B & O Espresso

Now that we've laid the ground rules and have a starting point for these reviews, why don't we get to work, eh? So B & O was the very first recommendation I got from a reader, and as such, will be the first to undergo my intense scrutiny.

We hit B & O on a Friday afternoon (thank god for all-day breakfast menus, btw), once my work had settled down. Nothing like easing into a snowy weekend than with a heaping plate of hash. Anyone who's ever been to B & O will tell you that the atmosphere is great--very laid back with a not-annoying Parisian vibe--and the coffee and desserts are fantastic. But what about the corned beef hash?

Well, not too shabby, I'd say. As far as consistency goes, these guys could have been a bit crispier on the outside, and the corned beef was nearly indiscernible from the potatoes. I'm all about mushiness in some foods, but not corned beef hash (which always walks that fine line between perfect crispiness and dog food mush). I quite enjoy being able to tell the meat from the potatoes on a purely tactile level.

Aesthetically, this was a pretty run-of-the-mill plate of hash. The poached eggs were perched nicely atop the hash and sprinkled with pepper and spices. The square plate was a nice touch, but overall, nothing to call home about. The eggs were done well, but the toast was already cold when it got to me.

The overall flavor of the dish was a bit on the bland side, possibly due to the over-mingling of the corned beef and the potatoes. I had to salt it a bit, which you really shouldn't have to do to a dish that by definition is preserved in salt. On the plus side, the hash wasn't greasy or too heavy, and the corned beef was pretty mild (sometimes it can get a little, shall we say, ripe).

And as far as the Kelly P Factor (previously know as "the wife factor") goes, B & O's hash scored a 3 (out of 5) on Kelly P's Patented Palatability Scale. Her one sentence synopsis went thusly: "Where's the beef?" Succinct, no?

So all in all, I'm giving B & O a score of


Stay tuned for more corned beef hash reviews from around our fair city, as well as up-to-the-minute corned beef hash news (should there ever be any).

-A.W. Hilst