PEOPLE / ATLANTA: ‘A passion that grew into a career’

Don’t even think of asking Linda Harrell for a green beer on Tuesday.

The corporate chef for Meehan’s pub in Sandy Springs grew up on Long Island eating real Irish food and there wasn’t a green beer in sight, even on St. Patrick’s Day.

Harrell’s mother fed her brood of three children the traditional diet she grew up on in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and she likes to take credit for passing cooking talent onto her oldest child.

“It was a passion of mine that grew into a career,” said Harrell, who lives in Brookhaven. “I wouldn’t call my mother a gourmet by any means. What she did best was the basic meat, potato and vegetable thing.”

Harrell started working after-school jobs in Italian restaurants when she was 13. Her full-time jobs include a Tuscan spot in Baltimore and a French restaurant in Williamsburg, Va. In 1999, she came to Atlanta to launch Antica Posta in Buckhead and, five years ago, she joined Meehan’s. But Harrell admits that she learned the particulars of Irish food from her mom, and knows that what most Americans think of as Irish food, well, just isn’t.

“There is a lot of Irish stuff —- even here at Meehan’s —- that isn’t exactly Irish,” said Harrell. “For instance, what we call shepherd’s pie is really cottage pie. Shepherd’s pie should be made with lamb, but a lot of people make it with ground beef and potatoes. We had a lot of cottage pie, a casserole of gravy, beef, carrots and onions with slightly crispy mashed potatoes on top that was definitely a favorite at my house.”

One of Harrell’s fondest memories is her grandmother’s annual visits from Belfast. She’d arrive with two enormous suitcases with the family’s favorite foods layered amid the clothing.

“Most of the Irish things we ate got smuggled in,” recalled Harrell with a laugh. “She’d bring us Irish bacon, sausages and candies. She even brought over John Powers [whiskey] long before it was available here.”

What the family didn’t eat was corned beef and cabbage. “That’s another big misconception people have …” said Harrell. “It’s really an American tradition. At home, we did eat cabbage and potatoes but it was with something called boiling bacon, when we could get it. My mother usually substituted a Boston butt and I loved it.”

Harrell does her part to share authentic Irish food with her guests at Meehan’s. For St. Patrick’s Day, she’ll be cooking up one of her favorites: batches of traditional soda bread. But getting diners to rave about Irish food is a slow process, she admits, largely because Irish cuisine has a reputation for being rather bland.

“If people will give it a chance, I think they’ll find it’s very homey, very comfort-style food,” said Harrell. “But even though they get the shepherd’s pie, they’re not quite ready for boiling bacon yet.”

4 fun facts about … Linda Harrell

1. Her favorite pastime is watching food-related TV. “I love food shows and restaurant war shows,” she said. “Sometimes I feel like I’m still at work when I go home!”

2. She is a member of Les Dames d’Escoffier, a group of culinary professionals that sponsor community events and educational programs around food.

3. Sebastian, her 3-year-old Pekinese, “is my kid.”

4. She keeps her home cooking simple. “I may do vegetables and pasta,” she said. “At home, I watch my diet and save my splurges for work.”