San Francisco Part I: Monk's Kettle

It is funny that this is part one, because we didn't visit The Monk's Kettle until Sunday - the last full day of our trip. I guess the first two days failed to be documented because we were too busy enjoying the drink component of our food and drink blog AND singing mash-up karaoke with drag queens. Hey, what do you expect - it's San Francisco, where the only thing that isn't tolerated is intolerance. So, don't judge!

Anyways, on Sunday we had a lunch date with a friend and she suggested The Monk's Kettle. I didn't know it was called The Monk's Kettle until an hour before we arrived. Good thing Jackie called to confirm, or Bob and I would have been sitting in the non-existent Monkeys Wrench. If you haven't guessed already Jackie and I made these plans on Sat. - during the drink component of said food and drink blog.

It was 75 and sunny and Bob and I strolled toward the restaurant in the Mission District. As we got closer and saw more and more cool, city folk passing us by we started feeling inferior. Luckily, we spotted a hat shop and we stopped in to take a gander and citify our look. I walked out with a brown and orange bicycle cap and Bob walked out with a Russian Sea Captain's hat. I don't know if this made us cooler, but Bob insisted it did. You can see for yourself since Bob insisted on wearing the hat, with sunglasses, for every stop - even when we were in a dark bar.

Against all odds we arrived at The Monk's Kettle, met Jackie and sat down for an amazing meal of elevated bar faire and specialty beers.

Monk's isn't a large place, but the food is large as well as the selection of beer. One of their best features is that the good people at Monk's hold your hand through the beer selection process. They pair everything on the food menu with a few selections off the beer menu. How easy!

Bob decided that he would go with something with a little bit of flare - to compliment the flare that is a Russian Sea Captain's hat:

House-ground ‘Premium Gold Natural’ Lamb Burger with lettuce, organic tomatoes, fresh red onions and a cucumber mint tzatziki sauce on a Metropolis sesame bun.

To which the menu suggested one of the following types of beer:

ESB, Belgian Strong Pale or a Weizenbock

So he decided to go with a Weizenstock called 'Aventinus'.

Easy, right?

I, on the other hand decided not to screw around with their stupid pairing decisions. I just went with what I know: poultry.

I had a chicken sandwich and a glass of Old Speckled Hen.