What is a BYOB??
 

We would have to bring our own liquor into a restaurant in Philadelphia?? I that just in the city, or state-wide??

BYOB=bring your own booze. Some restaurants don't have a liquor license and allow customers to bring their own. It's a lot cheaper that way. Can't be city or statewide, just the place you're looking at.

Or Bring your own Bottle -- It's very prevalent across the river in New Jersey where liquor licenses are very costly. A lot of mom & pop places there are BYOB's.

There are a few of these restaurants in Philadelphia, but for the most part, Phila restaurants will serve alcohol/beer/wine. ((b))

Pennsylvania has a massive, poorly-run government liqor store system (a relic of its Puritan founders, I guess). That makes wine selection and prices less attractive than most other states. Philadelphia also has stringent rules regarding liquor licenses. These two issues have led to a large number of successful BYOB establishments. But there are certainly lots of restaurants that carry their own wine lists as well.

We went to a place like this in Chicago. It was great. We brought in our case of cold beer, they put it in their fridge and brought it to us as needed.

They might charge you a corkage fee to open and serve the alchohol to you, but it is still much cheaper than usual bar rates.

Bring your own boyfriend.

bring your own bassethound.

in my frat days it meant "bring your own bimbo." Beer was always provided, girls were not.

Backoff, you ornery bastard
Boff your own boyfriend

It's nice to have options so I say Bring Your Own Bartender!

Seamus, :-O

Erm, pardon me...

The founders were, in fact, Quakers, not Puritans. Quite different.

Apologies in advance for the long post. But some Philadelphia restaurants that offer wine will sometimes also let you bring in your own bottle -- for a fee. This from a recent Inquirer story:

When former Le Bec-Fin chef Daniel Stern opened his new restaurant, Gayle, in Queen Village, he didn't yet have a liquor license. So he was more than happy to have patrons bring their own wines.

Six weeks later, after getting his license and unveiling his carefully crafted wine list, he learned how adamant many customers were about bringing their own wine.

"We have had quite a few people tell us they're not coming back, even though they love the restaurant," said Stern, whose $35 "corkage fee" incensed oenophiles. "We were a little naive about how strongly people felt about BYOB."

The Philadelphia region's thriving BYOB restaurant scene has spawned something of a brown-bag revolt, as wine fanciers and frugal diners have forced many liquor-licensed restaurants to accommodate them or risk empty seats.

Some, such as Farmacia in Old City and Prima Donna in Center City, let diners bring their own wines without restriction, while others charge a corkage fee - from $5 to $40 - for bringing your own bottle.

Still others, such as Sovalo in Northern Liberties, dedicate one night a week to the BYOB set, at no charge. Even Le Bec-Fin, with its haughtiest of haute cuisine and $4,000 wines, has staged the occasional BYOB night.

The proliferation and popularity of the region's bring-your-own restaurants, along with a growing interest in wine, have emboldened diners to drink what they want, where they want, at a price they like.

Philadelphia-area diners are much more likely to take their own wine to dinner than are most Americans. A survey last year by OpenTable.com, an online reservation service, found that in Philadelphia, 63 percent of the patrons surveyed said they had taken their own wine to a white-tablecloth restaurant in their last 10 meals. The national average was 27 percent. New York, by comparison, reported only 25 percent.

"Philadelphia is probably the BYOB capital of the United States," Stern said.

Former Le Bec-Fin sommelier Gregory Moore, co-owner of Moore Brothers Wine Co., said increasingly sophisticated wine consumers often prefer their own wines to those at a restaurant.

"A good many of them are much more tuned in than the wine buyers in restaurants," Moore said. "For a lot of people now, not being able to bring your own wine is a deal-breaker.

"If you can spend $15 for a bottle of wine, rather than $50, well, that underlies the interest," said Moore, who also said Pennsylvania's steep price markups give full-service restaurants a predictable profit stream that can make them complacent about their food.

Contrary to what some restaurateurs may say, it's legal to bring your own wine to restaurants in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The liquor control authorities in both states say the laws don't prohibit customers from bringing their own liquor, but the laws don't require a restaurant operator to permit it, either. (The issue is almost moot in New Jersey, with so many dry towns and so few liquor-licensed restaurants that the BYOBs pose less of a threat.)

In Delaware, state law prohibits bringing your own bottle into restaurants with wine lists.

"For many years, it was common for restaurateurs to say it was illegal," said Mark Squires, a Philadelphia lawyer and Internet wine writer. "The myth continues to persist... but nobody can find any basis for that in the law."

