canuck

Ellen...thanks so much. I will look for your Spain trip report next week. Have a great time in Montreal-I'm going in a few weeks myself! Isn't it a great city?

murray

Faina,<BR>Don't you understand? Most BYOB restaurants WANT you to bring your own wine. This is part of what they are selling. They don't usually have their own license to sell wine and are offering you the opportunity to dine at their establishment without a significantly higher tab for wine. It allows the person(s) with a limited budget to have the total restaurant experience inclusive of wine. It also allows the oenophile the opportunity to bring a wine of his or her choice to a small(usually) restaurant which might not have a strong choice of wines, even if they had a license to sell it.<BR>It is anything but tacky.<BR>Murray.

x

Liquor licenses cost thousands of dollars and often include a long wait to get one.<BR>It is a treat for restaurant owners to be open and doing business with people bringing their own.<BR>For the diner, this is a treat also, aside from cost, some people really like wine with a meal. <BR>Then you have the party that comes along, a group of friends out to dinner, liking a couple of bottles of wine. This can really run up a tab! How pleasant to have each couple bring a bottle and be able to have a selection of wines during the evening without the bill coming to a few hundred dollars or more.<BR>Faina, you need to get out more.

Faina

X, I live in San Francisco, and usually in the restaurants there are wine lists... was I dining in all wrong places?

dfrar

uh, is Canada different from the US? My experience here in Chicago is the better places have nice wine lists, and so-so places just barely skating along have no wine list at all. I'm just thinking you might want to avoid those places and instead stick with ones offering decent wines and wine service. Leave the brown bagging to college kids. Dropping by a liquor store for a beverage before dinner doesn't sound too exciting to us.

Leslie

I think most of the restaurants on Duluth Street are BYOB establishments. These restaurants are relatively small establishments (about 30 tables) and are more like bistros. Having a liquor license at establishments of this size would bankrupt the restaurants. BYOB is extremely commonplace at most of the restaurants near Rue Sherbrooke, Rue Cherrier, Rue St. Denis and Duluth Street.<BR><BR>Lombardie's is a wonderful Italian restaurant on Duluth Street, and there is a liquor store across the street. The restaurant is very busy and you'll see a line out front, so get there early. Try the fried cheesecake for dessert.

Beatrice

It is not a matter of the restaurant being good or not, or even where it is, the simple fact is that cities issue a certain number of liquor licenses and in a city such as Montreal or NYC, where there are many many restaurants, they get around the lack of liquor license by making themselves BYOB. In NYC there are some excellent places that you can bring your own. So tone down the snob meter, some of your remarks merely show your lack of sophistication.

Dfrar

Beatrice, we take it you frequent the BYOB places. That's so sophisticated. And here we were, thinking only midwest places attracted yahoos.

Beatrice

Obviously, Draraarefra, you have been around and know what you are talking about. <BR>

RR

LOL&lt; I love it when people have no clue but they mock other people when they answer a post.<BR><BR>There are BYOB restaurants all over the US and Canada and some are very very good. Some of these posters need to broaden their horizons! What is usual for your hometown might not be the case out in the world.

dfrar

Look, Roy, there may be BYOBs all over your neighborhood, but in ours, it usually signals second rate. But a question, just for those who shop beforehand for carry-in beverages,do you leave them in the sack and write your names on it,take your own corkscrew and wine glasses, and what if the wine is rancid,do you take it back then?What exactly is the preferred routine for the BYOB places?

nottoo

dfar - you need to get out more, expand your horizons, open your mind, try new things..nothing worse than limiting yourself to your own &quot;neighborhood&quot; and doing the tried and true always. We were in Sydney Australia a few years back and so many of hte restaurants there were byob. Also have been to them in Montreal and N.Y. Many upscale places. Get out of your rut dfar..you look foolish and it appears you haven't a clue what youre talking about.

nyer

dfar<BR>why don't you be brave and go to one in your hometown and see how the ones in the know do it. learn something new. sounds like you need it.

dfrar

Our next door college in the windy city has some byobs. I could mingle more with this segment and possibly gain more perspective. Sadly I may have limited my horizon. but,I need some advice,about the preferred routine, so I look &quot;in&quot;. Do I write my name on the sack?Do I get an opener with my corkage fee, and do I get a discount if its a screwtop? I'll take a chance on the glasses, but just incase, would I be the perfect hostess if I sneak in dixie cups for my guests?

small

dfra..just can't get you out of that &quot;neighborhood&quot; of yours, can we? Give it up..the sophisticates have spoken. Sadly, you probably go to golden arches when you are on vacation.

dfrar

As long as we're on the subject, lets assume my hubby and I entertain college colleagues, maybe a big bunch,would it be fitting (not to mention costeffective)to haul in wine in box format? Would anyone want to run it throught security, and if so, do xrays cloud wine the way it does film? Serious answers only, please. The holiday season is upon us,its time to entertain.

byob

dfarrareareee went to another thread about taking her wine to McDonalds. Just can't get over this can ya?

byob

http://www.vinrougeinc.com/chicagobyob.htm<BR><BR>dfar,<BR>just a little info here for you regarding Chicago BYOB's.

Ellen

dfrar and others: there are many reasons to bring your own wine, even to establishments that have an extensive wine list (dfrar-that's wine not whine). If you pay $15 for the wine and $20 for the corkage, it is STILL cheaper than the $60 the restaurant may be charging. Another reason is that many wines go well with certain types of foods that you may not be so inclined to cook at home. And by the way, there is an excellent, romantic Italian restaurant here in NYC that does not carry a liquor license - Erminia. Superb. Carrying the wine in a grocery sack is fine, but if you are uncomfortable with that, they make 1 and 2 bottle carriers in all price ranges. Salute'

ss

There is a restaurant in NJ that you cannot get a reservation for about a month in advance. They are BYOB and plan to stay that way. We enjoy going with friends who have an interest in a vineyard in the Hamptons so they like bringing their own (and it really IS their own) wine. <BR>