Brass Elephant
Baltimore (Mt. Vernon), MD
 Price:$$$$$ Decor: Fancy old school Baltimore
 Summary: Great food with old world charm
(4 crabs out of 5)

Karen-Class is nice. And nowhere is class nicer than when it,s involved with
food. The Brass Elephant has loads of both, and in that measure, is aptly
named: it conveys an old-world charm, mixed with a décor that hearkens back
to when India was exciting, exotic, and completely out of reach.
That foreign elegance was more seen, I think, in the rooms next door to the
one in which we were seated, which we could peek into through the curtains.
Ours had accents of decoration, but felt a little more like Grand Central
Station than Bombay: Situated as it was right by the kitchen, waiters
constantly zoomed by with platters we were tempted to snag, coming
astonishingly close to spectacular collisions.
The sense of faux-Indian sophistication did not make it to the food, either,
although in my mind fusion-less class food is perfectly fine. Our bread
came while still ordering"Paul will tell you it,s nice to munch while
deciding, but I prefer it to not get in the way. Either way, I would have
preferred it to be a little less hard.
Our appetizer came next, a tantalizing mixed selection of oysters, with two
kinds of each, perfect for a Valentine,s Day dinner. Note to all
restaurateurs: this is a good idea. Just add in a few fried oysters and a
few plain with cocktail and I,d be sitting pretty, downing one after the
other in succession. The one topped with jumbo lump crab slipped down
nicely, with the crab a nice subtle accompaniment to the slippery
crustaceans, fit to fish around for in the shell afterwards. A spinach and
cheese oyster, which felt a little quiche-inspired to me, was a nice,
heavier after thought, and my personal favorite, a Oyster Rockefeller with
bacon and shrimp had all sorts of great tastes to go down with the mass.
After that I had a fine lobster broth"while ordering, I had to remind
myself, this is not "fish stock", much as the name somehow smacked of it.
The thin, salty-sweet liquid was lip-smacking good, especially with the
somewhat dry little lumps of lobster. Overall, a bowl to lick out of, but
still we had to feel sorry for it when compared to the Hampton,s lobster
bisque (see our dissertation on that soup for details.)
My swordfish special, though enthusiastically recommended by the waitress,
felt like it was almost but not quite there. I liked the steak swimming in
warm Gazacho, an interesting fishy-tomato-y type sensation, as well as the
bits of vegetable floating round. However, the dish supposedly came with a
red garlic aioli on top, which I think may have been missing. Had it been
there, the thick-dry of the fish and the liquid of the soup may have found a
place to meet with the creamy sauce.
Dessert-ahhh dessert. The Brass Elephant seemingly has learned the good
lesson that the side presentation is just as important as the central
figure. Mmm, and what a central figure! OK, now Paul will tell you that I
tried to go for a lemon almond cake, and that,s true. But ultimately I
went, as so many women before me must have, for the chocolate mousse with a
bottom of hazelnut crust. Ahhh, so light, creamy, chocolatey, culminating
with the nutty rugged bed of praline. A light sugar cone filled with
whipped cream to the side was a little perplexing, but when bitten in
alternation with the mousse, a lovely dark-light up-down experience ensued.
All in all, I,d like to explore the Brass Elephant's intricacies more, maybe
heading for beef rather than fish (coincidentally, Paul,s choice!), and
maybe sitting outside of the central pathway.

Reviewed-February 2002

$$$$$-over 20 dollars
$$$$-15 to 20 dollars
$$$-11 to 15 dollars
$$-5 to 11 dollars
 $-Below 5