At Sovalo, owner-chef Joseph Scarpone said his roots in the Napa Valley prompted him to institute BYOB Mondays when he opened his restaurant in Northern Liberties last year.

"We're from the wine region of California, and it was typical there to be really wine-friendly, though some of the corkage fees were very high," he said. "We want to give people an opportunity to do that here. But we had to think of the economics, too.

"We think we reached a compromise that works for everyone."

In the bring-or-buy battle, chef David Ansill has a foot in both camps. He is the owner of Pif, a popular South Philadelphia BYOB, as well as the just-opened Ansill in Queen Village, which has a liquor license and touts its wine and food pairings.

Ansill set a $15 corkage fee at his new restaurant, a charge he says allows customers to bring a favorite wine to dinner but discourages patrons from bringing a cheap bottle just to dodge his wine list.

Ernest A. Salandria, owner of Ernesto's 1521 Cafe, recently taped a yellow sign on the sample menu outside his Italian restaurant at 1521 Spruce St.: BYOB or enjoy our fine Italian wines.

Having made the transformation from a cafe to a BYOB to a full-service restaurant, he has now come full circle, bowing to the demand of many customers to bring their own. He decided to permit BYO, with no corkage fee.

He used to watch wine-toting patrons either leave immediately or sit through an unhappy meal with an unopened bottle - "and not come back."

His new laissez-faire policy has been a success, Salandria said, bringing in many new customers. But he's selling a lot less wine.

"Last Saturday, I sold three bottles. I thought, 'Hey, this is working too well.' But for a restaurateur, there is nothing worse than empty seats."

Thanks for the great article! I need to do a search and see what Michigan law allows.

Michigan just passed a law allowing restaurants to send unfinished wine home with their patrons, so we will be more inclined to order a bottle. (Well, when I'm done having this baby we will be!)

They have to recork the bottle below the lip of the bottle (or trim the cork) and you can't have it in reach of the driver in the car. The anti-drunk driving people are happy that people aren't trying to finish their wine and then drive home.

What next--bring your own dessert?? I think I would feel a little uncomfortable walking into a nice restaurant with a bottle of wine under my arm. Seems a little too pretentious--"your wine isn't good enough for me."

People normally don't bring their own bottle to restaurants that serve alcohol/wine, but it's common place in New Jersey. If a new restaurant opens in town, the first question out of our mouths is "Is it a BYOB?" ((b))

"your wine isn't good enough for me" actually is not the point for many of us who do bring wine into restaurants.
Many (not all of course) restaurants are run by people who think mostly about the food and the wine list is an afterthought. Even those restaurants where wine is given more consideration may not be in a position to store great bottles of wine. Like many, I happen to have a fairly large wine cellar and appreciate the opportunity to open an old and often rare bottle of wine with a great meal at a restaurant. The usual rule is that you never take a bottle of wine that is already on the restaurant's list and definitely never bring a bottle of wine that you picked up at the local 7/11 on your way there. Here in S. Florida it is typical for a restaurant to charge anywhere from $10-$20 to open a bottle of wine. btw: if you do this, be generous to your server when tipping. It's just as much work for them to open and serve your wine as it is to serve the establishments. For me, it's a very fair price to pay to be allowed to open up a 1985 Lynch Bages (or something similar) at a good local restaurant. For me, it's not a matter of saying that a restaurants wine list is not good enough but rather saying that I feel that the restaurant is so outstanding with regard to it's cuisine that I am happy to open a great bottle of wine to pair with their food.

How's this for a backwards state? I live in lovely South Carolina where we have just recently passed a law to use free-pour liquor bottles. Yes, only airlines and South Carolina were minibottle customers. Sad, I know. It was actually counter productive because it was meant to limit the amount of liquor in drinks, but it actually gave too much, in my opinion. I will have to say that drinks taste much better now.

Admittedly, when I was in college 10 years ago, I considered this an asset to SC law.

There is nothing wrong with taking a FINE bottle of wine or one that is special with you to a restaurant that normally serves wine, particularly for a special occasion.

There is something wrong with taking a standard bottle of wine to a restaurant that sells wine just to save money.

A restaurant that is strictly BYOB, where they don't sell any alcohol, is of course another matter.

Last summer for my partner's birthday, we took a bottle of award winning Nobile di Montepulciano that we had brought back from a private wine tour the summer before in Tuscany to Flemings for our dinner. I think we paid $20 for corkage and when the waiter saw the bottle he suspected it was special and brought us their best and largest wine glasses. Then he decanted it for us. He got a nice tip and we also offered him a taste, which he loved. We were not looked down on for bringing it. It made this birthday dinner very special.

