Monk’s Cafe, the venerable Belgian bar in Center City, closes temporarily

Enjoying a steaming bowl of Belgian-style mussels and a rare beer on a frigid night just won’t be possible this winter at Monk’s Café in Center City, whose owners have chosen to “mothball” the restaurant for several months, effective immediately.

“Cold weather is rolling in and – even though we have gone above and beyond what is required – we just don’t feel it’s wise or safe enough to welcome guests indoors as our only seating option,” Tom Peters and Bernadette Roe said in a statement to The Inquirer.

Monk’s, which opened in 1997 at 264 S. 16th St., had been open for indoor dining, its rooms outfitted with air-filtration units equipped with a charcoal filter, a HEPA filter, and a UV-C light, as well as outside dining in a streetery.

But with COVID-19 cases rising rapidly in Philadelphia, they said, “we love our Monk’s family too much to put them at risk.”

“The lack of a national plan to deal with this pandemic makes it impossible to continue operating in good conscience while cases are spiking throughout the country," they wrote. Operating as takeout only is “not viable."

Peters and Roe are looking to reopen “as soon as we feel that it is safe for all of us to gather indoors or perhaps in March 2021, if the weather cooperates.”

Monk’s beer inventory, which always includes rarities, will be sold; notice will be posted to social media.