Los San Patricios—When the Irish Joined the Mexicans

Corned beef and enchiladas have a lot more in common than you'd think. And Campbell's wants to explain.

"The Irish and Mexican have one thing in common: The Irish fought side by side of the Mexicans during the U.S. invasion," says Jorge Sanchez, manager at Chacho's.

A battalion of immigrants from the United States made up of Irish-Catholics and German-Catholics deserted their positions with the U.S. Army during the Mexican-American War and joined forces with the Mexicans, fellow Catholics. That group was known as the San Patricios and were thought of as traitors by the U.S. but heroes by Mexico.

"We kind of want to educate people on the San Patricios," Sanchez says. "Last year, we put up 4-by-4 posters and sold out of our corned beef and cabbage tacos. This year we are going to have the tacos as well as green chavelas, mariachi and traditional Aztec dancers."

The St. Patrick's Day festivities at Chacho's will begin Thursday at noon and continue through Friday at 2 a.m.