This month’s DFWBlogs Cocktail Event was at Old Monk. With such a name, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I became quickly intrigued as I read the GuideLive review:
The menu has only 16 items, which range from traditional pub grub such as German sausages ($7.50) and fish and chips ($7.50) to the national dish of Belgium, moules frites (mussels and french fries, $8.95). The mussels and fries are as good, or better, than versions I have eaten in France. […]
German sausages? Well, say no more! That made my entree choice very easy :). The GuideLive review also mentioned their Belgian and German beers, so I went to see whether I could find their beer list. Normally, I'd check their webpage, but a search on Google for “old monk dallas” turned up nothing.
However, I did find this Old Monk section on BeerAdvocate (Beer Advocate is apparently a user-contributed site of restaurant reviews with a focus on beer). And I was pleased to see that some of the reviewers mentioned some of Old Monk’s beers.
So, it wasn’t a complete beer list, but it was a start. As usual, I cross-referenced those beers with the ratings at RateBeer.com — the numbers below include each beer’s score (out of five) and its percentile-ranking.
- Chimay - Bleu is 4.16 / 99.3% (!), Red is 3.89 / 95.4%
- Duvel - 3.88 / 95%
- Corsendonk - 3.82 / 93.4%
- Liefmans - 3.77 / 90.9%
- Hoegaarden - 3.7 / 87.6%
There were more beers than just those beers listed at the Beer Advocate page, but I didn’t include beers that I couldn’t find at RateBeer nor those that didn’t score well. And, since some of the beer descriptions on Beer Advocate were vague, I wasn’t sure about some of the specific brews (Chimay has serveral, for instance, though only “Chimay” was mentioned).
Once I arrived at Old Monk, I ordered the German Plate and I was about to order a Chimay Bleu, but I then noticed that they didn’t actually have that Chimay variety (though they had Chimay Red, Chimay Grand Reserve and Chimay White). (I just now discovered that Chimay Grand Reserve is an alias for Chimay Bleu — oops.) However, I quickly noticed that they had Fuller’s Porter — a beer I hadn’t seen previously mentioned in any of the Old Monk reviews.
I needed no encouragement in ordering the Fuller’s Porter — I’m not only a fan of porters but the Fuller is also the top rated porter at RateBeer.com! The 16oz bottle didn’t hurt, either.
The porter soon arrived, along with the sausages. The sausages were of two varieties, though I can’t recall their names at the moment (one was pinkish while the other was more whitish). They included some mustard on the side which went perfectly with the sausages — full of flavor and spice but not too hot.
The porter itself was fantastic and I’m not surprised by its high ratings. It had almost a coffee-like taste but without coffee’s bitter aftertaste (as my roommate Mike put it). I don’t even like coffee but I still found this to be a delicious beer. This is easily my favorite porter and possibly my second-favorite beer (Ayinger Celebrator Doppelbock is still first).
After the Fuller’s, I gave some thought to my second beer. Before arriving, I was all set on ordering a Chimay Bleu. But, of course, that was seemingly the one Chimary variety that Old Monk didn’t have. So, I went for a Chimay Red (“only” in the 95.4th percentile). The Red was a good beer, to be sure, though I’m not sure it lived up to its high expectations. It had more carbonation than I expected and a slight sweetness (which isn’t a bad thing, but just not what I was in the mood for at the time).
I really enjoyed Old Monk and on the drive home I was trying to think whether there were any Cocktail Events that I had enjoyed more. Up to that point, The Meridian Room was probably my favorite (their service, in particular, was exceptional). But after thinking it over, I don’t know if there’s anywhere other than Old Monk where I could get some tasty sausages along with such a good selection of beers in Dallas.
(And, Old Monk apparently has a website after all, though all I see is a broken puzzle piece <g>)
Fourteen paragraphs about the varieties of beers and you can’t even remember the types of German sausage?! “One was pinkish and one was whitish??!” You’ve got your priorities all wrong, my friend.
Ah, I just checked Old Monk’s website: it was one grilled bratwurst and one grilled knockwurst.
I’m with Adrian, again. SauSages are not something to be taken lightly in today’s world of bland, fancy, yuppie cuisine.
Come to think of it, I can’t actually remember the last time I had a good sausage. All that does come to mind is that time Maya and I went to Busch Gardens and had the mis-fortune of deciding (mostly on my will) to dine in the German section of the park. I don’t know what was on my plate, but I’m darn sure it was nothing like what bratwurst and knockwurst are in the real world.
I would have skipped the mustard, though…(what a horrible thing to do to a piece of meat…) :)
Ah, Bratwurst und Knockwurst. Pretty standard really. Both southern German (Bratwurst is from the Munich area and I think Knockwurst is from Nurnberg). I tend to like Knockwurst a little more.
if you want good german food and sausages go to kuby’s in snider plaza by smu. take lover’s west and turn left into snider plaza once you cross hillcrest. kuby’s is at the end on the right. they have german music and a german butcher shop/import grocery store too. not sure about the beer because i’m a non-drinker, but i’m sure they probably have some good ones.
The Flying Saucer, of course, has lots of sausage and ridiculous amounts of fantastic beer.
You should head to the Bavarian Grill up in Plano. Great food and great beer. Its really cozy and gives you the feel of being in a small restraunt in Germany. Its also great with a large group of freinds. The have live entertainment thats good also.