Tastes of Two Columbia’s—Clyde’s and The Iron Bridge Wine Company

Clyde’s of Columbia – www.clydes.com

The Iron Bridge Wine Company – www.ironbridgewines.com

Baltimoreans don’t have to just limit themselves to eating at restaurants downtown or within the city.  One of the many attractions to the Baltimore restaurant scene is its proximity to other culinary points near the city.  Namely, there is Towson/Timonium to the north, Annapolis to the South, and Columbia/Ellicott City to the southwest.  (To the east, there is only the rural Eastern Shore, populated with farms and produce stands, not restaurants.)  The Columbia/Ellicott City area seems to have percolated a particular culinary niche.  The many restaurants within this area range in variety and cuisine.  There are places that hearken back to the first days of suburban expansion in the 1960s, ‘70s, and ‘80s, and then there are those who are riding the wave of current development within the past few years. 

Two notable restaurants—Clyde’s of Columbia and The Iron Bridge Wine Company—each represent this bipolarity.  Clyde’s of Columbia first came to area in the ‘70s and quickly became so popular that the owners opted to open additional restaurants throughout the DC metro area.  The Iron Bridge Wine Company has only been open for a couple of years, but has received rave reviews—it was even honored as one of Baltimore’s Best 50 Restaurants by Baltimore magazine—and now its owners plan to open similar restaurants in the surrounding areas, too. 

However, recent visits to both restaurants, while enjoyable and pleasant, left me feeling under-whelmed.  Both visits were a mixed bag of the very good and the fair variety.  Perhaps I had set the expectations too high, or, rather I had probably bought into the hype surrounding the restaurants’ successes.  Of the two, The Iron Bridge Wine Company was a more successful experience than Clyde’s of Columbia, albeit the difference separating the two is minimal.  But, I can even argue that, perhaps on paper, Iron Bridge should have come out better, because, it has all of the elements of a truly great restaurant. 

The difference really rests in each restaurant’s particular atmospheres and cuisines.  Clyde’s bills itself as more of a bar-restaurant than just-plain restaurant.  The location in Columbia is decked with wooden tables and chairs, hardwood floors, and gold-colored railings and bar stools.  The bar itself is quite large, and several televisions are placed intermittingly.  There is, of course, the more modern large-screen television, and, on our recent visit, it was tuned to a football game, even though many customers weren’t watching it.  People don’t patron Clyde’s for the game; they must come for something else.

Your first glance at Clyde’s, and you would immediately assume that this place is like any other bar-restaurant, except that once you sit down and view their menu, you understand that something else is at play here.  There are the standards, like calamari, chicken tenders, and hamburgers.  But, then there is the pan-roasted duck breast, the rainbow trout, and the salmon salad.  Like the restaurant’s atmosphere, there is a yin/yang quality to its menu, too.  It’s trying to cater to both the bar crowd and the upscale dining patrons, all at the same time.  It seems that Clyde’s has been moderately successful with both.  But, since it doesn’t focus on one particular area, your experience ends up feeling uneven.

Clyde’s menu is quite extensive, which is why I had difficulty choosing.  I was curious about the pan-seared duck breast—mostly, I was anxious to see whether or not Clyde’s kitchen was sufficient to prepare such a dish—but I also recognized that its strengths were probably with the sandwiches.  I gambled and selected the duck breast anyway, and a friend ordered the grilled pork chop.  But, we first started with soups.  I ordered the cream of crab, which was indeed creamy and filled with tender, juicy pieces of lump crab, drizzled with old bay seasoning on the top.  After just a few bites, I had regretted ordering just a cup—I now really wanted a large bowl!  My friend ordered the French onion soup, but it could have used more onions and cheese and less broth. 

Both of our entrees were good, although my reservations about the duck breast proved to be true.  It was thickly sliced into about six pieces and cooked satisfactorily—the duck fat formed crispness on the outside and the meat was medium-red on the inside.  But, it was too fatty and chewy.  In fact, most of the pieces had too much fat and not enough juicy meat.  While I know that duck breast is typically a fattier piece of meat, this particular piece had too much.  Fortunately, it came alongside fresh mustard greens and flavorful couscous, and both side dishes added much-needed texture and flavor.  The pork chop entrée, on the other hand, was juicy, tender, and had very little fat.  It was clearly the better of the two entrees.  Nicely seasoned and grilled, it was covered by a home-made apple sauce and came overtop sweet potato puree.  Broccoli and carrots sat on the side but they were swimming in too much butter.

For dessert, Clyde’s offers a variety of items, from a traditional ice cream sundae, to a decadent chocolate mousse, which I ordered and it came inside a small cup, topped off with whipped cream.  The mousse was too rich, but the texture was smooth and silky.  Another item we ordered was the apple pie, which was served alongside a scoop of vanilla ice cream.  We asked for it to be warmed, but the crust came out lukewarm and parts of the apple were still slightly cold.  The temperature contrast between the ice cream and apple pie wasn’t as great as it should have been.  Ironically, that was our overall experience at Clyde’s, too.

A few days after visiting Clyde’s, we decided to stop by The Iron Bridge Wine Company, a restaurant we had placed on our list some time ago.  Unlike Clyde’s, which sits near the Columbia Towne Center and other neighborhood restaurants, Iron Bridge requires a decent drive along a tiny, two-lane road.  If you don’t pay close attention, you might very well pass it, since it sits off to the side looking like an old barn.  There is limited parking, and, on busy days, I’m assuming you’d have to park on the shoulder of the narrow street.  The restaurant doesn’t take reservations—at all.  I had been forewarned to arrive as close to opening as possible, or else chance it and wait for an open table.  We opted to go during lunch, hoping it wouldn’t be as crowded.  When we arrived, the not-very-large restaurant was nearly full. 

