BYO

I am brand new to this, but has there been any topics about the wonderful choices of BYO restaurants and the idea of adding a BYO based LTH Forum Chicagoland's Great BYO Neighborhood Restaurants Pocket Guide. I believe that this would be a fantastic addition to the already available: LTH Forum Chicagoland's Great Neighborhood Restaurants Pocket Guide. I would be interested to hear back.

Using the search function for BYOB, not BYO will yield all sorts of posts on the subject.

Many of the GNRs are BYO, even most maybe.

I don't know who this person is, but Eli Gratz is trying to map all Chicago BYO restaurants. He seems to be missing a lot, so if you want to help him, send him info via Twitter @eligratz.

The trouble I have with many BYO/BYOB listings is that they really need to be more specific about the BYOB terms. Granted, many BYOB restaurants are happy to pour your wine/alcohol with no service charge, and others have a service charge that's nominal, just a few dollars a bottle. But I know there are still others that charge a lot of money (I've heard $35/bottle) for corkage, enough that such places may defeat the purpose by not representing the bargain one often expects from the BYOB feature.

nsxtasy wrote:The trouble I have with many BYO/BYOB listings is that they really need to be more specific about the BYOB terms. Granted, many BYOB restaurants are happy to pour your wine/alcohol with no service charge, and others have a service charge that's nominal, just a few dollars a bottle. But I know there are still others that charge a lot of money (I've heard $35/bottle) for corkage, enough that such places may defeat the purpose by not representing the bargain one often expects from the BYOB feature.

What BYO place has a $35 corkage? I've obviously seen that at restaurants that already serve wine, but I've never seen that at a restaurant without a liquor license.

What BYO place has a $35 corkage? I've obviously seen that at restaurants that already serve wine, but I've never seen that at a restaurant without a liquor license

I'd love to know - I'd narc on 'em in a heartbeat. Charging corkage when one doesn't have a liquor license is illegal to start with, and charging $35 is downright usurious.

We're tracking Chicago BYOBs over on the Wine Berserkers site. Here's the link to the Chicago BYOB thread. We're trying to list specifics like corkage and quality of glassware.

jesteinf wrote:What BYO place has a $35 corkage? I've obviously seen that at restaurants that already serve wine, but I've never seen that at a restaurant without a liquor license.

I've only seen that at restaurants that already serve their own wine.

If you're saying that such places should be excluded from BYO listings, I don't have any problem with that suggestion. But I don't know whether that is always the case with such listings. Furthermore, if you do exclude such places, you might be missing out on places with only a modest corkage fee (e.g. $10 at Tweet). And if you include them, where do you draw the line? Is $20 (e.g. Tavern on Rush, Browntrout, South Gate Cafe) too much to include? What about places that have a liquor license but have specific days on which there is BYOB with no corkage (e.g. Shanghai Terrace on Tuesdays) - do you include them?

All I'm saying is, a really helpful BYOB listing would not only list places without liquor licenses, where BYOB is welcome with no corkage fee, but also those with liquor licenses and what their BYOB terms are.

nsxtasy wrote:The trouble I have with many BYO/BYOB listings is that they really need to be more specific about the BYOB terms.

Unfortunately, the Eli Gratz map doesn't seem to be specifying terms, though with the few suggestions I've sent him, I have included details (e.g. Nana is $25 corkage but free on Wednesdays). I usually end up calling a restaurant to confirm the BYO policy beforehand anyway.

nsxtasy wrote:All I'm saying is, a really helpful BYOB listing would not only list places without liquor licenses, where BYOB is welcome with no corkage fee, but also those with liquor licenses and what their BYOB terms are.

This site does a good job of this:

John Danza wrote:We're tracking Chicago BYOBs over on the Wine Berserkers site. Here's the link to the Chicago BYOB thread. We're trying to list specifics like corkage and quality of glassware.

I've also found the GoBYO site to be marginally useful. The search criteria isn't very good, and the information about the restaurant's BYOB status can be inaccurate. As an example, it shows Everest as allowing BYOB with a $50 corkage. However, I know that Jean Joho abhors BYOB and doesn't allow it.

John Danza wrote:I've also found the GoBYO site to be marginally useful. The search criteria isn't very good, and the information about the restaurant's BYOB status can be inaccurate. As an example, it shows Everest as allowing BYOB with a $50 corkage. However, I know that Jean Joho abhors BYOB and doesn't allow it.

Well, there is no good reason to BYO at Everest.

leek wrote:

John Danza wrote:I've also found the GoBYO site to be marginally useful. The search criteria isn't very good, and the information about the restaurant's BYOB status can be inaccurate. As an example, it shows Everest as allowing BYOB with a $50 corkage. However, I know that Jean Joho abhors BYOB and doesn't allow it.

Well, there is no good reason to BYO at Everest.

Again, just an example of the many listings that have incorrect information.

There are some good byob lists on Yelp. Search on byob chicago, french, italian, etc. No corkage or restrictions at Smak Tak in Jefferson Park. Good polish comfort food.

