New Orleans doesn't have many brewpubs, but the number seems to be rising now that the Saints have been doing so well. Any time there's a big game, a host of television sets show it, and Gordon Biersch packs to the rafters. It's typically a young crowd, who are there for the beer and the standard American eats: burgers, salads, pastas, tacos, and steaks, all given a little twist by the corporate kitchen. A few local dishes (red beans, jambalaya pasta, gumbo) let you know you're not in Anywhere, USA, but just barely.
Gordon Biersch (the last names of its two founders) began in 1988 in California as a small brewery, and it still functions in that capacity, making beer for a number of private labels as well as its own. The restaurants--twenty-nine of them now--began opening in 1995, and are now independent of the breweries. The New Orleans restaurant opened year or so before Katrina, a sone of the restaurants in the Harrah's Hotel.
A dimly-lit, high-tech, masculine space has actual rafters to which the crowd can fill on game day. The brewery's copper tanks are dramatically displayed. The bar is long and congenial; they make decent cocktails as well as serve up the brewskies.
Come for the beer and the fresh-cut, freshly-fried potato chips. The rest of the fare is not terrible, but it's just okay, and with so many other excellent restaurants in the area, it seems a shame to fill up one's stomach on this stuff.
| Attitude | 2 |
|---|---|
| Environment | 0 |
| Hipness | 0 |
| Local Color | 0 |
| Service | 2 |
| Value | 0 |
| Wine | 0 |
