Monarch Prime & Bar
Dec 22, 2017 10:13AM ● By Anthony Flott
First, there was a trick—flipping the space used by the two previous restaurants with the event space to call Hotel Deco XV home.
Then when the doors opened, there definitely was a treat. Lots of them, in fact. But perhaps none so tantalizing as the 60-day-aged, 45-ounce Wagyu tomahawk chop cut of beef encompassing the ribeye and filet served still on a “flintstone.” It will feed a whole table, and even at $150 its sales are brisk.
“We sell out of them every day,” says Monarch partner Ethan Bondelid. “It’s very popular.”
Just as the steakhouse is becoming in its brief tenure. “The opening has been good,” Bondelid says. “We have been slowly ramping up night by night. The reviews have been positive.”
That hasn’t come easy. Monarch occupies space in Hotel Deco (316 S. 15th St.) once filled by other tenants. Bondelid and his team along with Aparium Hotel Group reimagined the space and “flipped the whole property around.” The kitchen was completed first, earlier in 2017, to serve hotel needs.
When Monarch opened, the kitchen served up Chef Patrick Micheels’ eclectic menu focused on dry-aged “meats from the grasslands” procured through Micheels’ relationships with Midwest farmers. The tomahawk stars, of course. But there’s also a 14-day aged duck breast, a 30-day-aged, 8-ounce bison strip loin, and elk.
“The chef and his team are doing great,” Bondelid says. “Knocking it out of the park.”
From the dining room, customers can see it all aging in the finishing locker. There’s lots more to the menu, which features two pricing tiers (the tomahawk being the top level). Also available is the Monarch Burger topped with lamb bacon, short rib meatloaf, striped bass, pork shoulder, and starters, including chicken pate, potato and trout, seasonal soups, seared maitake mushrooms, and more.
Bondelid—who owns Victor Victoria, Laka Lono Rum Club, and Maven Social—helped create Berry & Rye, Wicked Rabbit, and Via Farina. He says Monarch is his most ambitious project to date.
“We’ve been working on it a long time,” he says. “It’s good to see it come to fruition.”
A real treat, you might say.
This article was printed in the January/February 2018 edition of Encounter.