I have a hard time running the Eli Gratz map, it is very slow to respond,a and every time I try and zoom in it take forever to reload. The data isn't very useful other that name of the restaurant.

Another map you can try is:
http://www.drvino.com/chicagobyob.php

leek wrote:
Well, there is no good reason to BYO at Everest.

With respect, that's a puzzling statement. Many wine collectors have great wines with decades of aging on them in which they know the provenance (bought the wine themselves and stored in their own pristine cellars). Most restaurants buy at least some of their "great" wines at auction in which the provenance is questionable. I really do take exception to your statement.

There is an extremely helpful guide to all of the restaurants in Chicagoland where you can BYOB. It breaks restaurants down into two types: those without liquor licenses, and those with wine lists, and what corkage/policy is. Not only that, it also tells you what kind of stemware you'll get at every single place with a star rating system. Sounds like it has what everyone on this post is looking for, so I wanted to pass it along. Find it at www.byob-chicago.com

wickerwine wrote:There is an extremely helpful guide to all of the restaurants in Chicagoland where you can BYOB. It breaks restaurants down into two types: those without liquor licenses, and those with wine lists, and what corkage/policy is. Not only that, it also tells you what kind of stemware you'll get at every single place with a star rating system. Sounds like it has what everyone on this post is looking for, so I wanted to pass it along. Find it at http://www.byob-chicago.com

I can understand why, as the author of the book, you would say that it has what everyone's looking for. As someone without bias, I'll note that I find the book useless. It's outdated by the time it goes to print, the tips on etiquette paint with too broad a brush, it's missing a great number of places because it does not include restaurants awaiting a liquor license (which can take a very long time and sometimes never comes), and I don't trust that what's written in the book is impartial. I'd choose just about any online guide to byob places over the book.

DutchMuse wrote:

leek wrote:
Well, there is no good reason to BYO at Everest.

With respect, that's a puzzling statement. Many wine collectors have great wines with decades of aging on them in which they know the provenance (bought the wine themselves and stored in their own pristine cellars). Most restaurants buy at least some of their "great" wines at auction in which the provenance is questionable. I really do take exception to your statement.

Dutch is right on the money. I have plenty of 20-year-old Bordeaux in my cellar that I bought on release for under $30 a bottle that now auction for $150+ per bottle. I know that mine have been stored properly, yet these same wines will be on a list like the one at Everest for $300-$500 a bottle, with no idea of storage conditions. Even a restaurant like Trotters, with a huge cellar, buy older vintages well after release.

Kennyz wrote:

wickerwine wrote:There is an extremely helpful guide to all of the restaurants in Chicagoland where you can BYOB. It breaks restaurants down into two types: those without liquor licenses, and those with wine lists, and what corkage/policy is. Not only that, it also tells you what kind of stemware you'll get at every single place with a star rating system. Sounds like it has what everyone on this post is looking for, so I wanted to pass it along. Find it at http://www.byob-chicago.com

I can understand why, as the author of the book, you would say that it has what everyone's looking for. As someone without bias, I'll note that I find the book useless. It's outdated by the time it goes to print, the tips on etiquette paint with too broad a brush, it's missing a great number of places because it does not include restaurants awaiting a liquor license (which can take a very long time and sometimes never comes), and I don't trust that what's written in the book is impartial. I'd choose just about any online guide to byob places over the book.

Agreed Kenny. This is why I posted the link to the BYO list on WineBerserkers (WB). It's kept current. Also, no one on that list has a financial interest in it, not that this would matter much. I think the WB list is more useful than the "Go BYO" website, because of the good descriptions provided in the entries.

Opentable also has a list of its restaurants offering free corkage BYOB and their terms, here.

John Danza wrote:

DutchMuse wrote:

leek wrote:
Well, there is no good reason to BYO at Everest.

With respect, that's a puzzling statement. Many wine collectors have great wines with decades of aging on them in which they know the provenance (bought the wine themselves and stored in their own pristine cellars). Most restaurants buy at least some of their "great" wines at auction in which the provenance is questionable. I really do take exception to your statement.

Dutch is right on the money. I have plenty of 20-year-old Bordeaux in my cellar that I bought on release for under $30 a bottle that now auction for $150+ per bottle. I know that mine have been stored properly, yet these same wines will be on a list like the one at Everest for $300-$500 a bottle, with no idea of storage conditions. Even a restaurant like Trotters, with a huge cellar, buy older vintages well after release.

So you guys are saying that you want to bring the exact same bottle a restaurant has on its list to that restaurant? Really?

leek wrote:So you guys are saying that you want to bring the exact same bottle a restaurant has on its list to that restaurant? Really?

I would never be that rude to a restaurant. But places like Everest don't think that granularly. If I have a 1989 Lynch Bages that I would like to drink with their food but they don't have it on their list, it'll still be a "no".

leek wrote:So you guys are saying that you want to bring the exact same bottle a restaurant has on its list to that restaurant? Really?

Not at all.