Regarding the above post, we live in SRQ and dine at our local Flemings and have had very similar experiences, both with our own as well as with wine from the restaurant list. Their service is always very professional and quite courteous. I don't know anything about the training they get but I have an idea that wine service is an important part. Even though they are part of a large national chain, they are excellent restaurants.

Am I the only one who doesn't know where SRQ or Flemings is located? :-) ((b))

And suddenly I'm reminded of the time we had another birthday dinner with my partner's brother and wife who live at Lake Tahoe. We went to the restaurant at the Hyatt on the north shore (Eagle's Nest?) and Dick took a bottle of 1997 Silver Oak Napa Cabernet -- a treasure! When he presented it to our server for serving, she said "oh, I don't think you'll want to do your own wine, we charge $15 for corkage". Duh! Talk about lack of training!

Sorry---SRQ is acutally the airport designation for Sarasota.
Flemings is owned by the "Outback" steakhouse people but you would never know they are part of the same company.
No Bloomin' onions on the menu anywhere to be found.
We also have a Ruth's Chris here and much prefer Flemings, although I would put it in the same category.

@-) Huh, whaddaya know?

This explains why the restaurant guy gave me such a dirty look when I said I'd give him a couple bucks to unscrew my bottle of Boone's Farm. :-!

They said BYOB!!! #-o

The whole BYOB idea is really nothing to scoff at. I LOVE finding a great BYOB place and brining a good bottle of wine and not have to pay the 100%+ restaurant mark up!!

We live in Chicago and love hearing about a great BYOB place (usually it is just temporary as these establishments are waiting for thier liquor licesnce—which is pretty hard to get here—, but some keep it that way and we are ever greatful!!)

As long as they have a great menu, I'll bring my wine/beer anytime!

BYOB is such a great concept, I only wish Boston had them.

You save so much money because you get to bring your own wine (or whatever tickles your fancy)- so you purchase it at a much lower price AND you're guaranteed to like it.

I've only been to BYOB places in Maine and Jersey, and both places proved to be a great time.

I do, however, get irked when restaurants that are BYOB charge relatively high corkage fees--I'm thinking of a mediocre place in my neighborhood that charges unwary groups $4/pp to open their bottles...now that I think of it, their food is overpriced, too.

"There is something wrong with taking a standard bottle of wine to a restaurant that sells wine just to save money."

I don't agree; there are many of us out there who find it ridiculously expensive to pay $7-8 for a glass of wine, get served half a glass and then pay at least 25% tax and service on it.A bottle of wine in a restaurant can be exhorbitant, often 3 times the mark up. I've seen
$5 bottles from TJs go for $25. If the restaurants don't want to offer corkage, they don't have to, but I'm not going to forgo a wonderful way to save money and eat out, too.
WWhen I bring an inexpensive bottle of wine from Trader Joe's and pay a $10 or $15 corkage fee, I've made the meal more enjoyable for myself and my guests, plus it's more affordable. Sure, it's nice to bring a special bottle of wine, but for those of us with limited budgets,and not snobbish, and that don't want big CC bills,it is a comfortable way to go. We've done it here frequently in California, and everyone has been extremely pleasant about it.

By the way, it's extremely popular in
Australia, too. We loved paying a dollar or two per person, sometimes free, to have a bottle of wine while eating in an inexpensive restaurant.

I live in PHL suburbs and simply love BYOBS. In fact we scoff now when we pay $10.00 for a HALF FILLED glass and then is not the same quality we would have brought on our own. They are the best! There is one in the city we go to off of South street and it is always packed. They are quite popular!

Annetti, I disagree with your logic. Where do you draw the line?
I have had customers who bring a 2 liter bottle of Coke into my restaurant and ask for four glasses of ice. I am not making this up.

Granted, they are paper cups, on picnic tables, with average dinner tab about $10...but still!!!!!! This is beyond cheap. I say order tap water if you can't afford the beverage prices - whether alcoholic or not.

