Friday, August 23, 2019

An ‘Evolution’ in Dining – Dayton Tennessee

If you’ve been following our recent drive exploring part of Tennessee’s Cumberland Plateau, I just wanted to let you know that I decided to break up the historical photos a bit…and move to the end of the day.  

Based on feedback from friends, we decided to end our drive at a restaurant they’d visited in Dayton Tennessee.  We had been to Dayton before, but hadn’t eaten there…



The first photo shows the logo for the Monkey Town Brewing Company.  The company now owns 3 restaurants…and the logos are all different…except for the monkey in the middle.

Why the monkey symbol?  Why name the brewery The Monkey Town Brewing Company?  The reason is historical.  Dayton Tennessee is the town where in 1925, the Scopes Trial (Scopes Monkey Trial) was held.  It was all about the right to teach evolution, which was illegal in Tennessee at the time.  

Famous journalist H.L. Mencken covered the trial for the Baltimore Sun newspaper and he recruited Clarence Darrow to lead the defense team on teacher John T. Scopes’ behalf.  Lawyer, politician and 3-time Presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan was the prosecutor.  To learn more about this trial, just go to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scopes_Trial.


This is a large portion of the dining area at The Monkey Town Brewing Company.  As befitting a brewery, the room has an industrial feel to it.  We sat in a smaller area just off to the right in this photo.  It contained a few conventional square tables…my preference when dining.   


Laurie took this photo of the brewery portion of the building.  As you can see, the ‘brew master’ was hard at work!  With 15 Monkey Town beers on tap during our visit, he needed to be focused and working hard.  In addition to this restaurant, he also has to keep the beer in stock at their 2 other locations, the Euchee Grill Brewhouse in Ten Mile Tennessee and the Old Capital Public House in Kingston Tennessee.


Since we were dining in a brewery, we of course had to sample a couple of beers.  I had that tall glass of ale.  All of the beers have colorful or meaningful names.  My American blonde ale is titled “Little Miss Thang”. ($5.25) Laurie loves ‘hoppy’ beers so she chose “Evolution IPA #35”. ($5.50) Her beer was brewed with flaked oats and then double dry-hopped.  We both enjoyed our beers!

The names given Monkey Town’s beers are quite imaginative!  Some examples include: Elbows Off the Table; Hey, Danny Boy, the Pipes are Calling on Line 1; Wanna See a Magic Trick?, and; I Like My Cookies w/a Little Kareem.


On to the food… For a starter, we ordered the House-made Beer Cheese. ($6.95) We could have had it with French fries or the tortilla chips and our choice is obvious as per the photo.  We also could have asked for pita bread for a $1.00 up-charge.

For Midwesterners who crave beer cheese, we both agreed that this beer cheese was a little funky…certainly not what we would have expected.  I don’t know how to describe the flavor but at least for us, it wasn’t all that great.  I do believe that it would have been paired better with the fries or possibly pita bread.


Unfortunately, I didn’t know what the beer cheese tasted like when I ordered my entrée...and I normally love beer cheese.  Guess what I ordered!  This was the 8 oz. Beer Cheese Burger. ($11.95) The burger was topped with a slice of fried green tomato and bacon, but taste-wise I couldn’t get past the beer cheese.

The homemade potato chips were OK but nothing special.  Looking back at the menu, there were many other choices that I would have preferred.  The next time through, I’ll know what to avoid.


For only the second time in our 10 years in East Tennessee, we spotted one of our favorite fish on the menu.  Laurie ordered the New Orleans Barramundi with steamed broccoli. ($16.95) This large fish filet was blackened and served on a bed of rice, then topped with 2 grilled shrimp and topped with a Cajun Alfredo sauce.  Laurie even gave me a taste…and it was excellent!

FYI, the first time we had Barramundi was many years ago in Australia. The species is widely distributed from Northern Australia to Papua New Guinea and Southeast Asia.  It is also becoming a popular fish being raised in aquaculture…with a couple of farms even operating in the USA.  To learn more about this mild and flaky fish, you can go to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barramundi.

To summarize, dinner didn’t work out too well for me but Laurie really enjoyed her entrée.  The beer cheese was a definite negative but what the heck…different strokes for different folks.  The beer was above average and the service was fine.  The next time we dine at one of Monkey Town’s venues, I’ll simply use my previous experience to order wisely.

Monkey Town Brewing Company is located at 287 1st Avenue in Dayton Tennessee.  They are open 7 days a week for lunch and dinner.  Phone: 423-775-1800.  Website: https://monkeytownbrewing.com/index.html.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

3 comments:

  1. Seems like it would be hard to make bad beer cheese but sounds like they found a way.

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  2. Oh, how I'd love me some of that sea bass, friend David :) Always, cat.

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  3. Sorry to hear that the beer cheese didn't quite work out. I hope your next visit goes better.

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