Six Acres
203 Carrall St.
604-488-0110
sixacres.ca
Open daily, 11:30am until late.
Yes, Vancouver’s beer renaissance has come and gone, and the result is a wonderful collection of craft, artisan, micro and even nano breweries that have changed Vancouver from the champion of Molson into the defender of the seasonal IPA. It’s been a long time coming, and it’s a wonderful thing to see, especially during the annual Vancouver Craft Beer Week, which is currently celebrating its eighth year and is running for 10 days until June 4.
My focus, however, has always been on what goes best with beer. Or wine. Or cocktails. Or whisky. You hear me. Point me to the food, to the plate of delicious pretzels, gooey poutine, juicy ribs, grilled asparagus. Yeah, that’s right, asparagus. If that doesn’t seem to fit the standard notion of what constitutes appropriate beer-friendly fare, you might want to visit Six Acres in Gastown and have a leisurely chomp through the menu.
Six Acres sits on some prime real estate; the corner where Powell Street morphs into Water Street and intersects with Carrall. The decent-sized patio isn’t as large as Chill Winston’s, but it’s not as loud, either. The inside is cramped and tiny, although the upstairs offers some breathing room – unless you need to visit the facilities. The tiny five-foot-tall girl ahead of me complained about her knees knocking against the stall door. Standing at five-foot-nine, I didn’t much enjoy becoming human origami for a tight moment, but that’s a heritage building in Gastown for you.
The patio, however, is perfect for people-watching and sipping endlessly from the excellent list of brews and whiskies. There are nine or 10 rotating taps, plus a long list of bottles. The former mainly focuses on BC, while the latter ranges from Hawaii to the Czech Republic, and everywhere in between. I mentioned the whisky, yes? Scotland and Ireland are well-represented, but the US bourbons, like the ultra-light Basil Hayden or the darker Four Roses, are worth a taste.
But, I digress. After all, it’s the food that’s important, amirite? There are dishes to admire here. The lightly-crunchy exteriors of the cheddar corn fritters ($7) hide the massively cheesy polenta inside. Served in a skillet lined with some honey and drizzled with a barely-spicy cream, this is a hearty bar snack that is excellent washed down with a decent Pimm’s Cup ($5.50 happy hour special) one night. The poutine ($11) is a middling dish made better with the addition of mushrooms (+$2), but the raw slices of shallot seem sadly out of place. This dish screams for caramelization. Instead, the sharp bitterness of the onion simply detracts from the rather good stout-laced gravy. The mini-burgers, served as a trio without sides, are much better. While the classic patty ($13) with the housemade ketchup is tasty, I prefer the rock crab version ($13). The patty is flaky and buttery, the pickled daikon and carrot give a pleasant crunch, and the chilli mayo offers some nice – if slightly underserved – heat. You have to order fries separately, which seems a bit steep, but that housemade ketchup is really good, full of tomato-ey flavour without being excessively sweet.
Some of the standout dishes, though, were items like the aforementioned asparagus ($7.50). Drizzled with lemon and topped with grated pecorino, sautéed garlic and diced walnuts, it’s beautiful all on its own. Likewise, the beet salad ($8.50), with its roasted red and pickled yellow beets, feta, pistachio and fresh mint, in a sherry vinaigrette, was a lovely plate. A pan-roasted chicken ($15.25) with a rosemary-infused mash of cannellini beans is juicy and flavourful, as are the lamb meatballs ($14.50) in a dark red molé with crumbled egg and pickled onions.
The best dishes here aren’t necessarily the standard pub grub items and that’s okay. There are plenty of places for chicken wings in the city. A good chicken with bean mash or rock crab burger is slightly less common and just as welcome.
Ratings
Food: ★★1/2
Service: ★★★
Ambiance: ★★
Value: ★★1/2
Overall: ★★1/2
All ratings out of five stars.
★: Okay, nothing memorable
★★: Good, shows promise
★★★: Very good, occasionally excellent
★★★★: Excellent, consistently above average
★★★★★: Awe-inspiring, practically perfect in every way
Anya Levykh is a food, drink and travel writer who covers all things ingestible. Find her on Twitter and Instagram.
