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5.14 LOUISVILLE MAGAZINE 8 3 By Mary Chellis Austin Photos by Chris Witzke The Monkey Wrench THE SPREAD D ennie Humphrey says that last year he was in a dark place, a pit. "I lost my soul; it was eating me up — this business does that to you," he says. Humphrey, the owner of the Monkey Wrench — a bar on the border between the Highlands and Germantown known for its nine-year history of all-genres-welcome live music, for Gonzofest (an annual celebration of Hunter Tomp- son) and for its tropical vacation-vibe rooftop deck — says he felt stagnant and needed a change. "Ten years ago, you could put neon signs up and you had a chance," Humphrey says, as he pours mi- mosas at the bar at noon on a Saturday — the Saturday of Tunder Over Louisville and the week before his 42nd birthday. While a menu has existed since day one, food had always been an afterthought. You'd never fnd yourself saying, "God, I'm craving a (fll-in-the-blank) from the Monkey Wrench!" Not until Hum- phrey met Dustin Staggers, 32, last fall. Staggers had been working as head chef at 60 West Bistro and Martini Bar and was running a tax-lien business, but he says that he wasn't excelling at either. Te two men, both divorced and down on their businesses, bonded over their struggles and their passion for Louisville and food. "I might have said burgoo and he said cast-iron skillets," Humphrey says of the brainstorming session that led them to a "contemporary hillbilly" concept that includes Kentucky-style dishes such as butter beans and fried chicken, a tribute to Humphrey's Hardin County heritage. Tough their focus is on the home-style menu downstairs, they unveiled a separate rooftop menu in mid-April that includes the Spanish favors of Staggers' Tampa, Fla., upbringing. "As I got older, I started to realize how similar Spanish is to Vietnamese," Staggers says. "Tey have an alarming amount of the same ingredients." Other infuences on the upstairs menu include Puerto Rican, Cuban and Japanese. "I started Googling the dishes I've created and they don't exist," Staggers says, referring to the fve-spiced lemon- grass chicken empanadas and the tamarin-and-cilantro charbroiled Dungeness crab. Staggers began visiting Louisville in 2005 or so, then decided to move here three years ago. "Every time I came, I loved it more," he tells me. Chef de cuisine Jose Ivaldy walks out from the kitchen with a spoonful of potato salad for Staggers to approve. Te crew is having a Tunder cookout later today — not at work. "Where else are the GM, owner, chef and sous chef all gone at the same time?" Staggers says, adding to his reasons for loving Louisville. "You know within four months if you're here forever," Staggers says. "My mom said, 'You're not going to come home for Tanks- giving?' I said, 'No ofense, Mom, but I am home.'" Humphrey says he's seen the demographic change since opening almost a decade ago, and that the new menu has added another dimension. "My friends now come in with high chairs and we can have a sit-down dinner," he says. "I had to rip my dorm room down and grow up." 1025 Barret Ave. 582-2433 Open Tuesday through Saturday, 4 p.m-2 a.m.; Sunday, 10 a.m.-2 a.m. "Jared (Schubert) and (the Silver Dollar's) Larry Rice completely changed this town when it comes to cocktails," Humphrey says. He recalls waiting for Schubert to make a drink at now-closed 732 Social. "I said, 'What are you doing? You're overthinking this shit. Just get me a Miller Lite,'" Humphrey says. "We met in the middle. I'm not as ignorant anymore, and he's not as prestigious." The craft drinks — bourbon and local beers downstairs and tequila, mezcal and rum upstairs — are all $7. "It's Hunter S. Thompson's The Curse of Lono," Humphrey says, comparing the vacation-style deck to the journalist's book on his Hawaiian adventures. 80-112 BACK.indd 83 4/18/14 11:31 AM