I can't resist a wine bar—especially if there's grilled cheeses on the menu. So when on a recent trip to Dublin, Traveler contributor Nicola Brady sent me an emphatic DM urging me to hit up Loose Canon Cheese and Wine, it took no more than an hour for me to walk in its door. And then I stopped by again the next evening. And again the next afternoon. All in all, on a four-day, long weekend trip, I made three separate visits to Loose Canon. (Had my flight back to New York been later in the day, I would have happily made one last stop).
Loose Canon would look at home in any major city: the nearly all-white decor; the dedication to trendy natural wine, served by the glass and the bottle, to stay or to go; and the bar tops along the edge of the space, where patrons bump elbows as they set down glasses and nibble charcuterie and cheese platters while Leon Bridges plays softly in the background. Irish accents aside, I could have been in Brooklyn, London, Cape Town even.
There were, however, clear signs that I was in fact in Dublin, just four-blocks from Trinity College's main gate. First off the staff was beyond friendly, downright cheerful even, when I walked through the front door each day. Then there were the cheeses and charcuterie: The store stocks salami from Northern Ireland's Broughgammon Farms and County Meath's Wooded Pig, among others, while recent cheese offerings include Cnoc Dubh (an Irish goat cheese) and a Ballylisk triple cream from Northern Ireland. Two or three meats and cheese slices are available to mix and match on boards each night, served alongside crackers and a dollop of pickles or housemade chutney, and there's a fridge of full rounds and hunks of both available for takeaway.
But the real reason for my three visits? The toasties. At the time, they stopped serving those gooey grilled cheese sandos at 5:30 p.m., a fact nearly nowhere to be found on the internet. (They now serve them until close.) So I missed them the first two times, but then (finally!) I devoured a toasty filled with cheddar, béchamel, and scallions. The friend traveling with me, equally as obsessed with Loose Canon, had one stacked with Gubeen Farm's West Cork–produced chorizo and farmhouse cheese. They were messy, they were warm, and they were delicious. Imagine all that cheddar and béchamel oozing out the sides of crispy, nearly caramelized toast. It was worth every failed toasty mission.
If you're super into wine, they've got you covered on that end as well. The bottles of natural wine start at €20 (around $22) and glasses from €9 ($10). On any given night, you'll have about seven by-the-glass options: a handful of whites, reds, at least one orange, and maybe a wild card, like a sake. The friendly staff knows its stuff—when it comes to both wine and cheese—and can help you find the right match. Most of the selections are from outside Ireland, like a rosé from Austria's producer Gut Oggau or the Puglian orange wine from Calcarius. Unless you're knee-deep in the natural wine movement, you probably won't recognize the producers along the wall, but isn't that part of the joy? It's also why you've got to keep coming back—three times at least.
