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By Max Jaeger
Brooklyn Daily
One more year and this bar can buy a beer.
The Wicked Monk in Bay Ridge celebrated its 20th anniversary on June 27. Locals and Monk stalwarts from as far away as New Jersey and Connecticut gathered at the venerable watering hole to toast to the Third Avenue establishment.
“It was great meeting up with everybody we haven’t seen in a while,” said Ann Marie Marino, who was a regular at the pub’s original Fifth Avenue location before moving to New Jersey.
The less-than-penitant pub originally served suds on Fifth Avenue near 84th street, but it moved to Third Avenue near 95th Street in 2012 — along with its eponymous ceiling mural. The monastery of moonshine got all gussied up and started serving a modern twist on classic pub fare, said executive chef Russell Titland.
Monk’s order grew as food started drawing in a wider clientele.
“If you don’t have food, you’re a dive bar,” said Daniel Hallahan, a bartender there for six years. “Now we have baby showers sometimes.”
He also attributed the tavern’s draw to its friendly service.
“We don’t have intimidating bouncers,” said Hallahan, who has some experience working a door. “We have good guys, and they are socialable.”
But for at least a night, the monastic order gave way to riotous debauchery, another regular said.
“It was mobbed,” said David DiBello.