The Brass Tap, a popular craft beer and bar food spot on Mt. Royal Avenue, has closed for good. August 31 was its last call.
Owner Barry Lowenthal told The Bulletin that he had asked MCB Real Estate, which in 2022 purchased the Fitzgerald Apartments building on Mt. Royal Avenue where the bar has operated for nearly a decade, to reduce the rent. “We negotiated in good faith,” Lowenthal said, “but we couldn’t reach an agreement.”
He said that while popular, The Brass Tap was never a big profit center. “It’s been borderline since the time we opened,” he said. “We’ve never done badly enough that we couldn’t make it. But we’ve never done well enough that we put money in the bank.” The Brass Tap has, from its opening, been a BHCA sponsor.
The closing comes about 16 months after the closing of The Tilted Row, a full-service restaurant at Eutaw and McMechen streets. Another long-standing neighborhood food outlet, the Subway sandwich franchise on McMechen near Mt. Royal Avenue, also closed during the summer.
There is a new full-service restaurant nearby that neighbors should know about: Nora Blú, adjacent to the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall at 1225 Cathedral Street. It’s a location that has seen a parade of food spots come and go. It calls its fare “modern Mediterranean.” And we’re lucky to have George and Jessica Dailey’s two food spots, On the Hill Café and Cookhouse. Angeli’s Pizzeria remains in the Fitzgerald building and Llama’s Corner offers specialty coffees and light fare on McMechen Street during daytime hours.
