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St. Louis restaurants that closed for the winter are starting to reopen

Bogart’s Smokehouse reopened Tuesday after closing late last year. Southern chicken is sprucing up its restaurant and Venice Cafe is looking to reopen soon

ST. LOUIS -- Editor's note: the video at the top of the story is from September 2020.

The smokers have fired up again at one of St. Louis’ favorite barbecue joints. Bogart’s Smokehouse reopened Tuesday after closing late last year.

“Lafayette and 9th Street is the place to be today! Let’s get this re-opening party started!” the restaurant shared on Instagram with a picture of an “Open” sign out front.

The location, which is operated by the Pappy’s family of restaurants, decided to temporarily shut down last October as COVID-19 restrictions tightened and temperatures started to drop.

Southern, the fried chicken spot located next to Pappy’s in Midtown, also temporarily closed last October. The restaurant shared an update on social media back in February, showing the interior getting spruced up for a spring reopening.

READ ALSO: 'We could have gone under' | COVID-19's impact on the St. Louis food scene

Another business that decided to go into "hiberation" for the winter was Venice Café, a quirky bar and live performance venue in Benton Park. The location has posted on Facebook that it plans to reopen its garden in late April or early May. 5 On Your Side contacted Venice Café for more details. A spokesperson said the wheels are in motion to welcome back guests, but an official reopening date hasn’t been set yet.

The businesses, which are all located in the City of St. Louis, are reopening to COVID-19 restrictions that are similar to what they were when they closed. The city continues to have a 50% capacity limit for indoor dining. St. Louis County reverted back to an indoor dining ban last November before slowly reopening back to its current 50% limit.

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