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Revitalized Pub Makes Its Bid for Best New Patio Starting Tomorrow

The Gnome from Brian and Sarah Ingram opens Tuesday August 4

The Gnome Pub sign
A new brewpub with a familiar name opens August 4
John Yuccas

The Gnome opens Tuesday August 4 with an expansive patio, over one hundred taps, and a menu built by Justin Sutherland. The new restaurant at 498 Selby Avenue tips a hat to the former tenant with the name. This location was long the home of The Happy Gnome, under different ownership. What neighborhood regulars loved about the old spot were the extensive beer list and chill vibes. Both are intact, but the restaurant space and adjoining patio have gotten major upgrades.

The impressive patio opens first, with more than double the square footage, sporting tables, a bar, fireplace, benches, and a few dangling hammock chairs, all under the shade of giant trees. Inside, the bar and back room have been opened up, allowing for more, spaced out seating.

The Gnome downstairs bar
More seating has been added in the front, inside bar
John Yuccas

The upper level of the restaurant includes a game room, second bar, and a lounge area. It will be open to the public, but can also be utilized as a private event space.

Lounge
The upstairs space has a bar, shuffleboard, and lounge seating
John Yuccas

Everywhere inside light pours in the windows, many of which had been covered previously.

Kegs separate a fireplace lounge and seating space upstairs
John Yuccas

The menu is stacked with hearty dishes good for pairing with the beer, wine, and tiki cocktails all on tap. Poutine consists of wedge potatoes and fried cheese curds covered in gravy and raclette cheese sauce, impressive for its cheese on cheese action. A beef marrow bone pot pie is a mega meaty dish, served with a giant bone winging out from underneath pastry crust. Mussels are topped with pork belly. A beet salad tosses in some watermelon and herbs. Prices range from $10 appetizers up to a $32 steak.

Beer tap handles
The Gnome has over one hundred taps. It’s stocked them with an astounding amount of beer, plus wine, coffee, and tiki cocktails
John Yuccas

This restaurant is the second for Brian and Sarah Ingram. The two also own Hope Breakfast Bar in the West 7th neighborhood. Like that restaurant, a portion of the profits will be donated to the couple’s Give Hope nonprofit that’s been feeding hungry neighbors during the pandemic.

Dangling rope chairs on a large patio
Several hammock chairs hang from one of the large shade trees the patio is built around
John Yuccas

The menu at The Gnome was put together with the help of Justin Sutherland, of Handsome Hog and Top Chef fame.

Deck seating
The patio seats will open first with the interior of the restaurant opening later
John Yuccas

The restaurant’s extensive patio opens first with reservations now available. The expanded deck wraps from the front and around the side of the building, filled with lots of distanced seating options, several dangling hammock chairs, and a fireplace. Reservations for these seats are open now. The interior seats will be available later this month.

The host stand with menus
Reservations are being accepted now
John Yuccas
Beer can chicken served over cheesy grits
Joy Summers
Poutine at The Gnome consists of potato wedges, fried cheese curds with raclette cheese and veal demi glace
Joy Summers
The cocktail menu is dominated by tiki drinks
Joy Summers

Correction: August 3, 12:36 p.m. This article was corrected to reflect The Gnome is a pub, not a brewpub as previously stated.

The Gnome

498 Selby Avenue, Saint Paul, MN 55102 Visit Website