Presence

I thought this was going to happen a very long time ago.

The Brasserie was certainly not overpriced as far as upscale restaurants go. But, I think the emergence of more moderately priced “fast food deluxe” places like Accents, (the now defunct) Sabra Grill, Knish Shop as well as David Chu’s—not to mention the dairy places like the pizza shops, Goldberg’s and the JCC cut into their market share. Given that Baltimore is not such an “eating out” community (for a variety of reasons), the demise of the Brasserie does not surprise me. That being said, I have found the lunch menu at the Brasserie to be limited and it was not that great of an experience bringing work colleagues there. They much prefer David Chu’s for the variety, value, and speed of service.

Personally, I think that a popular franchise like Dougie’s, perhaps in the Brasserie space would have a shot here, and would especially play well with the teenage to 30-something crowd. They have the name recognition and in other cities, they always seem to be crowded. But, there would be a certain level of investment and risk involved. Also, the service would have to be closer to New York speed than Baltimore’s. (Went to Mama Leah’s last night for arguably the best kosher pizza in town. As one can imagine, they are quite busy this time of year. The girl at the counter was not only working the phone and cash register, but also waiting on a 10 year old kid who could make up his mind and was ordering one ice cream cone at a time. The growing line of impatient customers waiting to pick-up their orders did not seem to phase her or his family that was sitting nearby. Then, the squirt tries to figure out how to pay by credit card!)

My hope is, that sometime in the next 5 years, a kosher restuarant that is either a fleishig place that is not a burger joint or Chinese or dairy place that is nicer than a pizza place will open; a place that has table service, not counter, that is fancier than Accent's but not quite as fancy and expensive as the Brasserie is/was. Do you think that this is a realistic hope?

Sad news :(