In his pro hockey career, Don O’Donoghue was known as a fast
skater and a hard checker. He brought that same hustle and hard
work as the owner of OD’s Kitchen, one of downtown Gilroy’s most
popular restaurants.
By Perry Shirley Staff Writer
Gilroy – In his pro hockey career, Don O’Donoghue was known as a fast skater and a hard checker. He brought that same hustle and hard work as the owner of OD’s Kitchen, one of downtown Gilroy’s most popular restaurants.
O’Donoghue died Monday at the age of 58 of kidney cancer. He is remembered as a tireless worker who always made time for others.
Always, there was a place for family. O’Donoghue ended a career that included parts of two season with the NHL’s Oakland Seals to better support his family. When he opened the restaurant, he invited them to work with him. He ran the no-nonsense eatery with his wife Diana and son Bryan. Some employees might as well be family – OD’s was known for having almost no employee turnover. One his longest tenured employees, Jennell Redd, remembers him as the “best boss in the world.”
By running the place for nearly 17 years and hardly taking a day off, O’Donoghue set an example that has rubbed off on his son, Bryan.
“He was the best thing that ever happened to me,” Bryan O’Donoghue said.
The cancer caught up with the restaurateur 14 months ago and forced him to pass on the day-to-day operations to his son, who inherited a mirror image of his father’s work ethic, often filling in surehandedly with 12-hour days.
A day after its owner’s passing, the eatery was again open for business, filled with families with toddlers crawling around the blue carpet in diapers and longtime residents enjoying the classic American menu.
It’s a healthy mix of toughness and tenderness that Redd remembers him by.
“He seemed like he was hard but he was a teddy bear,” she said.
To Gilroy’s Mayor Al Pinheiro, a long-time patron, it was O’Donoghue’s attention to detail that he remembers best.
“I liked my eggs crispy, over-easy when I was younger and Don would fry them in oil so that the edges would be crispy and the inside was still runny,” Pinheiro said. “We would kid that he was the only one who knew how to do that.”
O’Donoghue opened the diner on July 5 1989, briefly considering the name “D&D’s” for Don and Diane but settling on the snappier OD’s Kitchen at the suggestion of an aunt.
Particularly on weekends, locals know OD’s to get pretty hectic, with orders, plates and drinks flying and servers skillfully winding through and around a packed house of customers. But despite the tension, workers say life is good there.
“There was lots of yelling and screaming but at the end of the day, it was all good,” said Redd.
Despite the incessant work schedule, O’Donoghue took time to help the community – the walls of OD’s are adorned with appreciative plaques from the Gilroy Lions Club and the Patriots Motorcycle Club – and with city leaders.
“He worked a million hours a day but he would take the time to help you if you needed it,” Redd said.
For information on funeral services, see the obituaries page on A5.
