The Merry Monk

Table Hopping Eat, drink and be candid By Steve Barnes | E-mail | About Table Hopping Belgian bar coming to coner of North Pearl and Sheridan November 8, 2011 at 9:40 am by Steve Barnes, senior writer A bar and restaurant featuring Belgian beer is being developed at the corner of North Pearl Street and Sheridan Avenue in downtown Albany. Called The Merry Monk, the business is projected to open “within a couple weeks,” according to its Facebook page. The name, photos showing beer signs and management comments on Facebook indicate beer will include Belgian and Belgian-style brews such as Duvel, Orval, La Chouffe and Ommegang. The building is owned by Konstantinos Moutopoulos and his brother Steven but is apparently being operated under a management agreement by someone else. The corner location — in years past an annex of the former Big House and later a deli — was an ill-fated bar called The Assembly that the brothersshuttered after five months last year when it became a rowdy college joint. An even shorter-lived attempt, called Corner Bar, folded after five weeks earlier this year after its managers, who also own Blue 82, walked away because of differences with the Moutopouloses.