Well, she didn't hang up on me, which I might have been tempted to do if I just learned I was out of a job as of midnight.

By Sun standards, wouldn't that be a lot of notice?

An excellent point. EL

I work for a courier company who does all sorts of law firm work, legal filings, etc., and I was waiting for the shoe to drop.

Roughly 5 months ago, one of my bikers did a filing at District Court where they owed (at the time) more than 3 months and 80k in back rent.

Interesting.,

Ouch.

Interesting indeed. Sounds like something that would befall a franchise, not a chain that has 5 other locations that "are staying open" Sounds like the fate of Hops.

I never liked their chances in Fells Point. Most of the time it was Baltimore bars that went to Bel Air, like Looney's, Sean Bolan's or McGerks. In this case it was a Bel Air bar that went to Baltimore, and who really wants to go to Fells Point only to end up at a Bel Air bar?

In the Midnight Sun post, one reason given for their closure is that DuClaw is a "suburban concept" - any insight on what that means? Is this an actual marketing or development term or just a flimsy excuse?

Are there other restaurants that could only ever really work in the 'burbs and not the city (or supposedly the rural counties), or vice versa? This sounds like it might have been a Top 10, and if so then I apologize!

Every excuse is a flimsy excuse- Seasonal, Suburban, Smoking, etc.

I used to have a litany of excuses like that. I also happened to be 10 years old at the time.

When they opened, it was shiny and new. It was a bit exciting. I didn't have to drive to Bel Air of Arundel Mills for a decent brew pub. (Yes, yes, I know. I developed friendships with Brewers after this. Sue me.)

But the shine wore off, real quick.
The food got bad, real quick.
The beer became so-so.
The "rock star" beer releases became less and less worth the time and effort to make it down there, be ignored at the bar, and only to get a t-shirt out of the deal.
Last time I was there, I waited 20 minutes to get a refill on water. I was sitting at the bar. In front of the taps. Inexcusable with two barkeeps working.

It's sad when the (historic) dive across the street will beat your food, beat your beer specials, beat your atmosphere, and beat your service any day of the week.

Ditto to ODB...bad food and service did them in

no loss. i'm surprised they made it this long. the beer was bad (maybe it was the neglected taps), the service worse and the food salted beyond recognition. i hope that space is filled by a decent restaurant and a more stable employer.

Sounds suburban to me.

I think the real feat these days is a restaurant that can start out with the wow factor and maintain it. That's got to be an amazing amount of constant work and pressure, to keep a happy and professional staff and happy returning customers. I can't really think of too many places where I've been consistently happy on the food and service side although The Artful Gourmet Bistro comes to mind.

captcha Mr shroud...hmmmm, an omen?

shill @ 10:14

I work in the RestBiz. Expect more closings in the 1st quarter of the new year. December was pretty bad for a number of places & the cumulative effect of a bad year and a bad Dec will prove too much for some. Everyone is taking a haircut during The Great Recession. And the worst part is how unpredictable business volume is. Some months are stellar, others terrible. Walk-in's have increased, making staffing decisions tough calls, too. Can't wait until 2010!

who toothier

shocker

Ya really gotta feel for people who choose to be chefs and professional restauranteurs--seriously. I mean, in what other business do you put on a big public show every day--four, five, six performances every day for a highly expectant and sometimes wickedly critical audience, managing lighting, sets, costumes, choreography, a cast who might or might not show up, and a script that changes daily on a painfully tight budget?

And then the audience eats the show...

Incredible.

How they do it is beyond me--and why.

odell Minister (my tele-evangelist name)

This is great news for Fells Point! That place was a disaster -- bad beer, bad food, bad service. But the space is so beautiful and perfectly positioned with the large outdoor patio and the water view. I can't wait to see a better use for that real estate.

Typical responses form Fells regulars. Give them thier Bud serving dive bars and crappy food and they are happy with life! Good luck to DuClaw with the other locations and good move to get out the the crime infested, overtaxed city that bleeds.

no chains in fells point! thats what the locals want to see, no chains. it helps that this one was terrible, a brew pub with bad beer, food and service, i'm sure they were loosing money for more than a year. I am sad for the servers and bartenders who now have to find work without notice during the slow season in a recession. unemployment for servers and bartenders goes on the rate of $3.08 an hour, I remember getting $158 every 2 weeks when I was on unemployment 10 years ago.

Sam's Kid said they were looking for servers couple days ago.

Actually, Joe C, one of the nice things about Fells Point is the diversity of dining & drinking establishments. Yes, there are plenty of dive bars, but there are also places like Miss Irene's, Mezze, Meli, Nanami, Black Olive, Koopers, the Waterfront, Kali's Court, V-NO, Ze Mean Bean, Teavolve, etc. And it sounds to me like the posters here were rather dissatisfied with the quality of Du Claw, so I doubt they'd prefer dive bars.

We used to be frequent Fells Point visitors. We went to Du Claw a grand total of three times. Each time, the service was sub-par and the food was less than unremarkable (perhaps even the crappy food you mentioned). We never left without regretting our decision to go there, given the plethora of wonderful places a stone's throw away. We always wanted to like it - we went to the Belair Du Claw after our wedding and had a great time. But it never really delivered.

As Fell's Point Shop owner it is always sad to see a local business fail. And work for bartenders has been tight in the area these days. But Duclaw's food and service were below par. We tried it a few times and it just got progressively worse. A lot of visitors ask me to recommend places to eat and drink and asked about DuClaw IIalways steered them to some place else. I look forward to someone taking over that great space and making a go of it.

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