DK Diner- Get-your-own-drinks

First, I hope you all enjoyed St. Patty's Day! Byrne's Pub in Grandview was where I spent my Saturday afternoon people watching all the crazy dancing leprechauns in the tent area, kilt wearing redheaded Irish men slinging back fireball, wannabe Irish men throwing back tequila, and a killer authentic Irish drum line and bagpipe band. Overall, the celebration of St. Patrick was a solid one that he'd be proud of. It's only right that the next day we checked out another Grandview staple... DK Diner.

Eating at DK Diner is always a treat! Be sure to show up early to get a seat or be prepared to put your reservation in and expect a lengthy, but worthwhile, wait as DK Diner gets packed quickly. 

The vibe of this casual, get-your-own-coffee, diner reminds me of a hostile in a way. There is a serve yourself drink station and the kitchen shares the same room as the customers' booths. The walls are covered in graduating seniors' high school class pictures from the 90's and early 2000's and there are white lights strung through the over sized umbrellas outside to give this, already charming, diner an extra cozy feel. 

While waiting for your table, or for your main breakfast or lunch dish, order a few "appetizers," like one of their signature homemade sour cream donuts or their Bloody Mary that is served with a stick of tater tots wrapped in bacon! Yes, you read that correctly! And here's a picture to prove it...

As for the main dish, I really enjoy their DK Skillet which is a fried egg laid flat with hash browns(chucked) and sausage gravy on top. The pancakes are made with with their "secret" batter...(think about it, they are known for their donuts) and are delicious! The Mess is another staple with corn beef, onions, peppers and two eggs and side of toast. 

Now that I made your mouth water, go check this place out asap, and invite me along for the experience too! I love DK Diner! Enjoy! 

Atmosphere: A+, causal 

Food: A, great for brunch!

Service: A, for always being busy, these servers work hard to keep up with demand and usually are always on point. 

Who do you think has the best Bloody Mary's in town? Are you a fan of Bloody Mary bars?
Have you ever been to a restaurant that has serve yourself drinks like DK diner? Did you like that experience? Do you feel you should tip the server less, more, or the same as you would if it were truly a full service place?

Wings and brew at Smokehouse Brewing Co.

I've driven by this place many times and never saw many cars parked out front, so I wasn't sure what Smokehouse Brewing Co. would be like (of course the parking lot is in back which explains a lot ha!).

My boyfriend and I joined our two good friends for a Grandview brewery tour and this was the first stop on tour. This brewery tour (which I'll tell you more about soon) included a bunch of beer samples at 4 different local breweries and light appetizers at our first stop, Smokehouse. If you came here on your own and not a tour, it would probably be a different experience, but overall, I think it would be a good one like ours.

While at Smokehouse Brewing, the very knowledgeable owner and his son took time to speak with us about the beer brewing process and some history on breweries in Columbus. We sampled all of their beers (the Scottish/Scotland one and the Christmas Ale are/were my favorites!). Did you know that you should give each beer 20 seconds of tasting/after-tasting before you fully judge it?! Apparently that gives the taste buds just enough time to determine if you like it or not. Anyways, I'm going to bring a growler up there sometime so I can have the beer handy before a night out. Yes, they fill growlers! They also have a bunch of unique ways that they store and pour their beer (you'll have to ask, because honestly I forget what each method is called, I just know it was really cool hearing about).  

Picture of the best wings ever - frame worthy!

After trying a few beers, the staff brought out 2 appetizer platters for the big group of about 14 people. There were wings, beef brisket, sauerkraut balls, hummus and soft pitas. The wings, OH MY the WINGS, are the best! They had a rub on them, no breading, no sauce, just amazing flavor! I highly recommend these!  The beef brisket was good, I think, but since it was such a small piece I tried, I wasn't sure. Onion straws and pickles were crisp, the hummus and pitas were what you would expect. And the sauerkraut ball, wow, those are good! I never realized I liked those. Actually, I never even knew what those were until I tried them at Smokehouse. I recommend getting out of your comfort zone and trying them. 

The only minor set back, which I'm not sure who's doing this was, the Brewery Tour Company's or Smokehouse's doing, but there wasn't enough samples of each food item on the platter to go around for each person to try. So 14, mostly strangers, looked awkwardly at each other and back at the mouth water food wondering who got to try what, while the owner continued sharing fun facts. Total bummer and I thought it was rude? annoying? uncomfortable? and not very productive to what they were trying to do, you know, get the word out about their food (Smokehouse) and give a good experience for paying brewery tour customers(brewer tour). I thought someone should have stepped up and brought out 3 sampler platters or added enough food so each person got to try each food item.

Anyways, lucky for me, and my group of four, we got to try each of their amazing food items they offered AND we really enjoyed the brew too!!

Ps. You can gain Delta SkyMiles from eating here! :) If you're not sure what I'm referring to, see my previous blog post, "Eating your way to vacation" and start earning miles while eating here!

-Have you ever gone on a brewery tour in Columbus before? Did you get food? What food samples did you get and did you like it? 

-Crazy tough question, "What's your favorite wing place in Columbus?!" Mine is a tie between Smokehouse Brewing Co. and Wings Over Columbus (which, I get, is almost like comparing apples to tomatoes though)