I’ve driven by this restaurant every time I visit the FBI at Quantico, and I cannot help but wonder:
How did this happen?
How did a Mexican restaurant end up with an Irish name? Or a partially Irish name.
So I went searching and found a few other oddities:
First, Carlos O’Kelly’s is a franchise. The first store opened in Marion, Iowa, in 1982, and despite the sign, it’s not a Mexican restaurant. It’s a New Mexican restaurant featuring cuisine from New Mexico, which is apparently different than Mexican and even Tex-Mex cuisine.
The restaurant was founded by brothers Darrel and David Rolph—whose names seem neither Mexican nor Irish—who were also instrumental in the early franchising of Pizza Hut. They owned one of the world’s first ten Pizza Hut restaurants and served as leaders in the company as it expanded before leaving the business to open Carlos O’Kelly’s.
Before Pizza Hut, Darrell Rolph was a science teacher. When he heard about the potential of Pizza Hut, he left teaching, bought a franchise, and partnered with his brother.
It’s kind of sad to think we lost a science teacher to pizza, but pizza is undeniably profitable.
The Rolph brothers have since passed away. The company is run today by their nephew.
There are nearly two dozen Carlos O’Kelly’s restaurants operating today in Nebraska, Kansas, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Virginia, including one about a mile down the road from FBI headquarters.
As for the name?
I still can’t find an explanation, and it’s making me crazy.
