On Thursday, the owners of Bev’s Country Kettle restaurant in Strafford, Mo., served wine and beer with its usual fare of hamburgers, pork chops and tenderloin.
This shouldn’t sound like a big deal. But it was the first time that an eating establishment in the Route 66 town had served alcohol with meals in 53 years, according to the Springfield News-Leader. Bev’s had officially acquired a liquor license, although it wasn’t without a hurdle or two.
“We opened Oct. 13 of last year, and we’ve had a lot of customers who said they wanted to have a glass of beer or wine with their meals,” Bev said.
“I said something to our city administrator about that and he said we couldn’t do it.”
A trip to City Hall got the same response.
“I’m kind of a rebel,” Bev said, laughing. “I asked to see the ordinance and they couldn’t produce one.”
With nothing to stop her, the restaurant now offers Budweiser, Coors, Michelob and Corona beers, and St. James wine from Missouri.
“We started selling this last Friday, and everybody says, ‘how did you do that?'” Bev said.
According to a city administrator contacted by the News-Leader, the last time liquor could be sold by the drink in Strafford was in 1956. It was a tavern and pool hall across the street from Bev’s on Route 66. The pool hall went out of business that year.
Apparently other businesses in town had tried to get liquor licenses in previous years, but the resulting furor by townsfolk prevented it. But the request by Bev’s didn’t result in one peep of protest. And the city council approved it by a 5-1 vote. Bev’s owners celebrated Thursday morning with a glass of pink Catawba wine.
It had always been assumed there was an ordinance against liquor-by-the-drink in Strafford until Bev’s owners challenged the city to find it. It couldn’t.
So now you can sip a brewski when you order a meal at Bev’s instead of driving to Springfield for it.
Bev’s is at 101 E. Pine St. at Madison Street, less than 100 feet from Route 66.