Longtime Belleville restaurant closing; new craft burger shop to open in O'Fallon

After 58 years in Belleville, the Arbor Room at Bel-Air Bowl will close its doors later this month. The bowling center opened as Panorama in 1960 with the Arbor as its bar.

Nancy Chase, marketing director for the bowling center, said the bar and restaurant will be transformed into something else later this year, but it’s too soon to announce future plans for the historic space.

The restaurant, with stained-glass features, burgundy decor and a home-style menu, will close May 25.

More than 30 years ago, the Arbor Room was a disco in the 1980s. Before that, it was one of the first places in the metro-east where the lunch crowd could find a soup and salad bar.

“When the soup and salad bar opened they kicked it off by sending a bus around the Belleville Square to collect people from downtown and bring them to the Arbor,” Chase said. “In 1978, Frank Booker (the past owner) saw a new concept in St. Louis, the soup and salad bar.”

Regulars at the Arbor Room still enjoy the restaurant, but the Arbor Room doesn’t draw big crowds anymore unless a private event is being held there. The restaurant stopped serving dinner some time ago.

More people are choosing to dine in downtown Belleville as the restaurant scene grows, Chase said.

The Arbor Room still serves lunch with fried chicken, shrimp baskets, tacos, and chicken and dumplings on the menu. The restaurant will continue to serve popular items like tacos at the snack bar. There’s also a new bar in the bowling center where patrons can order drinks and play darts. That bar opened six months ago. The Arbor Room will still be available for rent through the end of the summer.

This popular St. Louis burger joint plans on opening a new location in O'Fallon

The food scene in O’Fallon will get a big boost when the Sugarfire Smoke House brand opens a new craft burger joint in the metro-east.

Hi-Pointe Drive-In, a sister restaurant to the nationally recognized St. Louis barbecue operation, plans to open a second location in O’Fallon, according to spokeswoman Megan Brown of Green Olive Media.

“The menu has something for folks of many walks of life from our creative burgers, sandwiches, and shakes, to healthy salads and a menu for the little ones,” the restaurant’s website states.

From classic burgers ($5.50) and veggie options to grilled cheese tacos ($8.50), Cuban ($9) and spicy Italian sandwiches ($8.50), the menu offers a variety of options.

Hi-Pointe Drive-In made a splash when it opened its first location on McCausland Avenue in St. Louis. Brown said details about the new O’Fallon location are forthcoming.

The burger joint will be the second member of the Sugarfire brand to open in O’Fallon. Sugarfire 64 opened April 30 at 1405 Green Mount Road.

Where can you find the new location? That information is yet to be released, but the restaurant is expected to be completed by December, according to St. Louis Magazine.

This downtown Belleville shop is moving

Curt Smith's Outdoors Shop in downtown Belleville will consolidate and move into the company’s flagship location at 213 E. Main St. later this month.

Listed for $199,000, the outdoors shop at 13 N. Church St. will close May 21 to move its inventory to the sporting goods shop, according to a sign posted on the front door.

Heartland Commercial Real Estate in Columbia will handle the sale. About 7,064 square feet are up for grabs. Half of the store is retail and showroom space, and the other half is industrial and warehouse space, according to the listing.

Curt Smith’s isn’t the first retail store in downtown Belleville to consolidate. Ben’s, the largest retailer in downtown Belleville, wants to sell a portion of its storefront. The locally-owned store on East Main Street recently put two parts of the store — 116 and 120 E. Main St. — on the market for $450,000.

Real estate firm, Barber Murphy Group, will handle the Ben's sale.

For more information about Curt Smith's move, call 618-509-5905.

This story was originally published May 18, 2018 at 11:18 AM with the headline "Longtime Belleville restaurant closing; new craft burger shop to open in O'Fallon."