There’s a New Dine-Gnar in Town!
My husband has long been a fan of microbreweries and taprooms. We make it a point to find local taprooms any time we travel, and he’s collected so many pint glasses over the years that at some point I got rid of regular glassware. If you want a glass of ice water at my house, it will be served to you in a pint glass from one of the many breweries we’ve been to. Of course, living in the New Orleans area also means we have a great selection of breweries and taprooms near us, and when we found out that Gnarley Barley in Hammond was opening a restaurant just a few days before Father’s Day, which is also my husband’s birthday weekend, we knew we had to try it.
The new Dine-Gnar is just across the street from the taproom and is a collaboration with Fine Thyme Catering. The menu includes a delicious variety of burgers, sandwiches, salads, and snacks, and they clearly know their audience because my kids were able to order Capri-Suns to drink. After placing our order at the window, we were able to choose from three different dining areas: an indoor, air-conditioned dining room, a covered patio with a bar and long tables and benches, or an open patio with brightly colored picnic tables and umbrellas. We chose to sit under the covered patio. While we waited for our food, our girls played with the yard games and my husband walked across the street to get us beers from the taproom.
Our food was delivered to us very quickly and was absolutely delicious. My girls can be quite picky about mac and cheese, but they really enjoyed the mac and cheese from the Dine-Gnar, even with the “green stuff” sprinkled on top. My Merica Burger was a quintessential greasy American cheeseburger, and I definitely ate too much because it was just so good. My husband also really enjoyed his Cajun Burger, and we split a fantastic order of Loaded Fries, which could have been a meal all by themselves.
On a nicer evening, we could have sat there for hours enjoying our beers and watching our girls play, but the heatwave had them begging to go into the air-conditioned dining area. Instead of dirtying a table at the Dine-Gnar, we decided to walk across the street to the taproom, where my husband ordered another beer and we enjoyed the live music in the air-conditioned brewery. Of course, we couldn’t leave without my husband adding another pint glass to his collection for his Birthday. Overall it was a great evening, and we’ll definitely be back for the food and the beer.