Yankee Brew News Archive

Cornwall's

Originally Published: 08/96

By: Bob DiCesare

Good food, cold beer and a warm welcome.

Those are the promises from owner John Beale at Cornwall's, a distinctively British-style pub in the heart of Boston's Kenmore Square.

Although there are more than 80 bottled beers from around the world and 17 more on draft, Beale will not guarantee admittance on two counts.

"No hats and no ripped clothing," said Beale, who opened Cornwall's 15 years ago after managing the Kenmore Club for many years. "We are an English provincial pub. You can sit, eat, drink, read, even play board games (backgammon and other games are stacked near the entrance). But gentlemen are asked to remove their hats or they will be asked to leave."

That can be a problem for some people in the spring and summer because Cornwall's is popular during the baseball season when the Red Sox are playing at Fenway Park. A gold-plated engraving displayed clearly on an overhead wall at the entrance betrays Beale's partisanship:

ATTENTION

All Yankee fans:

You can't wear your hat

And we don't serve Budweiser

What Cornwall's does serve is a wonderfully diverse selection of ales with a heavy emphasis from the United Kingdom. There are several offerings from Samuel Smith's and Young's, along with Boddington's Pub Ale, Brakspear's Henley Ale, Royal Oak Pale Ale, Bateman's Victory Ale and Watney's Cream Stout. Also on bottle, from Scotland, are Belhaven St. Andrew's Ale, McEwan's Scotch Ale and Traquair House Ale. Other notables on bottle include Julius Echter Weiss beer from Germany, Beamish Stout from Ireland and St. Sixtus from Belgium.

On draft, some of the better selections include Fuller's ESB, John Courage, Newcastle Brown Ale, Watney's Red Barrel, Belhaven, McEwan's, Young's, Old Thumper, Anchor Steam and Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. Beale says his best sellers are Newcastle, Double Diamond and the cask-conditioned Tremont Ale and Tremont Best Bitter from the Atlantic Coast Brewing Co. in Charlestown.

"We get a lot of Brits in here," said Beale, 53. "Shepherd's pie and fish and chips are staples. But the big draw is the cask-conditioned Tremont Ale. I like what the people at Atlantic Coast Brewing are doing. They're working real hard and doing a nice job, trying different things to make a better product. When you look at it, beer has become cyclical. When it was first made, it was cask. Now it's hitting that cycle again. We're educating a palate."

There are a couple of surprises on the beer list. You can get Bass Ale in a bottle, but not on draft. Beale says he can't sell draft beer at a discount because of volume combined with the fact that no one will experiment with other selections. Cornwall's also doesn't serve Samuel Adams products anymore. Ever since Boston Beer Company president Jim Koch opened the Sam Adams Brewhouse just a few blocks down the street at the Lenox Hotel, Beale closed the tap on Sam Adams at Cornwall's.

"My premise is that if he opened a pub down the street from me, why should I promote his product?" said Beale. "It's a matter of principle."

Cornwall's gathers a large contingent of regulars because of its combination of good food and good drink. "There could be a Cornwall's in any neighborhood," said Beale. "It is a neighborhood pub. The idea of a pub is also keeping a kitchen current, creative, and motivated. Just as many come as to eat as to drink. That's the difference between a pub and a bar."

Standing outside of Cornwall's, one definitely gets the feel of eclectic Kenmore Square. Walking downstairs into Cornwall's, the place immediately took me back in time, seven years ago to be precise, to the numerous pubs I frequented during a three-week stay in England.

I arrived at Cornwall's one Friday shortly before 12 noon and the place was clean, quiet and quaint. A half-hour later, the place was still quaint, but is wasn't quiet anymore. The lunch crowd had arrived. The nucleus of people on this day seemed to be sweatshirted college students mingling with the suits, sport coats and ties of Boston University faculty members and other assorted business clientele.

Since it was Lent, I adhered to my Roman Catholic upbringing and made it a fish day for lunch. Fifty cents apiece for shrimp cocktail from the raw bar seemed like a good appetizer deal. The bar shrimp were very chilled and served on a blanket of ice. I ordered a half-dozen, but my server, M.J., gave me eight. She knows the way to my heart.

The London-style fish and chips were outstanding: moist, tender, batter-fried fillets with hand-cut chips. In addition to ketchup, Cornwall's serves up a gourmet English-style malt vinegar as an alternative. Other specialties that day included Cornish fish pie, grilled lamb burger and grilled 'bangers,' which are large, bland sausages served with mashed potatoes. Regular pub offerings include soups and stews, salads, burgers, deli/club sandwiches and seafood entrees.

Cornwall's has a genuine feel of a gathering place. Its message on the front of the menu states it "caters to those who want a good meal and good drink at regular prices...drinking makes you hungry and eating makes you thirsty, and both sets of circumstances while accompanied by good conversation and a relaxed atmosphere combine to create a resilient institution which contributes to community life."

"If you're looking to pick someone up, this is not the place," said Beale. "At night, people come in and play board games."