On Thursday, we celebrated Never Day at Ben’s Half Yard House (GuideLive review). Bryan organized it, but it was Lyn’s choice (and a great choice it was).
I hadn’t previously thought of Ben’s as a “birthday venue”, but it couldn’t have been better. As always, Ben’s was reasonably lit (not a dark cave like some bars and restaurants) and the music wasn’t so loud as to impede conversation.
The service, too, was better than I would have expected — our server cheerfully arranged for separate checks for each of the dozen-or-so people in our party.
Ben’s has an impressive bar (42 beers on tap!), but the food stood out as well. I’m not normally a fan of cheeseburgers (American cheese? bleh), but I ordered one of their cheeseburgers once I realized that they were available with blue cheese.
Some restaurants sprinkle on the blue cheese, but this burger had a gooey hunk of blue cheese paste that engulfed the top of the patty (and I mean “paste” in a good way). The burger was fairly hot with pleasantly crumbly beef. And, the blue cheese worked so well — they really didn’t skimp on the blue cheese, and its flavor shone through. The bun was above average, though still just a white-flour bun (I keep wondering when rye buns will catch on, HHOS).
Along with the burger, I ordered one of their signature half yards, with Fullers ESB. I was originally going for Fullers Porter (as it’s currently rated #4 among reasonably available beers), but they had run out of that. Still, the ESB was dark and very delicious.
I had good conversation, and a great time. Ben’s is quickly becoming one of my favorite bar-restaurants in the area.