Monkless Belgian Ales — The Brasserie 1st Anniversary Celebration

Belgian monks have been brewing beer since the Sixth Century. But when owners Robin and Todd Clement started brewing Belgian-style beers, they had to acknowledge that no monks were brewing the beer here in Bend. That’s why they chose the name Monkless Ales. The Monkless Ales and Brasserie has renovated the space overlooking the Deschutes River off Industrial Way near the Box Factory. Its location has the benefit of its own parking lot and a great view of the Old Mill and the river.

It would be a mistake to assume that this is just another brewpub. You won’t find hamburgers or mac and cheese here. Robin Clement describes the Brasserie as an “elevated pub experience that pays homage to the style of beer we are making.”

The Monkless European brasserie food is curated to go with the Belgian beers. The German, French and Belgian menu items names attest to the origins of the recipes. The featured Moules (mussels) Pots come in a choice of three styles — Classic (beer, shallots, herbs and garlic), Saffron Ginger Cream, or Portuguese Style with spicy chorizo, piquillo peppers and chives.

(Sadly, I have developed an allergy to mussels so I couldn’t try them — but I saw it was a big plate of mussels that others seemed to enjoy.)

My dining companion and I visited Monkless for lunch. We started with the Asparagus Frites appetizer. Thickly breaded and deep-fried asparagus was drizzled with Béarnaise sauce, citrus peel and a runny poached egg. The Béarnaise and citrus helped to lighten the heavy breading. Still, a few of the large asparagus spears were woody and couldn’t be chewed. Robin Clement said this dish will be switched up in the future. The new recipe will have fresh asparagus with a light sauce and lemon zest.

I followed the appetizer with the Duck and Sage Sausage. This dense, banger-sized sausage is made in-house. The sage is more pronounced in some bites than others. It is topped with bacon jam and pickled red onions to add sweet and tart that complement the sausage flavors on the thick, doughy bun. It was satisfying, sweet and savory, and I’d order it again. The sausage sandwich is served with a traditional cold Belgian Potato Salad that was adequate but didn’t have much personality of its own.

My dining companion ordered the German Onion Tart. It looked like a flatbread but tasted like a traditional Alsatian tart with a buttery, flakey crust. Pickled red onions and goat cheese with Monkless’ own mix of herbs cut the taste of the savory bacon lardon, shaved asparagus and caramelized onions. It was served with four pieces of the tart.

While the menu is the same all day, on our second visit we tried the more dinner-like entrees. I chose the Chicken Schnitzel and my dining companion had the Cauliflower Grenobloise.

The Chicken Schnitzel was prepared traditionally. Breaded chicken cutlets in a creamy sauce, made with Monkless’ house-made mustard, sat atop a pile of green herbed-cheese spaetzle (pasta) and caraway-smoked cabbage. The cheese spaetzle tasted a bit pasty on its own but when I took a forkful of schnitzel, cabbage and spaetzle, it blended the flavors nicely to become greater than the sum of its separate parts.

Cauliflower Grenobloise (meaning “of Grenoble,” a city in southeastern France) is a tasty roasted cauliflower dish. It is served in the traditional Grenobloise style, topped with brown butter, fried capers, green and purple cauliflower florets, and a runny poached egg. Slivers of candied lemon peel were used instead of fresh lemons. The result was a hint of sour and sweetness that pulled out the flavors of the capers, butter and roasted cauliflower “steak.” It is one of those excellent vegetarian entrees that make you forget there is no meat.

The desserts (“Sins” on the menu) called to us. The first was the Chocolate Mousse. The mousse was spread across the plate and sprinkled with praline chocolate crumble. It was then topped with fried Appleflappen — large chunks of deep-fried apple that are beer-battered and heavily coated in cinnamon sugar. The mousse with crumble was excellent, but I felt like I was eating two separate desserts. It was an incredibly sugary and rich dessert that made me wonder if it shouldn’t be served with a dose of insulin. We asked for a dollop of whipped cream, which I felt was an excellent complement to the otherwise rich flavors. We still had to take half of the dessert home with us.

We tried the beignets . Executive Chef Shane Smith brought the dessert to us, explaining that it’s been changed up from the ordinary beignets on the menu. It is now Ricotta Beignets made without yeast. These incredibly moist, sugar-coated pieces were drizzled with dulce de leche sauce. The ricotta helped to cut the richness of the sugar and sauce. It was delicious, and the dulce de leche was lovely and didn’t have the sugary heaviness often associated with that sauce.

Of course, Monkless serves a variety of its own Belgian-style craft beers. Flights are available for tasting. There is also a full bar. We tried their homemade hibiscus lime ginger-ale, mixed into a mule and served with an edible hibiscus flower. I can imagine sipping this on a warm afternoon on the deck overlooking the river.