Bar food is different from restaurant cuisine. Bar food is straightforward fare, more substance than flair. Think battered pickles and hot roast beef sandwiches. Cockey's Tavern, a bar with a handful of dining tables, does a good job dishing out solid, satisfying bar food.
The tavern, located in a space formerly occupied by the Vietnamese restaurant Pho and, before that, Mencken's Cultured Pearl, pays homage to its West Baltimore locale. Black-and-white photographs of the area's old industrial buildings hang on the walls. Large windows offer diners a view of the Hollins Market and a stream of passers-by. Big-screen TVs hang over the bar, piped-in music bounces off the brick walls. There was still some renovation going on in the back of building when my wife and I visited last week, but overall the place had the cozy feel of a West Baltimore rowhouse.
The battered pickles ($2.99), deep-fried dill spears, might not make nutritionists smile, but they were tart and tasty. When accompanied by a tall glass of Raven lager ($3.50), a glass adorned with the mug of a former denizen of West Baltimore, Edgar Allan Poe, they got the evening off to a pleasing start.
A pleasant surprise was the grilled romaine salad ($4.99). I don't associate bar kitchens with greenery, but this salad — large leaves of lettuce slightly charred and topped with balsamic vinaigrette, bleu cheese and walnuts — was outstanding.
For entrees, there was a choice between sandwiches and daily specials. We went with the sandwiches and tumblers of wine ($7 for the house chardonnay, $8 for cabernet sauvignon).
A crab melt sandwich ($11.99) had plenty of clean crab notes. The owner, Bob Cockey, also runs a seafood stand in the Hollins Market, so the tavern's seafood is likely to be fresh. As pleasing as the crab flavor was, the sandwich could have been warmer.
So too with the hot roast beef sandwich ($10). It had a good look — mounds of dark roast beef stuffed between slices of white bread and topped with gravy. It had beefy flavor, but the gravy wasn't quite hot enough. When I tasted a forkful of mashed potatoes ($1.99) that I had dipped into the gravy, I was expecting the warm thrill of comfort food. Instead, I got a forkful of a more tepid type of enjoyment.
The dessert of the day was bread pudding ($4.95), a rich mix of bread and fruit. Someone in that kitchen knows how to cook.
Service was quick and pleasant, if a little uncertain about what credit cards it accepts (all majors).
Cockey's Tavern aims to be a bar with good food. Mostly, it hits the mark.
Cockey's Tavern
Where: 1116 Hollins Street
Phone: 410 752 4814
Appetizers: $3-$9
Entrees: s$8-$19
Credit Cards: All major
Open: Seven days a week, kitchen open 11:30 a.m- 11 p.m
Food: ✭✭✭
Service: ✭✭1/2
Atmosphere: ✭✭✭
[Outstanding: ✭✭✭✭Good: ✭✭✭Fair or uneven: ✭✭Poor:✭]