Naughty Leprechaun’s Hangover Tacos Lives Up To Name
This is Austin. Eventually, gourmet tacos, leprechaun drag and breakfast had to be combined somehow. Welcome to Naughty Leprechaun’s Hangover Tacos, a catering and delivery service that believes in truth in advertising.
They have a simple schtick. If you’re hungover and desperately in need of a hearty breakfast, handsome men dressed in leprechaun drag will bring you tacos. Your day can only get better after that.
The founders are an unlikely trio of native Texans. By day, Jack Connelly works as a lawyer, Austin O'Flannagan is an MBA working for a multinational corporation, and Perry O'Donneley works in day care. They brought on recent culinary school graduate “Big Tony” to create their recipes.
The hearty gourmet tacos range from $3.75 to $4.50. For an extra dollar you can have them deep fried. Keeping with the Irish-Mexican fusion theme, you can order an Irish Breakfast Taco with slow-cooked corned beef, Kerrygold Dubliner Irish Stout and provolone cheese, mushrooms sauteed in wine and butter, hash browns and scrambled eggs. If you’re not in the mood for breakfast, you can order a Drunken Longhorn, which includes a roast marinated in Guinness for 15 hours before being simmered in a tasty assortment of spices, then wrapped up with chunks of baked potato, chives, Kerrygold aged whiskey cheddar and diced tomatoes. Other tacos include The Stripper, The Benedictine, The Dirty Hippy and Leaving Las Migas.
Connelly says the concept came from personal experience. When you wake up hung over on Saturday or Sunday morning, the last thing you want to do is get in your car, face the sun, wait in line somewhere and hope you remembered both your pants and your wallet. Connelly notes how they couldn’t find any restaurants offering breakfast delivery.
“It’s a good cause,” says Connelly. “We can keep drunks off the road and help people who are having a rough morning at the same time.” He was pleasantly surprised when their marketing research revealed Sixth St. regulars and college students were just as eager for late-night taco delivery as they were for breakfast. “If you’re fresh back from the bars and hungry at 2 a.m., what would you rather have? A greasy slice of leftover pizza or gourmet tacos delivered to your door?”
The leprechaun drag uniforms were born when South by Southwest overlapped St. Patrick’s Day. “We always knew we wanted to go into business together,” says Connelly. “We loved the idea of breakfast delivery. This year, we were sitting in a hot tub after St. Patrick's day reminiscing about all the shock value we got from wearing our costumes downtown. That got us thinking. What if we combined the business idea with the thing that got us so much attention? It fit so well with the funky Keep Austin Weird Thing. People couldn’t resist us. When they see a man in leprechaun drag, they have to come up and say hi. At that point, why not sell them a taco?”
Connelly says that while the uniforms do attract positive attention from women, men are prone to question their sexuality. “Listen, this is the straightest thing I do. I know it’s ironic, but it really is. When we go to bars to hand out flyers or go to sixth street to sell some tacos, we get amazing attention from ladies and a lot of jealous boyfriends. I’ve never had so many women grab my butt.”
Once the shock value wears off, Connelly believes that the quality of the tacos will keep people coming back. “Sure, it’s fun to prank your friend by having us deliver 50 tacos to his office at lunch, but his secretary will call us back because everybody loved the food, not just because she tried to stick a hand up our skirts.”
At the moment, tacos are only available for catering or during promotions on Sixth St. Naughty Leprechaun's Hangover Tacos is in the process of opening a location convenient to both campus and Sixth Street. In August, they expect to start full-time daily delivery service to campus and downtown, as well as selling tacos from their walk-up location. Meanwhile, they cater orders for as few as 20 tacos.
“Where could we do this other than Austin?” concludes Connelly. “I’m a lawyer, Austin is an MBA. We’ve done our due diligence with the business plan and financials, so we know this has real legs. People in Austin will buy tacos from leprechauns at 2 a.m. It’s a dream come true for the three of us. We can offer a great service while running a creative business we can pour our heart and soul into. Plus, we really like our green dresses.”
