BYOB, but it'll cost you

By Valli Herman-Cohen

Nov. 13, 2002 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

High-END restaurants are losing patience. For years they’ve accommodated diners who brought their own wine by charging them a modest corkage fee to serve it. The practice hurt profits, but only a few of the best customers tended to bring their own, so why worry?

But lately -- and especially in Los Angeles, restaurateurs complain -- this BYOB thing is out of control. More people are bringing ever more bottles, and worse, they tote them in cheap paper sacks, or lug in boxfuls of bargain-basement finds.

In reaction, corkage fees are shooting up, from $10 or $15 to as high as $50 a bottle. There are new rules: If your wine is on their list, Firefly Bistro and L’Orangerie won’t pour it. Dan Tana’s peculiar calculus multiplies bottle fees by the number of glasses poured. Valentino forbids more than two bottles. Some places, such as Bastide and the Ivy, won’t let any wine through the door, period.

It’s a tricky issue on both sides.

“I used to bring my own wine to restaurants all the time,” said Steve Wallace, owner of a Wally’s Wine and Spirits, and a general partner in restaurants including Capo in Santa Monica. “Now that I am in the restaurant business, I don’t,” he said. “I know how most restaurateurs feel about it. Most good restaurants that have good wine lists do not like customers bringing their own bottle, unless you buy something off of their list.”

Many restaurateurs agree that the first shot in the corkage war was fired two years ago, by French Laundry chef Thomas Keller. He hiked corkage in his Yountville restaurant in the Napa Valley from $30 to $50 for a bottle not on his list -- and mailed a letter to customers, explaining his philosophy on food, wine and economics.

The French Laundry aims to provide a “tremendous culinary adventure,” he wrote, including his “approachable and inviting wine menu.” (The 51-page list has about two dozen $60-and-under bottles and many $500, $1,000 and $2,500 bottles that by the sip are more expensive than a sniff of illegal narcotics.)

“While we graciously present our customers their wines utilizing our wine service materials, we immediately take a loss due to lack of sales,” Keller continued. “Just as retail businesses, wineries and other businesses need to sell their merchandise and services, so do we.”

His message was clear and now other restaurateurs hope that steep corkage fees send a sign -- a stop sign. Restaurateurs admit that the BYOB crowd is relatively small: 3% to 5% of diners, although some, including Patina, say it is up to 10%. Though some wine lovers bring their own bottles to avoid high markups, others say bringing their own lets them to share fine wine with friends, learn about new types and, not infrequently, brandish their bottles as a sign of their good taste and sophistication.

But wine and liquor sales account for 30% or more of restaurant profits. Some restaurateurs, particularly those with extensive, expensive wine lists, look at those bottles and see not red wine, but red ink.

“This is a policy to discourage people from bringing their own wine,” said Mike Miljkovic, general manager of Dan Tana’s, a West Hollywood industry hangout that charges $6 per person per bottle to pour outside wine. “You can’t make any money on food at our type of place,” he said. “If you serve rice and beans, you can make money.”

Wine cellars represent a huge investment at some of L.A.’s best restaurants.

“We have a million dollars sleeping downstairs,” said maitre d’ Stephane Clasquin of the cellar at L’Orangerie, West Hollywood’s French institution.

Wine and liquor sales are the most profitable part of his and most menus. “Fifteen people work in the kitchen just to make sometimes one dish,” Clasquin said. “People need to understand that in order for us to have 12-foot flower arrangements in the middle of the dining room, we need to have some revenues. I’m sorry to say that, but to me, if the restaurateurs were all holding hands and saying, ‘No, we can’t do that,’ the restaurants would be in a better economic position.”

Money’s not the only issue; class counts too. “One day,” sniffed Clasquin, a person is going to come with a steak and say, ‘Cook it for me medium.’ ”

His attitude isn’t hard to justify in Los Angeles, land of the peculiar food fanatic. Even by bringing a $45 bottle that might list for $120 in a restaurant, it’s hard not to look cheap -- even when you pay corkage -- or worse, uninformed.

Putting three to the test

Earlier this month, I brought three bottles of fairly uncommon reds to three restaurants known for their wine lists. When I presented my 1999 Cascina Val del Prete Nebbiolo d’Alba to the waiter at Angelini Osteria, I complimented the restaurant’s fine, deep list and affordable selections. The waiter politely offered to sell me a bottle of his Nebbiolo, as well as the $40 pasta dish with white truffles from the same Italian region as the wine. For the $15 corkage on my $16 bottle, my guest and I were given proper red wine stemware and a friendly uncorking, but were left to top our glasses.

At Cafe Bizou in Sherman Oaks, where the $2 corkage fee has long been a draw for wine aficionados, the waiter didn’t try to push his own, modest list of 18 fairly common reds over my $23 1999 La Mauriane Puisseguin-Saint-Emilion. In our far corner of the bustling dining room, we rarely saw the waiter and were left to pour our own most of the time.

