Saturday, November 9, 2013

Bean & Burgundy Soft Opens With Coffee, Sandwiches, And A Pretty Modern Space

Bean & Burgundy Bread has soft-opened, and it's a huge modern space with everything from coffee to pastries, sandwiches to Korean food.

The new restaurant on Rte 40 has counters for coffee and sandwiches.  There is also an glass-walled kitchen where you can see the cooks at work.  I just had a cup of coffee.  I had just eat a pit beef sandwich at Gadsby's Bar American, so I couldn't even spring for the bulgogi-Philly cheesesteak hybrid that they were advertising.

Give them a little time to get a rhythm.  But let me know what you try and what you think.  I saw a speciality coffee with honey and lavender whipped cream.  They were out of the cream, but I could see Mrs. HowChow wanting to try that when we go back.

Does anyone know what they're doing for dinner?  More than sandwiches?

Do teenagers live in these coffee shops?  My friends and I ordered bread sticks and sodas many afternoons so that we could claim a Pizza Hut booth and stay out of our parents' homes  Sitting in Bean & Burgundy, I thought that this would be so much better than Pizza Hut.  No kids at lunchtime since there was school, but I wondered if teenagers know how good they have it and buy some coffees and pastries at places like this, Bon Appetit or Shilla.

9 comments:

  1. We were just there today for lunch. I had the Philly Bulgogi and my friend had the Bulgogi wrap--I maintain the Philly Bulgogi was better--more flavor, but the bread was only mediocre. The bread/filing was ratio skewed towards bread. The wrap was ok. Service was good. They were pretty busy for lunch. They were a little expensive ($9-10 per sandwich). Regular coffee was nothing special, we didn't try the specialty drinks which seemed interesting.

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  2. unsatisfied with PIZZA hUTNovember 9, 2013 at 9:05 PM

    Don't even mention Pizza Hut! The Ellicott City Pizza Hut was 25 minutes late with a really large delivery today for my child's party. dozen's of hungry people waiting. The delivery was pre-ordered the day before, and checked on the hour before. It was just down the street. I will not use Pizza Hut in Ellicott City for any large order again.

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  3. Mrs HowChow would like to try the coffee with honey and lavender!

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  4. Went there Friday afternoon and was we were the only customers for the entire time we were there (talk about a 'soft' opening). The decor and layout was impressive... the pricing was not. A small 12oz mocha was $4.75 (seriously?). For two small mochas, a blueberry muffin, and another pasty it was over $16. The menu looked interesting, but with these prices I can't see making this a regular place. I mean, salads start at $10 and up.

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  5. Went yesterday for coffee--I did almost choke on the price--more than $5 for a small latte?! A bit steep, I think. Nice atmosphere, though, and hopefully they'll be able to make a go of it.

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  6. Went there again - this time for lunch. The wraps were okay - nothing special for $8 - $9. All the sandwiches/wraps/salads on the menu looked fairly standard and expensive... I would expect something this pricy and with this type of decor to be a little more unique and have some variety. For Korean breads/pastries, there are better selections up and down rt. 40 (i.e., Bon Appetite for starters). The desserts look interesting but are pricy and appear sterile in that display case, more like relics than something you'd want to pay good money for because who knows when they were made, i.e. how many people are really buying those $30 - $35 tarts/pies? Oh, and where is the "burgundy" (wine)? I hope they have some additional food options when they start offering it, because I can't see enjoying wine with any of the current selections.

    We will try again for breakfast, but this place seems very ordinary to me. Disappointed so far.

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  7. I've been there yesterday for the first time and I am loving their selections of desserts. I did not think the their price were expensive as the above commenters mentioned. I tried their 'opera' and 'jasmine nectar cloud' with toasted sesame on top and they were amazing. From what I know, they will be having dishes that compliment wine as they have just received their liquor license yesterday. I will definitely go back and try their other selections.

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  8. I've been here twice, and I'm pretty disappointed in it. The cafe/bakery portion is fine where it's self-service, but the restaurant portion seems like it can't decide what it is, and the service is bad. When I asked the hostess a table for four, she led me to the back of the restaurant, handed me ONE set of utensils, then walked off, leaving me standing by a table for 2 at the back corner of the restaurant. The prices for dinner were pretty outrageous for that area Ellicott City as well. $9.49 for a bulgogi bimbimbap is probably the only affordable thing there, if they're trying to attract diverse clientele. $16 for a bulgogi flatbread? That's bordering on upscale level, which... is B&B trying to be? Can't tell. But I do like their specialty coffees/teas.

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  9. TERRIBLE service! We went for a late lunch yesterday and the service was so bad we thought we were on candid camera and it was a joke. We first waited 20 minutes for the server to come back for drink orders. We had a question on a tea flavor that took another 15 minutes to answer,the drinks took another 15 or 20 minutes to arrive. When we hit the 45 minute mark on our lunch orders I asked what the hold up was and the server said it was the disorganization of the kitchen! And two of the orders were done and had been waiting. I asked that he bring out their food and then I waited another 15 minutes for mine. This was followed by the wrong order arriving-it was for the booth next to us. We had to ask the server several times for spoons and condiments that never arrived. The other booths in the area were receiving the same treatment and told us as they were leaving and would never be back. My group's sentiments as well. Such a shame, great atmosphere and the food even though it was cold was good, but you could see obviously no training for their waitstaff and kitchen issues.

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