I would change that to the selection was insane and they’ve made price increases over the years which have gotten closer to market prices. My last visit, we really had trouble digging up more than a handful of Burgs that we wanted to drink and the better mature Bordeaux have also been drunk up. It had to happen sooner or later.
Again, I’m old school. I think wearing a jacket and tie for dinner is a nice gesture of respect to the establishment that you appreciate their efforts enough to not show up looking like you just rolled out of bed and threw on whatever was laying around. Always better to show up somewhere overdressed than underdressed.
A tie is a little much IMHO unless you are already in a suit and it’s a business gathering. When I’m not entertaining business there, I just wear a blazer.
I think this is a generational thing…
35 years ago, both Bern’s (and Tampa) seemed like a southern, ie, more formal, city that others in Florida.
I think ties, for the most part…are thought of as Halloween costumes by people under 30…something to use when forced to. Most don’t even know how to tie them. But, that’s how things evolve…look at the pictures of the stands at a baseball game in the '30s…most men (and it was mostly men) were in hats and ties…even in the hot weather.
I wear a Tampa bay Bucs jersey when I go there, to show respect to the city.
Speaking of ties at Bern’s, we were sitting in the bar area around 4:15 waiting for our tasting appointment with the sommeliers, and we struck up a conversation with the bar manager. While he was telling us about his upcoming trip to California, he put on his tie, perfectly, without looking away from us or in a mirror, in about 30 seconds. I’m so out of practice with ties, it would take me 3 or 4 tries and at least 5 minutes to get it right. I don’t think my colleagues noticed this tie skill, but it made an impression on me. For our tasting appointment I was still in jeans. We ran back to the hotel and I changed into slacks for dinner. We saw about 50% of the men wearing jackets, maybe only 20% in ties. We didn’t notice anyone in jeans (of course we didn’t see all the diners), but we did see one man in dressy shorts.
The food last night was excellent, especially the Chateaubriand. I ordered the 11 ounce, very rare with a crust. It was perfect, tender, flavorful, just great. I didn’t order a side sauce.
I thought the wine list was exactly what I expected to see, tons of interesting older wines for incredibly low prices. The list was deepest in Bordeaux. If you’re looking for big names on older or younger wines, you’ll pay market rate prices, maybe a little below market on the older ones. But if you don’t mind venturing out a little, you’ll be pleasantly surprised how perfect, cool storage can give amazing results on unheralded vintages and labels.
We started with a 1981 Kalin Sonoma Chardonnay Cuvee D. This was my wine of the night. It was showing beautifully, and if I were to guess its age without knowing, I’d probably say 8 to 12 years, not 35. It was absolutely Californian, not like an older white Burg. I wasn’t sure which way it would lean when we ordered it, but it was such a good bottle.
Next we ordered a 1979 Jaboulet-Vercherre Hermitage Rochefine. They had a '78 Jaboulet La Chapelle for just under $1,000, and we couldn’t afford that, so we chose a much less expensive cousin from not such a classic vintage. Our server came back and said the sommelier couldn’t find '79 downstairs. We had another red chosen, so we told him that bin number. It was a 1964 Marius Voillot Pommard in a 375 (they call it a tenth!), a birth year wine for me.
The server came back and told us he had good news, they found the '79 and the '64. He opened them both. The Hermitage took some time to open up, but it was perfectly aged, showing well, a little bit light, but that’s what I expected from the vintage. The Pommard wasn’t showing so much age as it was dominated at first by a wet cork smell. That went away with time, but we only had a half bottle, so it didn’t last too long for 3 people. It was definitely worth trying, even if it wasn’t the most amazing older Burg I’ve had (not even close). Still fun to drink a birth year wine.
Our server took us on a 1 hour tour of the wine cellar, the kitchen and the upstairs dessert area. He has been there 33 years, and the history he told us of the restaurant, the owners and some of the staff was just about as interesting as the wine list. We were too full for dessert, but almost went for some Madeira–we didn’t though.
I hope to return to Bern’s next winter on another sales trip to Tampa.
I agree with the overall opinion. My wine experiences have been great. My dessert experiences have been great. My steak experiences could have been (and probably should have been) better.