{{Short description|Bar and restaurant in Columbia, Missouri, U.S.}} {{good article}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}} {{Infobox company | name = Booches | logo = | image = File:Booches1.jpg | image_alt = Front door and windows of the venue at night after closing time, with a black-and-white 'Booches' sign, and a view of the tables and bar inside. | image_caption = The front of Booches | type = Private | industry = Restaurant, retail | products = Bar, restaurant, pool hall | founded = {{start date and age|1884}} | founder = Paul Blucher "Booch" Venable | defunct = <!-- {{End date|YYYY|MM|DD}} --> | hq_location_city = Columbia, Missouri | hq_location_country = United States | area_served = <!-- or: | areas_served = --> | website = <!-- {{URL|example.com}} --> | embed = {{Infobox restaurant | mapframe = yes |coordinates = {{Coord|38|57|0.82|N|92|19|38|W}}}} }} [[File:Booches pool tables.jpg|thumb|229px|alt=A long view of four of the pool tables at booches, some covered, and one with two players having a game; fluorescent lights and scoring strings hang above the tables.|Pool tables at Booches]] '''Booches''' is a bar, restaurant, and pool hall on 9th Street in downtown Columbia, Missouri. Established in 1884, it is the oldest pool hall in Columbia. It is located near the University of Missouri and has traditionally been frequented by college students. In 2016, Booches was inducted into the Boone County Hall of Fame by the Boone County Historical Society.
The hamburgers that the restaurant produced were listed in ''USA Today'' as one of the best in the country in 2000. They were also praised by the publication again in 2005 and by ''Sports Illustrated'' in 2019.
==Overview== Booches, established in 1884,<ref>{{cite magazine | last=Staples | first=Andy | title=Ranking America's best college town meals | magazine=Sports Illustrated | date=August 9, 2017 | url=https://www.si.com/eats/2017/08/09/best-college-town-meals | access-date=November 7, 2017}}</ref><ref name="CBTimes 2008">{{cite web | author=Jarzemsky, Matt | title=Pool hall popularity change over generations | website=Columbia Business Times | date=April 18, 2008 | url=http://columbiabusinesstimes.com/2008/04/18/pool-hall-popularity-change-over-generations/ | access-date=November 7, 2017 | archive-date=November 8, 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171108035621/http://columbiabusinesstimes.com/2008/04/18/pool-hall-popularity-change-over-generations/ | url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="Simonds 2004"/> has had six locations in downtown Columbia. Since 1928 it has been on 18th and has been on 9th Street.<ref name="McKinney 2016">{{cite web |author=McKinney |first=Roger |date=October 14, 2016 |title=Karen Miller announces initiative to digitize Boone County historical photo negatives |url=https://www.columbiatribune.com/story/news/local/2016/10/07/karen-miller-announces-initiative-to/21796521007/ |access-date=January 9, 2025 |website=Columbia Daily Tribune}}</ref> It is the oldest pool hall in Columbia and has full-sized pool, snooker, and three cushion billiards tables.<ref name="CBTimes 2008"/><ref name="Stern Stern 2017"/><ref name="Pham 2012"/> Booches serves food, as its hamburgers, which are served on wax paper, were listed in a 2000 report in ''USA Today'' as one of the best 25 in the United States.{{refn|<ref name="Stern Stern 2017">{{cite book | last1=Stern | first1=J. | last2=Stern | first2=M. | title=Roadfood, 10th Edition: An Eater's Guide to More Than 1,000 of the Best Local Hot Spots and Hidden Gems Across America | publisher=Potter/TenSpeed/Harmony | year=2017 | isbn=978-0-451-49620-1 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tVBcDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA296 | access-date=November 7, 2017 | page=296}}</ref><ref name="Pham 2012">{{cite web | author=Pham, Scott | title=Booches' Famous Burgers Seek New Buns After Hostess Plant Closes | publisher=NPR | date=November 30, 2012 | url=https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2012/11/30/166227679/booches-famous-burgers-seek-new-buns-after-hostess-plant-closes | access-date=November 7, 2017}}</ref><ref name="Melville 2012">{{cite web | last=Melville | first=Greg | title=Where Can I Find America's Best Hamburgers? | website=Outside | date=May 10, 2012 | url=https://www.outsideonline.com/1782186/where-can-i-find-americas-best-hamburgers | access-date=November 8, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | last=Styron | first=Emery | title=The August eclipse is the 'most spectacular thing you'll ever see,' especially in Missouri | website=Los Angeles Times | date=March 19, 2017 | url=http://www.latimes.com/travel/la-tr-eclipse-missouri-20170319-story.html | access-date=November 7, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | last=Hochman | first=Benjamin | title=Hochman: Mizzou's Houck might be nation's best college pitcher | website=St. Louis Post-Dispatch | date=16 February 2017 | url=http://www.stltoday.com/sports/columns/benjamin-hochman/hochman-mizzou-s-houck-might-be-nation-s-best-college/article_5a97f77c-5bfe-5d29-956e-9910e519596e.html | access-date=November 7, 2017}}</ref>}} In 2005, Jerry Shriver of ''USA Today'' included Booches' hamburger on the list of top 25 dishes from his "Down-home Dining" project.<ref>{{cite web | last=Shriver | first=Jerry | title=Belly-up to the table for the finest fare around the world | website=USA Today | date=December 22, 2005 | url=https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/travel/destinations/2005-12-22-travel-review-food_x.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121010001653/https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/travel/destinations/2005-12-22-travel-review-food_x.htm |archive-date=October 10, 2012| access-date=November 7, 2017}}</ref> In 2019, Joan Niesen and Laken Litman of ''Sports Illustrated'' named Booches' hamburgers as the "#1 Greatest College Town Eats" in the nation.<ref>{{cite magazine | last=Niesen | first=Joan | title=The Greatest College Town Eats | magazine=Sports Illustrated | date=August 12, 2019 | url=https://www.si.com/eats/2019/college-football-best-college-town-food | access-date=August 14, 2019}}</ref>
Booches is named after its founder, Paul Blucher Venable, who was nicknamed "Booch" as a child by writer Eugene Field.<ref name="Missouri 2014">{{cite book | title=Columbia | publisher=Arcadia Publishing | series=Images of America Series | year=2014 | isbn=978-1-4671-1300-7 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=04EvBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA92 | access-date=November 7, 2017 | page=92}}</ref><ref name="Redohl 2013">{{cite web | last=Redohl | first=Sarah | title=Entertainment through the Ages | website=Columbia Business Times | date=August 7, 2013 | url=http://columbiabusinesstimes.com/2013/08/07/entertainment-through-the-ages/ | access-date=November 8, 2017 | archive-date=November 9, 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171109022630/http://columbiabusinesstimes.com/2013/08/07/entertainment-through-the-ages/ | url-status=dead }}</ref> Opened as a male-only establishment,<ref name="Pham 2012"/><ref name="Redohl 2013"/> during the times of racial segregation in the United States, the establishment would not serve African Americans.<ref>{{cite web|author=McKinney, Roger |date=December 20, 2016 |url=https://www.columbiatribune.com/story/news/education/2016/12/20/97-year-old-columbia-world/21841414007/ |title=97-year-old Columbia World War II veteran to receive diploma from Douglass High School |publisher=Columbia Daily Tribune|access-date=November 8, 2017}}</ref><ref name="main">{{Cite web |last=S |first=Taylor |date=July 31, 2015 |title=Booches: Best burger on wax |url=https://www.rockmnation.com/2015/7/31/9077859/booches-columbia-burgers-since-1884 |access-date=January 9, 2025 |website=Rock M Nation |url-status=live |archive-date=July 7, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240707232248/https://www.rockmnation.com/2015/7/31/9077859/booches-columbia-burgers-since-1884}}</ref> By the 1970s it would serve both, and the venue gained a liquor license in 1982.<ref name="Pham 2012"/><ref name="Redohl 2013"/>
During the mid to late 1970s, the then-owners of Booches edited and published four issues of the ''Review la Booche'', a nationally published literary journal.<ref name="Braden 2016">{{cite web | last=Braden | first=Jonathon | title=Fire claims life of former Booches co-owner | website=Columbia Daily Tribune | date=October 14, 2016 | url=http://www.columbiatribune.com/article/20100115/News/301159678 | access-date=November 7, 2017}}</ref><ref>[https://library.ucsd.edu/speccoll/findingaids/mss0002.html "David Ignatow Papers, 1929 - 1994"]. University of California, San Diego library. Retrieved November 8, 2017.</ref> The journal featured poetry, prose, sketches, and photographs by John Ciardi, William Stafford, Elton Glaser, Frank Stack, and Richard Eberhart, along with local and regional contributors. The review was revived in 1990 for a fifth and final issue.<ref name="Braden 2016"/>
