Days That End in Y

In the last one and a half months since I updated Days That End in Y, I’ve been to a dozen countries, visited countless bars, and drunk hundreds of beers. Yet, I never really felt motivated to write something about any of them until today here in Killadelphia, er, Philadelphia.

For lunch, I headed to Monk’s Cafe, which bills itself as “the soul of Belgium in the heart of Philadelphia”. Beer Advocate named it the sixth top beer bar in the nation in 2005, so I made a point to visit during my $0.50 road trip to New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC. (Seriously, I spent $0.50 total on these bus tickets as part of Megabus’s promotion during its first week of operations here on the Eastern Seaboard.)

This Belgian beer emporium and restaurant occupies an unassuming spot on 16th street in a busy part of the city not far from Market St, making it a conveniently walkable location to avoid getting pinched for a DUI with all those high ABV beers. The interior of Monk’s Cafe is dimly lit with a cool but not annoyingly hip ambiance that exudes Belgian beer chic, and they hand you a small pile of menus for food, the beers on draft at both bars, and the Beer Bible listing all 200+ beers they have on tap at the moment. Not only that but the Beer Bible also gives a nice overview of the brewing process along with various beer styles and includes a handy glossary.

The selection of beers is just absolutely incredible, and there were a number on tap that I’d never seen available aside from in a bottle. I ended up ordering a Brasserie des Géants Goliath followed by a La Rulles Estival. For beers in kegs from Belgium, they were just incredibly fresh and very reasonably priced: $7.50 each. I also had the opportunity to taste Monk’s Cafe’s own Flemish Sour Ale, which was very well balanced without the perfect amount of sourness and only a tiny hint of vinegar. Then again, it’s not one of my preferred styles, so I avoided ordering a whole glass. I also noticed Cantillon Geuze and Harviestoun Ola Dubh 30 on tap, neither of which I’ve ever seen before outside of bottles. Actually, I’ve never even heard of the latter before.

For food, I sat at the front bar and ordered a seitan cheesesteak (to balance out the utter lack of fruits and vegetables yesterday evidenced by those two cheesesteaks I had from Pat’s and Geno’s for dinner) and pommes frites. Happily, the sandwich also came with a side of mixed greens. This particular selection was somewhat uninspiring, but the fries were just incredible and came with an incredibly good sauce that was just the perfect mix of spicy and mayo. The rest of the menu looks good, too, but I just didn’t have enough room to try anything else.

The service at Monk’s Cafe is also perfect. The bartender was knowledgeable and attentive, making sure I always had water and greeting the stream of regulars by name. The attractive Red Wings fan hostess had a good smile, and all the staff seemed to click well together, creating a well-oiled beer serving machine that’s also friendly and personal. However, remember that my review took place at lunch rather than dinner when I imagine the busy place must overflow with customers. Easily half the seats in Monk’s Cafe were taken up at lunch, which is quite impressive for the US.

Overall, I obviously had a spectacular experience and can’t wait for my next trip to Philly just to eat and drink at Monk’s Cafe again. Even better, you can still get a $0.50 ticket here through June 5 from New York City, which would make a great day trip. Considering a roundtrip ticket to Belgium costs around $600 these days, that’s quite the deal!