Much of the interior looks relatively new.  There are two distinct dining rooms, although both have many of the same features.  Each has a bar area with about two dozen black-leather stools situated around a black countertop; each has a set of comfortably-looking couches and low-lying tables, for those groups preferring a more intimate experience; and each has several two-seat tables, with a few four-seat tables scattered about.  Elaborate, large mirrors adorn the walls, Japanese lanterns hung on tiny strings plunge from the high ceiling, and the fireplace is electric with fake wood.  Even with its modern and chic interior, there is a cozy, rustic feel to the Iron Bridge—certainly, the name adds to this sensibility.  Perhaps it is also the hundreds of bottles of wine which decorate parts of the walls and the tiny hallway connecting the two dining rooms.  After all, Iron Bridge is first and foremost a retail wine store, offering a wide variety of wines at very good prices.  Surveying the restaurant’s ambience only raised my already high expectations.  If only the food had been as good.

Interestingly, the menu doesn’t really include wine as an ingredient.  Perhaps the Iron Bridge’s kitchen prefers the wine to serve as a beverage, rather than as an ingredient.  There is such a thing as too much wine, especially when it’s incorporated into the dish and also as a beverage.  But, I was still surprised to see only one item—a petit filet of steak with red wine shallot reduction—prepared with wine.  In addition, the entire menu is not particularly heavy and quite limiting.  There was only one soup, two salads, a few a la carte dishes, and the rest sandwiches.  Apparently, the dinner menu only adds a few dishes to this list.

We opted to start with the soup of the day: a bowl of potato and leek with a drizzle of white truffle oil.  It was hearty, thick, and creamy, with perfect consistency and flavors.  The best part was the white truffle oil, which added an extra element of flavor.  Unfortunately, our server never brought out bread, or else we would have enjoyed our soup even more.  As for our entrees, we ordered a Caesar salad with rosemary grilled chicken, and a ham and cheese panini, which we selected to come alongside a fruit salad.  The size of the Caesar salad was plentiful, with several layers of uncut romaine, and about six strips of nicely grilled chicken.  But, its dressing lacked sufficient flavor, containing too much olive oil and not enough anchovy and other seasoning, like freshly cracked pepper.  Since the salad was mostly dressed with oil and the leaves were long and uncut, eating was much more difficult.  Attempting to combine the lettuce with the chicken was more of a hassle than it should have been.  Another element of inconsistency was that instead of croutons, the salad came with a toast point.  Although, it was a creative touch, the toast point was buried underneath the lettuce, practically invisible until after I had eaten much of the salad. 

Fortunately, the panini sandwich was more flavorful and accurately put together.  Fresh slices of ham rolled together and stuffed with slightly melted brie and a couple of thinly cut slices of a granny smith apple filled two crisp and buttery pieces of ciabatta.  The texture contrast between the apple slices and the ham and cheese was pleasing, as was the whole grain honey mustard dressing, which was spread evenly.  The fruit salad consisted of chopped pieces of melon and pineapple and fresh grapes.  The sweet and savory elements of the fruit salad added nicely to the overall flavors of the panini.

For dessert, Iron Bridge offered three or four items, but the two we selected were the apple crisp tart, served alongside a scoop of cinnamon ice cream, and the chocolate truffles.  Of these two, the apple crisp was the better choice.  That is not to say the truffles weren’t flavorful, because the chocolate was perfectly hard on the outside and soft on the inside.  The problem with the truffles was their size: I expected truffles larger than the size of mothballs and more than four of them on a plate next to three fresh raspberries.  They were indeed sweet and delicious, but at a cost of $10, not worth the money.  As for the apple tart, it was delectable and completely worth it.  The apples were cooked just right and the dough was crisp and moist.  The scoop of cinnamon ice cream wasn’t too strong or overpowering.  The cinnamon from the ice cream and the cinnamon cooked with the apples complemented nicely. 

The wine at Iron Bridge needs a special, honorable mention, because it is truly the restaurant’s main attraction.  Diners can purchase a moderately priced bottle and the restaurant will only charge a $5 corkage fee.  If a bottle is too much to handle, especially during lunch, their wine list includes glasses from a wide variety of reds and whites, ranging in prices from $6-$10.  Also, I was delighted to see how the restaurant’s owners infused their love for wine onto their list.  Using headings like “Crisp, Fresh, ‘I’m Thirsty Whites’,” to “Because I’m easy (to drink) Reds,” it is clear that the owners’ sense of fun and excitement derives from serving great wine and (fairly) good food.  But, on our visit, the wines really rescued our meal.

Judging from the menu, wine list, and the restaurant’s ambience, it’s obvious as to why Iron Bridge has become such a popular place.  Even though the food looks appetizer, at least on paper, it still needs some tweaking—better seasoning here and perhaps some common sense culinary skills there.  The absence of a few ingredients let the food down.  Still, there is something unique, special, and appealing to The Iron Bridge Wine Company.  Perhaps on our next visit, we’ll invite along a few more friends.  Maybe then the food will live up to both the hype and restaurant’s expectations.