We have visited JL Beers twice this summer so far on separate trips to Grand Forks. We were in Grand Forks both times to visit family and friends, but we always try to throw in a fun dining experience or side trip. JL Beers is turning out to be the highlight of our trips to Grand Forks. It is a pretty small place that only serves beer, burgers, fries and chips. The beer selection is enormous and ever changing. If you like to try new beer, this is the place for you.
On my first visit I had the BLT BLU burger, which is a blue cheeseburger with bacon, lettuce, tomato and blue cheese with their house made potato chips. Oh my goodness, these chips are great! They slice them right there behind the bar and toss them right into the fryer. The chips are very light and crispy and not at all greasy. You can add different seasoning salts to the chips as well, but I just went with sea salt since I had the R dip on the side. There are several chip dips to choose from as well. I tried the R dip, which is a house special dip. It was a sour cream based chip dip with a fair amount of spice to it. I am not sure what provided the spice in the dip though.
The burger was excellent; very juicy and just the right thickness. I’d estimate these are about ¼ pound burgers. The buns are very good as well; lightly toasted and soft, but strong enough to withstand the juices from the meat and cheese.
John had the Rajun Cajun burger on both of our visits. Apparently he liked it a lot. The Rajun Cajun topping are pepper jack cheese Cajun lime sauce, and grilled onions.
John and I both tried a beer flight on our second visit. It was a good way to try a selection of beers available on tap.
John's Cajun burger on our second visit.
On my second visit I tried the Columbia burger with a side of hand cut Cajun fries. The topping included bacon, cheese and barbeque sauce. The burger was very good, but I think from now on I will stick with ordering the potato chips as my side as I was not that crazy about the fries. I ordered my fries thin cut though, so maybe next time I should try thick cut fries instead. The chips are much more crave-able than the fries though. It is difficult to explain why I did not care for the fries, I guess the fries were tasty, but not as crispy as I would have liked I suppose.
I really enjoyed both of our visits to JL Beers and we will definitely return soon. The atmosphere is pretty basic, I get the feeling they are trying to recreate the feeling of an old school bar, with a long bar taking up one side of the interior and tables on the other side. It is a pretty small place with only 6-7 tables, though some hold as many as 6-8 people at a time. We did not encounter a wait on either of our visits. Also, as a side note, they do not allow children or any patrons under 21 in the restaurant, which is a bit unusual, so no kids menu. The other unusual item is that they do not serve tap water. You have to buy a bottle of water if you wish to add a glass of water to your meal. I don’t know what the reasoning behind the lack of tap water is about, it seemed silly and annoying to me.
The service was quite good on both of our visits. The first time we were seated at the bar and the second time we were at a table. Both times our server checked back on a regular basis to see if we needed anything. We found the prices to be quite affordable—most items are in the $3-5 range, though the burgers don’t include fries or chips you need to add them a la carte.
We also heard JL Beers is going to open in the Twin Cities area sometime next year, so we are looking forward to that as well. Hopefully it is on our side of town in the West Metro!
JL Beers
2531 S Columbia Rd,
Grand Forks, ND
(701) 738-1000
http://jlbeers.com/
