Photo by George Mahe
Photo by George Mahe
One of mid-county’s oldest and most storied bar and grills closed over the weekend. The last service at Cousin Hugo’s Bar & Grill, located at 3233 Laclede Station Road, was Saturday night. A sign on the door reads, "closed due to COVID!"
According to the restaurant's website, Hugo Weston acquired the property in 1938. Back then, Maplewood was one of the few local municipalities where alcohol sales were permitted, so the location was ideal for a bar and grill. At the time, there was a clerk at Katz’s drugstore (located at nearby Sutton and Manchester) who would dispense pints of its "Special Medicine." Weston hired the clerk (who happened to be his nephew), and when he encountered former drug-store customers in the restaurant, he’d introduce Weston as “my cousin Hugo.” The name stuck.
Tommy Bahn, a former manager at Balaban’s in the Central West End and a longtime Hugo’s customer, bought the business in 1988 and has operated it ever since. Chef Matt Birkenmeier, who worked at Hugo’s from 1996 to 2006, says of Bahn in this article, "He came from a fine dining background and became my mentor, schooling me in the hospitality part of the business, none of which I knew. He taught me to be me, to just do what I do.”
After the mandatory shutdown in March, Bahn reopened Hugo's for takeout and delivery a few months later, then reopened the dining room July 10.
Courtesy Cousin Hugo's
Like any respectable neighborhood establishment, Hugo’s was known for its cold beer, chicken wings, homemade salad dressings, and cheeseburgers. (For years and until fairly recently, its longtime lunch special—a grilled cheeseburger; chips, fries, or onion rings; and a drink—was only $6.99.)
Courtesy Cousin Hugo's
Inside Hugo’s, the lights were always dimmed, the air conditioner always cranked low, and, for a decades-old business, the interior was immaculate. There were hoards of regulars. A comment on Yelp summed it up: “If you want to feel like Norm from Cheers and you are old enough to know who Norm was, then this place is for you.”
Standing outside the kitchen door this morning, one staffer shook her head and said, “I wish there was something that could have been done. We were doing fine. This was all due to COVID.”
Reached this afternoon, Bahn said that sales at the restaurant had increased every single year, until this one. "The business was still viable, but my lease was up," the 65-year-old said. "It was a good time to hit pause, although I'm not planning on hanging up my spurs in this industry just yet.
"Cousin Hugo's has been a social house for decades," he adds, "and it should always remain exactly where it's standing."
This article has been updated with comments from owner Tommy Bahn.
