Tale of the Trout Closes After 23 Years

One of the oldest restaurants in Benton County closed in early October.

Tale of the Trout had been a family-owned restaurant since it opened in 1977. The land has belonged to the same family since 1944.

“I just got tired of it,” said Bud Bloomfield, who owned the Rogers restaurant along with his wife, Karen. “Business was just going downhill with all of the competition and everything, so we decided to retire.”

Bud Bloomfield, 64, said the influx of chain restaurants had hurt family-owned restaurants in the area.

He said the restaurant and 60 acres of property are for sale. The couple haven’t decided where they will live after selling the land.

Bloomfield moved to Benton County at age 14. He was a professional baseball player in 1963-64 for the St. Louis Cardinals and the Minnesota Twins. He moved back to the area to open Tale of the Trout.

Initially, there was a trout pond on the Rogers property, but in recent years, live trout had been shipped from a trout farm in Missouri to supply the restaurant.

Bloomfield said Benton County is less attractive to upscale restaurants than Washington County.

“We’re still in a dry county,” he said. “That screws things up. Everything goes to Fayetteville. They roll the sidewalks up here at 8 or 9 o’clock at night.”