Booches is located close to the University of Missouri,<ref>{{cite book | title=The Best of photojournalism | publisher=National Press Photographers Association | series=Best of Photojournalism Series | issue=v. 11 | year=1987 | isbn=978-0-89471-470-2 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VLg4AQAAIAAJ | access-date=November 7, 2017 | page=233}}</ref> and it has traditionally been used by University of Missouri and St. Louis Cardinals sports fans.<ref name="Simonds 2004">{{cite book | last=Simonds | first=D. | title=Best Food in Town: The Restaurant Lover's Guide to Comfort Food in the Midwest | publisher=Clerisy Press | year=2004 | isbn=978-1-57860-146-2 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s2zOx6V1QeMC&pg=PA128 | access-date=November 7, 2017 | page=128}}</ref><ref name="Missouri 2014"/><ref>{{cite book | title=The Savitar | publisher=E. W. Stephens. | year=1922 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H0fOAAAAMAAJ | access-date=November 7, 2017 | page=535}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | title=The Military Engineer | publisher=Society of American Military Engineers. | issue=v. 47-48 | year=1955 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n2UjAQAAMAAJ | access-date=November 7, 2017 | page=368}}</ref> It has been described by some in contemporary times as a dive bar and a melting pot.<ref name="Melville 2012"/><ref>{{cite web | last=Stark | first=Erika | title=Walther says mayoral bid is a response to problems he believes he can solve | website=Columbia Missourian | date=March 23, 2016 | url=https://www.columbiamissourian.com/news/elections/walther-says-mayoral-bid-is-a-response-to-problems-he/article_1b834eae-efbf-11e5-99a8-476f1ec88767.html | access-date=November 8, 2017}}</ref> Booches was inducted into the Boone County Historical Society Hall of Fame at the Walters-Boone County Historical Museum in 2016.<ref name="Sanderson 2016">{{cite web | last=Sanderson | first=Shane | title=Booche's Billiards, Hank Waters and Frank Graham to enter Boone County Hall of Fame | website=Columbia Missourian | date=March 29, 2016 | url=https://www.columbiamissourian.com/news/local/booche-s-billiards-hank-waters-and-frank-graham-to-enter/article_016d2158-f5e5-11e5-ac60-a71614d9f618.html | access-date=November 8, 2017}}</ref>
==In popular culture== Booches was included in the film ''Norm'', which aired on ESPN's SEC Network.<ref name="Walljasper 2016">{{cite web | author=Walljasper, Joe | title="Norm" draws nostalgic fans to Mizzou Arena | website=Columbia Daily Tribune | date=October 14, 2016 | url=http://www.columbiatribune.com/3d48cd22-44f5-563c-a1d6-99711b246e81.html | access-date=November 8, 2017}}</ref><ref name="Lewis 2017">{{cite web | last=Lewis | first=Alec | title=SEC Storied film 'Norm' airs Sunday Night on SEC Network | website=The Maneater | date=November 8, 2017 | url=http://www.themaneater.com/stories/2016/5/1/sec-storied-film-norm-airs-sunday-night-sec-networ/ | access-date=November 8, 2017 | archive-date=November 8, 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171108220444/http://www.themaneater.com/stories/2016/5/1/sec-storied-film-norm-airs-sunday-night-sec-networ/ | url-status=dead }}</ref> ''Norm'' depicted the career of the former University of Missouri basketball coach Norm Stewart, who was a regular patron of the establishment.<ref name="Walljasper 2016"/><ref name="Lewis 2017"/>
==See also== * List of bars * List of hamburger restaurants
==References== {{reflist|30em}}
==External links== * {{commons category-inline}} {{Portal bar|Companies|Cue sports|Food|History|United States}}
{{Coord|38.95017|-92.32741|format=dms|display=title|type:landmark_region:US-MO}}
Category:1884 establishments in Missouri Category:Bars (establishments) Category:Billiard halls Category:Buildings and structures in Columbia, Missouri Category:Hamburger restaurants in the United States Category:Restaurants established in 1884 Category:Restaurants in Columbia, Missouri Category:Drinking establishments in Missouri