The Monk's Kettle

location: 3141 16th street, between valencia and guerrero, the mission

monk's kettle is known for their amazing beer selection and they really aren't fooling around. with over 20 beers on tap and even more options by the bottle it would be easy to spend an entire day in this place tasting. so of course when c rolled to town on a very nice warm day, we ducked in here to spend the afternoon belly up to the back of the bar. not only do they have a million bars on tap but they also have a pretty delicious sounding food menu. i tried the allagash white, made in portland, maine, and the wolaver's organic brown, made in middlebury, vermont. i'm not a beer expert and i won't pretend to be (like everyone else around here) but these were both very delicious! i would definitely have them again. the pretzel, which is #50 on 7x7's big eat list, was warm, fluffy and perfectly salty (although, some complained too salty, i did not agree). it is served with a stone-ground mustard and cheddar ale sauce, which i think i could have eaten by the spoonful. it's completely understandable why it's on that list. monk's is pretty small inside, i've been told it's nearly impossible to get a table during dinner, and the staff seemed annoyed that there were so many of us there, which is weird considering we were dropping mad money. the bartenders were knowledgeable about all of the different beer options and helpful in selecting beers based on what you told them you like. 1 pretzel and 6 beers later and i only dropped about $55 but i don't think that's a very good example of what you can spend in there, some of the beers were around $10 each, i was trying to be economical.

recommendation: get over there before the rush!

tastiness: yay!

food/drink vs. price: borderline okay! and yay!

service: okay!