Beffa's Retakes Its Kitchen, Pivots to 'Elevated Family Sports Bar' Fare

The landmark St. Louis bar and restaurant has parted ways with Honey Bee's

Jan 4, 2024 at 6:00 am

Beffa's sits in the shadow of Wells Fargo's office complex in Midtown St. Louis. JOHN SCHOEMEHL

The Midtown restaurant and bar Beffa's (2700 Olive Street) announced yesterday that it has retaken control of its kitchen. In doing so, it is parting ways with Honey Bee's Midtown, a biscuit-focused daytime spot that took up residence in the Beffa's kitchen in October.

Beffa's announced the move on its Facebook page.

"This was not an easy decision and it does not mean brunch can’t come back eventually," the post read. "However, over the years we have lost sight of our goals and who we want to be as an establishment. The focus will be more on the bar side of things with a quality food menu to compliment. Our vision was to be an elevated family sports bar and we hope to make that vision come true in 2024."

Owner Paul Beffa tells the RFT that the new menu will include pizzas from a partnership with Uncle Leo's, smash burgers and wraps. He says that the guiding principle was items that would go well with the bar side of the Beffa's equation.

Beffa himself will be retaking charge of the kitchen, with help from a few part-time staffers.

"I'm trying to scale back and make it more manageable than it was last time that I was running the kitchen," he says, adding that he's open to "exploring other businesses coming in and running the kitchen for us."

The change is effectively immediately, and Beffa says he hopes to post an updated menu later this week. The establishment is serving its new menu from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.

As to the reason for the change, Beffa says, "It was worth a try, but it just didn't pan out. So [we're] going back to our roots and back to the grind."