Do we know if that includes Tusk Lounge? I assume so.

Then where can we get a good chocolate martini now?

What do they do with the furniture/decor from the restaurant in case of permanent closing ?

@Stephanie

It's not anybody's first thought, but bartender Jae at My Thai (corner of Charles and Madison) makes a great chocolate martini.

Ugh...just sad.

My heart is breaking. So many wonderful memories made in that place. So many...

they shouldn't have been serving elephant in the first place, thats just bad taste.

There is still a good Thai food place, Ban Thai, down the street from here.

louis

The Brass Elephant is yet another restaurant that I should have went to more often. For years I lived right around the corner, but I only made it into Tusks a few times. It took until I moved to Cross Keys before I ate dinner there, and that was only once.

With the passing of the Brass Elephant, I feel that there are only two members of the old guard left, Tio Pepe's and the Prime Rib.

Truly sad to see a Baltimore staple go by the wayside. This serves as a reminder to all of us that we need to support the places we love or we might not have them at all. While "the new place" might be the sexy choice for dinner, we mustn't take our old standby's for granted and give them a fair shot at our regular business.

Lee

I never went to Brass Elephant, but I really like Kumari and Lumbini. Baltimore is blessed with 2 good Nepali-Indian restaurants. Try the momos!

I love the radish achar at Lumbini. I wish we had a southern indian place downtown. The closest south indian is in Spicy Garden next to Patel Brothers out on route 40. We need a Dossa fix closer to the city. I wish the brass elephant would reopen as a southern indian joint!!

Alan Viars, are you under the mistaken impression that the Brass Elephant was an Indian restaurant?

I'm not sure it's a Top Ten list kind of thing, but maybe we ought to have a place to talk about "don't miss" restaurants, so that we don't miss them before they close. BE was a place I always assumed I'd get to sooner or later ... like a dozen other places. And yet there are only so many nights out the budget will afford, especially with carfare from Bel Air.

More people than you would think thought the Brass Elephant was an Indian restaurant. I remember having a discussion with their chef a few months ago, and he said they were considering changing the name because of the confusion.

my best memory of the Brass Elephant was seeing a homeless man pissing on the glass while the WASP diners watched in horror.

I always intended to go there, but haven't made it yet. And never thought there was any reason to rush. Like RoCK, I saw it as "old guard" and figured it would always be around.

I'm glad that I didn't miss going to the Brass Elephant. My biggest sadness, though, might be not so much for the food as for the potential loss of that beautiful interior.

Wow. I'm stunned. I'm guessing this includes the Tusk Lounge, since they're connected, etc.

Damn.

Wow, very sad. We took my dad there last year for his birthday. I can't remember any specific dishes, but I distinctly remember thinking the food was very good -- better than I expected considering how little talk the place got. Service also was great. :-( What a shame.

I have eaten there a number of times. I always enjoyed it. It is difficult to support one's local fine dining places when one is out of work, as I have been for some time.

The place will be missed. A lot of people probably do not know that the DR was originally the showroom for Potthast Bros Furniture, in its' day, one of the best reproduction furniture makers in the US. I have a lot of their pieces in my home and good memories of eating there, as previously mentioned.

The Brass Elephant catered my wedding, and did a wonderful job, so I've had a soft spot for the place for a few years.

The last time we went was this winter, and it was kind of sad. There were only a few other tables filled on a Saturday night, and my chair had a broken arm. They were offering a prix fixe menu, sort of a permanent restaurant week. The food and serice were good, but it just seemed past its prime. Very sad that it couldn't regain its former glory. When it was busy, it was a wonderful place for dinner.

We had our wedding rehearsal dinner there 6 years ago and it was always one of our favorite restaurants. It will be missed.

In the early eighties as a very naive PR person, I was treated to a lesson in the art of the media pitch by two of The Sun's greatest reporters---the late Vida Roberts, fashion editor, and social columnist Sylvia Badger over lunch at The Brass Elephant. Trout Almondine for the first time at Vida's suggestion. Of course, not to be overshadowed by the gimlet!

The point in Sam's story about the loss of the Baltimore Opera Co.'s contract with BE makes me fear for other restaurants that also rely on symphony/Lyric traffic ... I went to Abacrombie for RW and discovered they had opened only for us --- no other reservations that night, despite the special. But hopefully reality show excitement over the chef will draw more people there.

Tusk Lounge was a great destination. I love(d) the low marble bar. It was a place where you could actually have a conversation.

We just went there with two other couples for the first time for restaurant week this year. Was expecting good things, but the whole party of 6 was very disappointed with the mediocre, at best, food and the abominable service. No surprise to me that they're closing. We'd never go back. Hope they can come back with something much better.

Liz Kay, I don't know if the Top Chef publicity will help Abacrombie's. Not everyone appreciates the facial studs and over-the-top tats look.

Deciding where to eat based on what a chef looks like is predjudicial.
Just my $.02

A most lovely venue for my wedding rehearsal dinner almost 15 years to the day. Funny that I was thinking of celebrating the occasion there this year.

BE -- Thanks for the memory.

I mean if the chef is a slob yeah thats one thing.. but just tats and piercings.. well in your own head you can be biased for whatever reason you want, I guess.

Hopefully she fares better than Jill did last year, but so far, I dunno....

Re tats and piercings: I'm not saying I would chose a restaurant based on lack of same, but some people are really repulsed by the look. I remember my mother-in-law stopping a stranger on the boardwalk at the beach to say, "Dear, it's not pretty."

If the owner was smart he would stay "closed" for a short while, shine the place up a bit so it's immaculate, and then put together the money for 3 weeks or so of operation, and then open tentatively with large fanfare. Nostalgia alone should keep the place packed for a short while, possibly allowing future changes for the better. My girlfriend and I went here early this year, and other than the service, which was mediocre, we absolutely loved it. The owners seemed to be having a spat, though. Maybe there's something else going on.

Dahlink, I think that says a lot more about your mother-in-law than anything.

I think that's her point. People of a different generation have certain prejudices, and rightly or wrongly, restaurateurs have to take that into account -- especially because they are often the ones with more disposable income. EL

Yes, EL got the point I was trying to make exactly. I would think that this would especially apply to a restaurant that depends on the symphony crowd for steady business.

I took my husband to the Brass Elephant a couple of years ago for a birthday lunch. Sadly, it was one of the worst meals of my life. Overcooked pasta, dry fish, tasteless unseasoned food ... and a very rude waiter. Needless to say, we never went back. I think that all too often Baltimore stalwarts rely on their reputation rather than putting out innovative, creative, quality dishes. It's too bad, but maybe this will be a lesson to other restaurants. When the economy gets tough, you've really got to step up your game.

Some out-of-town friends asked for a restaurant recommendation for pre-theater dining. Without hesitation I recommended the Brass Elephant. I haven't been there in a few years, but my memories of the place are highly favorable. My friends googled BE. The website is still up, the menu is there, they liked what they saw and decided to go. Imagine their pleasure when they arrived and found it closed. (They had tried to call for reservations, but the line rang busy which they took as a good sign.) So now I see that the restaurant closed 6 months ago. That's a shame. Would seem like a small courtesy, however, for them to take down their website or at least post a notice on it.

A friend and I walked past the BE last night and joked that they must still be open, because the Happy-Hour signs are still posted (albeit starting to sag a little). The beautifully set tables are still in place behind the plate-glass display window. An allusion to Miss Havisham's wedding breakfast seemed apt.

Would that a modern day Pip and Estella might appear and preside as Maitre'D and hostess at the BE's triumphant reopening...