J.J. Dolan's quietly opened to friends and family at 1147 Bethel St. last night.

It is an Irish pub with New York pizza from two guys in Chinatown. The seemingly incongruous statement is its slogan, devised by advertising agency Wall to Wall Studios.

It is the hard-labor-won fruit of Shamrock Brothers LLC.

No, not mixed martial artist siblings Ken and Frank Shamrock.

The pub was not named after the Wild West figure; nor for the man who helped expand fishing-related tourism to Carrigallen, Ireland in the late 1950s.

J.J. is John Joseph Nebuhr, while Dolan is his partner Danny's last name. Both are veterans of Honolulu's food and beverage industry.

Dolan was general manager at O'Toole's - and gave his notice there “;a year ago today,”; he said Friday.

Nebuhr was known as the “;pizza guy”; at Murphy's Bar & Grill.

Both had long wanted their own place - Nebuhr as a child of 7, said his mother Mary. She and Nebuhr's father Frank came for two weeks to help with the opening. On Friday, she was polishing brass and stopped to present her son and Dolan with an old, rusty and worn horseshoe for luck.

It was an emotional gift. The simple family treasure had been in J.J.'s great-grandparents' home and a part of his life, all his life.

So how does an Adam Sandler-sounding guy from Jersey City wind up in Hawaii? “;Thank God for the United States Marine Corps,”; he said.

That was years and jobs ago.

Motioning to Dolan, Nebuhr said, “;We love pizza, we love beer, and we think that downtown Chinatown will love pizza and beer.”;

The pair is grateful to “;countless people we've relied on and we've got to give them their due,”; Dolan said. Each repeatedly credited Hawaii National Bank Assistant Manager Tom Ishida; Valerie Koenig, owner of Business Plans Hawaii LLC; kitchen and bar equipment wrangler Kelly Brezina; woodworker Wayne Kieselbach, and mostly, Murphy's owner Don Murphy.

The pub is far enough away not to directly compete, yet it creates sort of an “;Irish beltway”; from Bethel Street to Merchant Street, Nebuhr laughed.

“;We'll pour an honest pint,”; and serve reasonably priced food, Dolan said.

It also has a full bar and entertaining wine list by industry vet Heath Porter.

Prices were not set on Friday, but the partners are aware of budget-conscious students at nearby Hawaii Pacific University.

They look forward to serving the downtown lunch and dinner crowd, families and industry folk, as the kitchen will be open until midnight most nights and perhaps later Fridays and Saturdays, as well as Sunday afternoons.

It is also likely to become a place editors call, when looking for errant reporters.