{"id":25244,"date":"2026-09-22T09:28:27","date_gmt":"2026-09-22T09:28:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/25244\/"},"modified":"2026-09-22T09:28:27","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T09:28:27","slug":"review-the-commodore-in-st-paul","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/25244\/","title":{"rendered":"REVIEW: The Commodore in St. Paul"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Long before it reopened its doors, The Commodore had already secured its place in St. Paul\u2019s cultural mythology. Opened in 1920 at the start of Prohibition, the former hotel became a gathering place shaped as much by what happened behind closed doors as what happened above them\u2014drawing literary figures, local power players, and the kind of stories that blur fact and legend. After a five-year hiatus, the Commodore returned to the capital city in September 2025.<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" size-full wp-image-761879\" src=\"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/DSC_9971-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\"  \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"credits\">Photo by Victoria Campbell<\/p>\n<p>What\u2019s the Vibe?<br \/>Step inside The Commodore and you\u2019re immediately transported\u2014low lighting, mirrored walls, and that unmistakable art-deco glow. It feels like a place where stories linger, and not just metaphorically\u2014this is where F. Scott Fitzgerald once drank, wrote, and lived in his own mythology. The main bar, in particular, is the star: intimate, cinematic, and quietly glamorous in a way that feels rare in the Twin Cities right now.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-761873\" src=\"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Screenshot-2026-05-05-at-9.45.40\u202fAM.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1084\" height=\"912\"\/>Art deco bar at The Commodore<\/p>\n<p class=\"credits\">Photo by Alesha Taylor<\/p>\n<p>What\u2019s Cooking?<br \/>The menu leans classic with a slightly elevated touch. The Caesar salad is exactly what you\u2019d expect\u2014straightforward and familiar\u2014while the 9-ounce sirloin, served with confit fingerling potatoes, asparagus, and lemon garlic oil, was cooked perfectly. On my visit, the kitchen was in the midst of a chef transition, so the experience may not fully reflect what\u2019s ahead. Still, the direction feels intentional: approachable dishes designed to complement, not compete with, the setting. This is a place you come for a cocktail first\u2014ideally something Fitzgerald-adjacent\u2014then let the rest of the night unfold from there.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-761882\" src=\"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Screenshot-2026-05-05-at-9.50.03\u202fAM.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1032\" height=\"1406\"\/>Author F. Scott Fitzgerald<\/p>\n<p class=\"credits\">Photo by Alesha Taylor<\/p>\n<p>Where It\u2019s At?<br \/>Tucked into Cathedral Hill in St. Paul, The Commodore sits inside the former Commodore Hotel\u2014one of the city\u2019s last remaining Jazz Age holdouts. Opened in 1920 during a time of sweeping change\u2014Prohibition, shifting social norms, and the rise of St. Paul\u2019s grand institutions\u2014the hotel quickly became part of the neighborhood\u2019s social fabric. When alcohol was banned, the bar closed\u2014but like many places of the era, a speakeasy quietly took its place below ground, drawing a mix of locals, alleged mobsters, and literary figures. That layered history still lingers in the space today, not in a heavy-handed way, but in the details\u2014the architecture, the mood, and the sense that this space has seen a lot.<\/p>\n<p>The Commodore, 79 Western Ave. N., St. Paul, thecommodorebar.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Long before it reopened its doors, The Commodore had already secured its place in St. Paul\u2019s cultural mythology. Opened in 1920 at the start of Prohibition, the former hotel became a gathering place shaped as much by what happened behind closed doors as what happened above them\u2014drawing literary figures, local power players, and the kind<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25245,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[71,4075,4073,4071,4074,4072,2304],"class_list":["post-25244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-minnesota","tag-food","tag-minnesota","tag-minnesota-dining","tag-minnesota-food","tag-minnesota-grocery-stores","tag-minnesota-restaurant","tag-restaurant-reviews"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/vive.im\/@dc\/117313988499029248","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25244\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}