Tap & Barrel Officially Opens

The newest addition to Olympic Village, Tap and Barrel, had their official grand opening celebration last week. Open for business for several months already, Tap and Barrel serves local craft beer and premium wines on tap, along with some delicious food. Owner Daniel Frankel celebrated by having a special VIP tweet-up for Twitter followers prior to the 8pm public opening. Everyone was treated to two drink tickets to sample the wines and beers on tap, and there were small appetizers for everyone to try. Dawn Chubai from Breakfast Television stopped by to MC, as well as Deputy mayor Raymond Louie giving a few words about the opening of Tap and Barrel in the Olympic Village community.

There is a spacious patio on two levels.

Dawn Chubai of Breakfast Television announces the grand opening celebrations.

Owner Daniel Frankel welcoming everyone and doing a ribbon cutting.

Sweet fennel sausage handcrafted pizza - peppers, roasted tomato sauce, provolone.

Local wild mushrooms handcrafted pizza - smoked mozzarella, fresh baby arugula, truffle oil.

Steak bite with a sweet cherry tomato and potato wedge.

PB&J burger - chipotle peanut butter, bacon jelly, angus beef with pulled pork. Peanut butter in a burger seems to be the new thing at restaurants!

Pumpkin ale.

We decided to stay for dinner after the special VIP party, and ordered a few dishes to share.

1lb drunken mussels - salt spring island mussels and wood stone artisanal flatbread. While very good, the mussels tasted a tad to much like the sea, and may not have been as fresh as I would have liked.

Infamous sticky yam fries - an intriguing combination of yam fries (sweet) and melted marshmallow (sweeter). The end result was a very dessert like dish, but one worth trying at least once.

Sweet fennel sausage handcrafted pizza - I enjoyed the sample of this so much I decided to go with the full version. The crust was not as thin and crispy as I thought it would be, but it was still delicious.

To take a look at Tap and Barrel's menu or make reservations, check out their website here.