Honor Bar & Monkey Bar, Highland Park Village
We love R+D and Hillstone, so Honor Bar in Highland Park Village had been on the list for a while. It’s from the same restaurant family and the DNA shows: warm room, excellent bar program, the kind of place that runs at a consistent level. After dinner we walked over to Monkey Bar above Mi Cocina for nightcaps. Two different registers, both worth knowing.
The Honor Bar
Honor Bar: 8/10
The room is the first thing — dark wood beams, backlit stone bar wall, warm lighting throughout. It’s a serious American bar that earns the comparison to Hillstone without being a copy of it. The Highland Park Village patio and string lights make the exterior one of the better approaches of any restaurant in that corridor.
The cocktail list is the opening argument. The Crush ($18 — Belvedere vodka, pressed grapes, fresh mint) and the Crisp Martini ($21 — Hendrick’s gin, St. Germain, Sauvignon Blanc, lemon juice) are the two we’d order every single week if the place were closer. Expensive for the category, but both are genuinely excellent and the prices hold up against what they deliver. The Crush in particular has the same pull as Hillstone’s version — the kind of cocktail you order again before the first is finished.
Start with the smoked trout dip ($12). Our server pushed it, and they were right — herb-flecked, well-seasoned, served cold with crackers in a cast iron dish. Hits better with a few drops of Tabasco green. Good value for what it is.
The Carolina-Style Beef Ribs ($36) are the main event — slow-cooked, mustard BBQ sauce, two bones on the plate. Only two bones is objectively a little light for $36, but the quality of the meat and the sauce makes it hard to stay annoyed about it. The coleslaw on the side is not optional. Order it even if you don’t think you want it.
Ding’s Crispy Chicken Sandwich ($21) is not a chicken sandwich in the way you’re expecting. Buttermilk fried chicken, baby Swiss, spicy slaw — it’s genuinely excellent and worth the price. Our only note: cut it into halves or quarters before it hits the table. Sharing it as-is is awkward.
Dessert: the pot de crème ($12) is the right close. Chocolate mousse, whipped cream, espresso chip crumble on top. The crunch from the espresso chips is what makes it — don’t skip it.
Monkey Bar
Monkey Bar: 7/10
Monkey Bar sits above Mi Cocina at Highland Park Village — 21+ only, dark interior, dramatic black quilted wall panels, a full back bar and a bartender who knows what they’re doing. The vibe is noticeably different from Honor Bar: louder, younger, more social. Trendy crowd, good energy, the kind of bar that has a pulse on a weeknight.
Two skinny margaritas ran $34 before tip — strong pours, genuinely good for the format. The bar is the point here, not the food. Worth knowing as the after-dinner move when you want to keep the night going without changing the zip code.
