The Balmoral tap room of Half Acre opened over the weekend. I've been drooling over the menu the last couple of days so I walked over last night. They're open Thursday - Sunday and the place was buzzing, both inside and out. I was by myself, so I chose to sit inside at the bar. The one complaint about that is the stools are a bit low if you're short. I felt like a little kid sitting there, was a little awkward eating my bowl of octopus nicoise. I was expecting more of a composed salad, this was a bowl of thin slices of octopus with cut green beans, grape tomatoes and fingerling potatoes in a nice vinaigrette with a quartered pickled egg on top. My 1st bite of octopus was rather salty (and I LOVE salt), but the rest of the dish wasn't overly salty. I liked the tartness of the vinaigrette.
I also had a 10 oz pour of The Big North which is a "Lacto Pulsed Pale Ale with Peaches - 5.5%". I'm not a beer nerd, though I knew that lacto referred to the fermentation. It was nicely sour, kind of peachy.
Although they refer to it as "Balmoral" and the official address is on Balmoral (2050 W), the actual entrance is off the parking lot on Rascher. They have a bunch of picnic tables set up in a sectioned off portion of the lot. I can see that as a fun place to hang out with friends on a nice fall afternoon.
I'm really glad to see something cool come to Bowmanville.
Half Acre Beer Company - Balmoral Tap Room & Garden
2050 W Balmoral Ave
Chicago, IL 60625
(773) 754-8488
http://www.halfacrebeer.com/balmoral-taproom/