Eats

Restaurant Preview: Grub Burger Bar

by Kari Walker

Bold burgers and spiked shakes find a home in Parc Lafayette

Photo by Robin May

Megan Braniff Klock local Grub Burger Bar franchise owner will open her first Lousiana location in Parc Lafayette in late Summer.

When Megan Braniff Klock graduated from the Academy of Sacred Heart and later UL Lafayette, she left town knowing it wasn't the last time she'd leave her mark on the Hub City. After spending 17 years with Outback as the regional training director, Klock, who now lives in Baton Rouge, turned her eye back to Lafayette for Louisiana's first Grub Burger Bar location. "Lafayette is a foodie town with great people. We're excited about what we can bring here because of the culture and how it's family oriented," says Klock on the driving force behind her decision to bring the restaurant to Parc Lafayette in late August.

Grub Burger may be a franchise and fast-casual, but it's contemporary, and the menu and atmosphere reflect a brand that understands consumers are looking for something more than greasy brown bag drive-thru meals - if you can even call that a meal - and prices that should come with a gold platter. What people want is delicious food at a reasonable price. Well, at Grub Burger Bar you're in the right place for both, says Klock, who knows her customers will be satisfied with the product and prices ranging from $6.50-$11.

The menu is packed with bold ideas like the Ghost Burger, which brings the heat with spicy pepper jack cheese, ghost pepper chili sauce and grilled jalapeños, or, for those non-thrill seekers, the Thai Peanut Burger delivers layers of peanut butter, roasted peanuts and hints of cilantro and coconut. Often consumers are worried about fillers and quality of beef, but Grub Burger serves certified Angus chuck and brisket patties ground in-house daily - as for the buns, those are baked from scratch every hour for freshness (which keeps the restaurant smelling heavenly).

It's not all about the beef, mind you - the Luau fries are cheese fries-meets-Hawaiian tropics with pulled pork, grilled pineapple, jalapeños and a teriyaki and barbecue dipping sauce, and then there are the Shiner Bock hand-battered onion rings that deliver the right amount of crunch and zing from a side of chipotle ketchup. To cool your palate, you'll want to save room for a hand-spun milkshake - make it a spiked mint chocolate chip if you dare with vodka, coffee liqueur, creme de mènthe, Andes mints and chocolate.

Of course, Grub Burger is a place for the whole family so there are plenty of non-alcoholic options like traditional vanilla, all the way to salted caramel, Nutella and key lime pie.

Lafayette is only the first of Klock's Grub Burger location plans - but to her it just feels right to come back to her roots first - she has the franchise rights for Louisiana and the Gulf Coast to Pensacola and is already shopping real estate in New Orleans, Shreveport and Mobile.

For more information on local eateries, view the online INDEats Dining Guide.