I have been to Clyde's years ago and didn't remember it to be too memorable but it's right across the street from my mom's house so when Jeana recommended it for brunch, it was easy enough to say yes and walk over.
The place is huge and decorated like a old elk lodge - the whole place feels like you are in a log cabin lodge in Colorado vs. a restaurant in the suburbs of Maryland. Since it was still the holidays, the place was even more dressed up with tons of holiday lights and tinsel - it was actually kind of cute in this super fake way. The menu was both brunch and lunch focused which always gives me anxiety and stress. I noticed on the lunch menu that their raw bar happy hour included Sundays from 11-1pm and even though it sounded kind of gross to get raw oysters or clams so early in the morning, I'm such a sucker for oyster HH that I couldn't pass it up. I got 1/2 a dozen littleneck clams ($8.95 regular priced) to start and then because I'm in MD, I got the Chesapeake eggs benedict ($17.95) and Jeana got the corned beef hash ($13.95). I wasn't expecting much from the clams but when they came out I was beyond shocked. There was almost nothing in any of them - I mean, less than 1/2 bite in each half shell. I was on the verge of sending them back because I couldn't believe that they could actually serve that in good faith but I decided to "eat" them anyways. It makes me fully appreciate amazing raw bar places like Maison Premiere because this serving was beyond pitiful. If I stopped my review here, I would actually give this place 1 fork. But luckily, I had my real dish come out and while it didn't totally make up for it, it was a solid crab cake benedict. The egg was very runny and the Old Bay hollandaise sauce was plentiful. You can taste and see real lump crake meat in there. Each mixed bite of yolk, crab meat and hollandaise sauce was sinful. The breakfast potatoes that came with it were fine - standard breakfast potatoes. While I didn't try Jeana's dish, she commented that she was not that pleased with it as it seemed dry and not seasoned well.
If I had stuck just to the benedict, this place would probably be a 3.5 fork place as it was good but not stellar. The service was a bit confusing as first (the waitress didn't know if it was actually raw bar happy hour and couldn't confirm for Jeana if they had wheat toast in the kitchen) but I appreciated that they let us stay at the restaurant for over 3 hours to talk without shooing us out or giving us dirty looks. Overall, I'd say it's a bit overpriced and overhyped for what it is but when you're trapped in the suburbs there really aren't that many places that serve brunch so I'll take what I can get. Total bill: $28/pp with tax and tip
Photo Credit: Yelp
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