But at Capo, the $25 fee paid for the most and best service -- and Spiegelau crystal stems, which our attentive waiter kept filled with our $40 1997 Amarone Della Valpolicella. Surprised by seeing the corkage policy on the opening page of the large wine list, I asked chef Bruce Marder how he felt about people bringing their own bottles.

“We’d like to sell wine,” he said matter-of-factly, adding that the policy is printed on the list to also help diners avoid potential embarrassment. Yet later that night, Marder had to tell a customer that he’d have to pay $25 to be served his $15 bottle of wine. He also has witnessed customers toting half a dozen bottles for a large party.

Marder isn’t one to hide from his customers or their questions. During our multi-course tasting menu, he frequently fielded our inquiries about ingredients and preparations, a good sign that he would do the same if we asked about his wines. Some wine stewards will also seize the opportunity to educate diners about the wine they brought with them, and the others on their list. It can build business.

Cafe Bizou co-owner Neil Rogers said he’ll probably keep the corkage fee at $2 because, “We want our customers to come and have a good time and not feel like they’ve been robbed.”

Though corkage is $25 at Mastro’s Steakhouse in Beverly Hills, bringing a personal bottle isn’t otherwise discouraged. “I think an evening of wine should be like an evening of going to Disneyland,” said Jonathan Way, Mastro’s sommelier. “I like to make the experience fun, playful and educational.

“People are afraid of wine because of the pretension that has been a part of the wine business for so long,” Way continued. “Sommeliers have been somewhat to blame for not being a bit more relaxed in their approach to the guests, to the consumer of wine.”

At 32 years old, Way is in tune with the crowd that is the wine industry’s only hope for growth. When the Wine Market Council studied the paltry wine-drinking habits of 25- to 37-year-olds, the trade group saw dry years ahead -- if the industry doesn’t attempt to engage them now. But not only are the higher fees, restrictive policies and high prices discouraging future customers, they’re in danger of alienating current ones.

Tough customers

“I know of very few restaurants today that have more diners than they can handle,” said David Kegaries, vice president of the Southern California chapter of the Society of Wine Educators. If he encounters what he considers an unjustifiably high corkage, he won’t open his bottle, and frequently, he won’t return to the restaurant.

“If you go into a restaurant and the cheapest bottle of white wine is $30, it’s generally a chardonnay that wholesales for less than $10,” Kegaries said. “Why experiment when it’s so expensive?”

As a wine expert, Kegaries and his society colleagues meet in restaurants to share great food and their unusual finds. “It becomes a reason to go out and get together,” he said, adding, “You can’t get aged wines in most restaurants.”

The issue gets especially touchy because the customers most likely to bring wine to restaurants are knowledgeable about vintages, prices and the quality of the lists. They can’t be fooled.

When celebrating Mother’s Day about five years ago, Bel-Air orthopedic surgeon Eugene Osher saw that the special $75 bottle he’d brought to drink at Patina was on the wine list -- for $900. Such markups are straining credibility and patron relations.

“I think the restaurants are sending a message that their economics come first before my enjoyment and entertainment,” said Joseph Folender, a Venice philanthropist and wine collector. “They’ve got to make a living, and I respect that, so I never mind paying corkage, as long as I can bring my own wine.”

Sharing the wealth

Paying corkage allows Folender to share superior wines, such as a 1966 Chateau Haut-Brion, without burdening his dining companions’ budgets. “People say to me, ‘Joe, you pick out the wine.’ I don’t want to put my hand in their pocket. I don’t want anyone on the receiving end of a $100 bottle,” he said.

To celebrate a special occasion at Capo last week, L.A. lawyer Byron Moldo brought two bottles of wine from his cellar, partly to avoid the mystery of drinking an unfamiliar vintage. He advocates reasonable corkage fees, for his benefit and the restaurant’s. “For purposes of repeat business, I think it does the restaurant a service,” Moldo said. “People will recommend the place.”

As if learning about wine isn’t already a challenge, so is negotiating the corkage practices and the intimidating attitude that seeps from sommeliers and waiters. Undeterred, L.A. diners persist in their preference for BYOB policies, unlike restaurant patrons in other cities. “If you walk into a major restaurant in New York City with a bottle of wine, in most instances, they would ask you not to, or to leave,” said Wallace. “In Europe, the same thing happens.”

For now, even though many better restaurants are hoping to discourage the bring-your-own practice, some have reached a sort of compromise in manners and economics. “If you’re a sophisticated diner,” said Wallace, “you call the restaurant, ask them their policy beforehand and buy a bottle off the list too.” Just be sure you’ve got a designated driver.

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What they charge

Here is a sampling of corkage fees at Southern California restaurants:

NO CHARGE

Alegria, Los Angeles (Silver Lake)

Chameau, Los Angeles (Silver Lake)

Girasole, Los Angeles (Larchmont)

LOW

August Chris Cafe, Sherman Oaks: $2 per bottle

Bistro 45, Pasadena: $15 per bottle

Cafe Bizou, Sherman Oaks, Pasadena and Santa Monica: $2 per bottle

Cobras & Matadors, Los Angeles: $5 per bottle; free if you buy a bottle at their wine shop next door