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Mid Rivers Newsmagazine is St. Charles County's
exclusive direct-mailed community newspaper. |
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Mid Rivers Newsmagazine Restaurant Spotlight Archive |
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American Legion Offers Old-Style Charm For AllBy Mary Ann O'Toole Holley
Don’t be fooled by its quaint, clapboard exterior, metal awnings or the block letters that stretch across the bottom of its gable. The American Legion Post 313 along Main Street in Old St. Peters is not a private club. A legend in its own right, the American Legion, serves up old-fashioned hospitality, mom’s-home-cookin’ lunches and perennial Friday night fish frys — all with a smile and a hello, greeting guests as though they were part of the family. Proprietors Kenny Ziegemeier (from the renowned list of St. Peters’ most eligible bachelors) and Alma Probst aren’t the least bit pretentious, and customers seem no different. It’s one of those places for regular folk who know that a beer is a beer and it doesn’t matter what brand. Bud, Busch, Pabst, Miller, and if you want to get fancy, Michelob, is served from the old wooden bar. Mixed drinks are available, and one can dine from the bar or the nicely tended dining room. It doesn’t matter to Kenny or Alma. At Post 313 it just matters if you’re comfortable. “We have what we call ‘homemade food.’ We make our own batter for the fish, make our own slaw the same day, and have done it the same way for many years,” Alma says. “Before they built the (Midrivers) mall we were three-deep at lunchtime. Used to be you could tell what time of the day it was depending on who was in here.” The American Legion Post 313 was born as a social club in the 1940s, when servicemen and the first American Legion Commander of Post 313, Clem Tegethoff, returned from World War II. Now, the Legion still meets, but the bar and restaurant is open to the public, drawing no-nonsense community types who sit and chat and suck up the suds. The building has been there since the 1870s, says Kenny. Nobody really knows what it was before, but The Legion made its home there during the 1940s. Kenny is proud to say they were the only bar and dining hall around in those parts until the Knights of Columbus moved in up the street during the late 1960s. “There was a time when people were lined up out the door to get in here to eat,” said Alma. “People come and go, and we used to be really full until some of the old timers passed. Before Midrivers Drive built up, we’d do 150 steaks a night.” The American Legion bar and restaurant may be shamefully unknown to most newcomers in St. Peters and surrounding areas, but Alma and Kenny are hoping to bring the old buzz back into the business. The bar opens at 10 a.m. daily and closes when the law tells them to. Lunch is served up Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. with old-fashioned comfort food specials like chicken fried steak plates with two vegetables ($6.72 including tax), polish sausage and sauerkraut or open face roast beef plate lunches with homemade gravy, mashed potatoes, bread and a choice of things like green beans, corn, slaw or applesauce. Go for the plate lunch or you can get the entrée on a sandwich, Kenny says. The biggest seller is the catfish fillet, a homemade, hand-battered taste-treat that customers rave about. Friday fish frys (with chicken as well) are a staple at the American Legion bar and restaurant. Order catfish, cod, and even a whole cat, battered to perfection with bones intact. Each sells for around $8.25 to $9.75, depending on what you’re in the mood for. “Old Town St. Peters used to be a booming town,” says Kenny, born and raised in the area before it was called “old.” “It was a small town for a long, long time. In fact we didn’t get beer here until 1972 because the population had to reach 500 people.” Alma and Kenny run the bar and restaurant, and log in weddings and receptions, and private parties in the room upstairs, but above all, they’re charming and witty and ready to keep the customers happy. “We used to ship catfish to customers who would drop in from New York. We had people from Hawaii come here because they were told we serve the best fish in the city. People would stand out the door,” Kenny said. “I think if people give us a try, it will be that way again someday.”
American Legion Post 313 Bar and Restaurant 200 Main Street - Old Town St. Peters To find The American Legion Bar and Restaurant, take Midrivers Mall Drive north (across the Hwy. 70 overpass). Turn left and find Post 313 just across from the Farmer’s Co-Op Grain Elevator.
Open 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Monday-Friday Happy hour with $2 longnecks from 4 to 6 p.m. Carryout available by calling 636-279-9540 |
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