I grew up in Phila. and remember the days when everything was closed on Sun and people went to NJ to celebrate New Year's Eve so they could have a drink after midnight. California's liquor laws seemed so lax after the one or two years I dealt with PA State owned liquor stores. It was amazing to see wine sold in the local supermarket here in CA. One good thing that has come out of the strict liquor laws in PA are the BYOB places. It gives one more of a choice when dining out. We were introduced to BYOB idea here in California by some friends 7-8 yrs ago and have felt it's a great way to enjoy yourself and save some money. Never, have we been less than courteously treated, regardless of the quality of wine we have brought to a restaurant. If it's a new place for us, we always call beforehand and check out the corkage policy, perhaps that has saved us grief. Only once have we been told that corkage fee would not be honored if the establishment sold the wine that we brought. So for that poster who thought they would be embarrassed to bring their own wine, let it be known that here in Southern California, it is not an unusual thing to do.

I consider a BYOB to be a restaurant that doesn't provide any alcohol but allows you to consume your own. I love them too, and think they are a great way to save money. I agree with Neopolitan and Joan about bringing in your own cheap bottle to a restaurant that's not expressly BYOB. That just seems tacky. Restaurants have a hard enough time staying in business.

Joan,I am not talking about coca cola, I am talking about wine. However, if a restaurant does not want to have a corkage fee to allow someone to bring in some wine, that's their policy and I would honor it. Restaurants have the right to establish their policy, decide what's profitable for them, and then I decide where I want to spend my money.

Also, Joan, another thought. It's not like I am drinking the wine for free. We generally pay $10-$15, even $25 corkage fee for the privledge of drinking our own wine. The restaurant can't be loosing that much money or they would not do it. I am not asking for free glasses with ice.

I realize we all have different levels of what we'd do or not do. I personally wouldn't take a bottle of wine that is standard on the restaurant's own wine list just to save money any more than I'd take my own dessert and ask them to bring a plate. After all I can buy a whole pie at a bakery for little more than the restaurant will charge for a single slice. So why should I pay their markup when I can bring my own?

Regardless of what others think, I still think such actions are tacky. If you don't like what is on the restaurant's wine list or menu and don't want to pay their prices for those offerings, then in my humble opinion you should go somewhere else, not bring your own version of what they sell.

Joan--that's ludicrous! My jaw would have dropped open if anyone had asked me that. I hope you didn't do it. What next? People bringing their own sleeping bags to hotels and asking that the bed and linen service to be taken off the tab? LOL

I consider the marked up cost of wine just part of the cost of a nice evening away from home and don't give it another thought. I'd personally be embarrassed bringing an ordinary bottle of wine to any restaurant that served wine, seriously! Yes it'd be nice to have my own bottle of better wine at a fraction of the cost of their lesser one, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it.

I still disagree with you (and hey I grew up in Philly too! :) ). Your first post mentioned that you buy inexpensive bottles at Trader Joe's, to save money when dining out. When you do this at restaurants THAT SERVE WINE I think that is cheap cheap cheap.

If you had a "special" bottle, on the other hand, I have no problem with it. Or if you like wine a cut above Gallo and that's all they sell, ok too. But just doing this to save the money, hey why not bring your own dessert too...all you need is a plate and a fork right? And the restaurant is still making a profit on your dinner right? (never mind that they have to buy and wash and serve those glasses and plates...)

Oops - I was busy doing spellcheck when Malesherbes and Neopolitan were posting...interesting that we all had the same line of thought though.

And yes, Malesherbes, of course I "let them". They're so sneaky about it anyway...and I'm making such a big profit on that dinner I can afford it. :((

You enabler you! LOL Next they'll be knocking on our door with their sleeping bags!! :D

A local restaurant manager once explained to me that public health laws forbade them from allowing any food to be served that had not been prepared by the restaurant or a source with which it contracted. The rationale is that the restaurant is legally responsible and liable for the safety of the food served on premises. Despite this, I have on a few occasions had a cake delivered to a restaurant for a special event and there was not a problem, though at least one place did tack on a per-person charge for cutting and serving - a fair deal, IMHO. I would presume that with a sealed bottle of wine the rules are a bit different.

Joan - do you serve the same brand that these apparent skinflints bring with them? Some people are firmly on one side or the other in the Coke/Pepsi debate.

Seamus, we serve Coke.

Ah, the stories I could tell! That is a crock, that story about a restaurant not allowing outside food due to health reasons. It maybe "policy", but it ain't a law. I'd bet a $10 bottle of Gallo on it!

Did I mention the one about the family that brings their own burger buns? That's right, we happen to sell Grouper and other fish either by the sandwich or the pound. Of course the sandwich costs more, ounce for ounce. So they order the pound. Yep, I couldn't believe my eyes. And they actually left the half eaten bag of buns on the table for me to clean up. I may be an Enabler, but hey I'm rich rich rich what does it matter!