thought we were going to lose the building.”

Shelbi has worked in the food service industry for years, and has always had the desire to have her own bar, and more specifically, her own Irish Pub. “I have family in Northern Ireland who own the Diamond Bar, and about eight years ago we started thinking about opening our own bar,” she related.

In July the sale of the building went through, but with one more hiccup; they had to put in a new connection from the building into the sewer line, which required digging under the sidewalk. In order to not disrupt tourist season, they waited until the end of October to do the work.

They have removed the large mural that covered the front windows for years, repainted the outside, and renovated the inside. The beautiful raw-wood bar was built by Aaron from a Black Walnut tree that he felled and had milled out at West Sound Lumber Company.

The unbeatable view is still there. No matter where you sit, you still get to enjoy the view of East Sound and Indian Island. “I’m so happy that this worked out, because now everyone can come here and appreciate the view. If condos had been put in instead, only a few people would get to enjoy it,” Shelbi said.

There is plenty of seating, a pool table, and juke box. There will be live local music, and (trashy and campy) karaoke one or two Saturdays a month, hosted by Daniel Kane from Seattle.

White Horse has a full service bar, featuring high end Irish whiskeys and scotches. On tap they have Rolling Rock, Kilt Lifter, Irish Death (local), and Guinness. They will be extending their nitrous-filled beer, and will soon have Boddingtons Pub Ale.

The restaurant features Irish/English/American food, with local seafood in the summer, and meat and potatoes in the winter. Right now they are serving a simple winter menu of mostly meat and root vegetables—Shepherd’s pie, bangers and mash, and Guinness stew. Other items featured on the menu include: beer battered fish and fresh cut chips, corned beef sandwich, Guinness chicken sandwich, clam chowder, and Cashel Blue Cheese and pear salad. All items on the menu were chosen by Shelbi, and are prepared by head chef Stephen Wright.

And they will be serving corned beef and cabbage throughout the month of March!

The down stairs space, which was once the Vern’s Bar, is currently being remodeled, and will turn into a banquet room for weddings and other events. It is expected to be finished in the next month or two.

“I want to create a little more of a night life on Orcas. There are more bars that are opening up now, and that will encourage locals, and tourists to come out, creating more of a night life, and more revenue on Orcas,” said Shelbi.

“We want to give back to the community, and for events we will have a $1 cover charge that we will donate to the food bank,” Shelbi stated.

• Open 7 days a week, 3 p.m.—12 a.m., with food served until 10 p.m.
• Families welcome till 9 p.m.
• Opening for lunch in beginning in February, at 11:30 a.m.
• Price ranges $10-$30.
• Casual dining, and bar
• Reservations and walk-ins welcome, good for groups
• Takeout available.

For further information visit The White Horse Pub on Orcas Island on Facebook or their website.