Corner BYOB

Bring Your Own Bottle, Hon

Corner BYOB

850 West 36^th Street

Baltimore, MD 21211

meetme@cornerbyob.com

 Restaurant Week Baltimore ended last week but I had heard good things about a unique spot in Hampden and wanted to put it on the list since the special menu looked intriguing. Unfortunately, I waited too long to make a reservation (they do not take e mail reservations) and when I called the only available times were for 5 PM and 9 PM, not my idea of dinner hours. Some restaurants you just don’t hesitate to make reservations at during Restaurant Week and this is one of them.

However, while fiddling around their web site I noticed that Corner BYOB has $25 three course specials every Monday night – and that menu looked pretty darn interesting so we decided to give it a go with some friends.

I don’t believe I have ever had occasion to go to Hampden in my entire life and I was astounded to see what a vibrant area it is with many restaurants and shops, neatly kept homes, and a very busy sidewalk scene, especially for a Monday night. Parking is a bit tricky as it is all curbside and spaces can be at a premium. We ended up finding a spot 2 blocks away in the residential area and I managed to keep from embarrassing myself by nailing the parallel parking on the first try. It’s not a skill I get to practice often these days in the Land of Asphalt, the parking lots in Carroll County.

The first impression we got of Corner BYOB was one puzzlement as we surely looked like yokels from the sticks by trying to enter via the front door. It was locked so I started to look for a doorbell and speakeasy window like the one at the old Martick’s in Baltimore. It turns out the entrance is on the side street(36th). Our next impression of the place was how small it is – and noisy. There can’t be more than a dozen tables in the joint and they were all full of people who obviously were there to enjoy the BYOB part of the place as some tables had several bottles of wine and glasses lined up on them. One large table of diners might have been holding a wine club meeting there. I do wish there were more restaurants doing the BYOB thing as it can save substantially on the cost of a meal and allow you to bring the best of what you like. We brought bottles of a French white and California Cabernet Sauvignon with us.

We were promptly seated and the staff obviously knows the wine end of the game as our first server (they serve by team there) quickly asked which bottle we wanted to start with and brought a bucket of ice to chill the white wine. If you happen to enjoy a mixed drink they serve Mocktails – you bring the rum, vodka, or gin and they provide the mixings. There are six appetizers, seven entrees and four desserts on the special Monday menu; remarkably we all chose different entrees. Equally remarkable was that two of us selected the Escargots & Maltaki mushrooms appetizer. Escargot is one delicacy I have failed to develop an appreciation for. I chose the spicy, creamy lobster bisque which is served in a very large bowl that makes the portion look small – actually the portion of soup is very sufficient but it will not be criticized for containing too much lobster meat. Debbie asked for the Cucumber and Tomato salad without the dreaded cucumber. Neither of us cares for cucumber and I don’t like it anywhere near anything else on my plate as its strong flavor infects any vegetable near it. Others I know LOVE cucumber, they can have mine. Unfortunately the salad arrived with large hunks of cucumber in it. I would have sent it back but Debbie ate around  them and enjoyed the salad with its balsamic vinaigrette and shaved red onion. The reviews on the escargot were mixed with one friend thoroughly loving it and the other feeling that the grilled preparation left a little too strong a suggestion of the char, although they were sautéed according to the menu. Hmm.

This restaurant can’t help but be noisy as the room is small and the diners are all having a wonderful time of things. It’s a fun atmosphere but it does make it a bit hard to have a normal conservation.

Bread is an option on the Monday night menu and I suppose that’s fair as Chef Bernard is obviously trying to keep the cost of the dinners low. We ordered a loaf of the house bread and their potato fries, alas the fries never showed up, a victim of the team server technique and a busy kitchen – or just a forgetful server.

I really had a hard time deciding between the Calf Liver entrée and the kilopot of mussels which they will prepare to your choice of four flavorings. I settled on the mussels marinere – a concoction of white wine, herbs, onion and celery all steamed together in a large pot served before you with an accompanying pot for the discarded shells. To be honest, I was a little disappointed because the mussels were small and not as flavorful as I have had elsewhere, most notably Timpano in Rockville where the serving is spectacular, the mussels huge and the broth glorious. At Corner BYOB the mussels are accompanied by their version of potato fries (shown below) or a serving of bread to mop up the broth with.

Debbie had the grilled ribeye steak with Lyonnais potatoes. She loved the green peppercorn sauce and pronounced the doneness as perfect. Another diner had the Red Snapper filet with baby beets, asparagus and a red beet coulis. She didn’t offer anyone a taste of her entrée as she apparently wanted it all for herself. The final entrée was the grilled lamb served on a creamy polenta. Fortunately my friend was willing to share a taste of the lamb and it truly was delicious.

For dessert there was the chocolate mousse/espresso – a serving of hot espresso over chocolate mousse that was well received. Debbie settled for the Dame Blanche, which I believe is best described as a vanilla ice cream sundae with lots of whipped cream. My citrus crepes were just a nice accompaniment to their lemon caramel sauce.

One of the eccentricities of Corner BYOB is that it requests diners to pay in cash – and we were told that up-front when we made the reservation. It’s another way of keeping the cost of the meal down by avoiding the fees the charge card operators charge restaurants – as much as 5% for some cards. Corner BYOB also announces on its menu that behaved children are welcome. It makes me smile when I think of what might occur if someone brings their ill-behaved little brat to the restaurant. I wonder how they handle ill-behaved adults.

Corner BYOB charges $1.00 per drinker as a glassware charge – very fair to my mind. It is easy to reach via the JFX to Cold Spring Lane to Falls Road. Given all the shops in the area it’s probably a good place to stroll around before or after diner on Fridays and Saturdays. I’d like to return to try the regular menu sometime and I do recommend this restaurant as something out of the ordinary with a good kitchen and the good sense to capitalize on the BYOB trade. Reserve ahead.