One of the things I love best about the St. Paul dining scene is the number of historic restaurants.
Nothing makes me happier than visiting a building that’s been around for a century or more and is still bustling with activity.
For this week’s Dining Diary, I hit up two of my favorite old spaces (both of which, coincidentally, are rumored to be haunted) with friends and family.
Happy spooky season! Make your reservations for these fantastic restaurants soon!
The Lexington
This Grand Avenue restaurant, which just celebrated its 90th anniversary with a fun party for friends and neighbors, has long been rumored to be haunted.
A customer enters the front door at the Lexington Restaurant on Grand Avenue in St. Paul on Tuesday, May 2, 2017. (Ginger Pinson / Pioneer Press)
In fact, when I took a little behind-the-scenes tour recently with COO and General Manager Craig Ritacco, he offered stories about ghost children playing under the tables in the upstairs event space and feeling someone touch his shoulder in one of the underground storage rooms (of course, no one living was in the room with him at the time).
Anecdotes like this abound among workers at the restaurant, which was founded in 1935, replacing other businesses that had occupied the space since it was constructed in 1911.
I hadn’t dined at this iconic spot for a while, and since there’s a new guy in charge of the kitchen — welcome, chef Lawrence Kirkland! — I thought a visit was a great idea.
So did one of my oldest friends, so we hit up a corner booth in the gorgeous original dining room and shared some laughs, some tears, some wine and a couple of spectacular dishes.
My friend has a medical problem with gluten, as seems to be increasingly true among my friends and family, so this was also a good test for my gluten-free readers.
We started with the shrimp cocktail, which in the wrong hands means bland, cold shrimp and an uninspired dipping sauce. Kirkland’s version is pretty much the opposite of that. Perfectly springy shrimp, topped with flavorful cumin seeds, thinly sliced red onion and cilantro are served with a sweet/spicy cocktail sauce (called atomic sauce on the menu) that is positively slurpable on its own, but even better when paired with the roasted jalapeno slices it’s topped with.
Steak Diane at The Lexington in St. Paul, pictured in September of 2025. (Jess Fleming / Pioneer Press)
I was in the mood for steak, and was happy to learn that the sauce with The Lex’s Steak Diane is gluten-free. It also happens to come from my favorite underrated cut of beef, the teres major, or petite tender. And the creamy, mustardy sauce and deep, dark mushrooms that it comes with are absolutely divine.
My friend ordered the scallops, and though they are not hard to cook — quick sear, flip, cook until done — they are often over-cooked and rubbery. Not here, though. Perfect, slightly crisp sear, melt-in-your-mouth tender. And the grapefruit butter they are bathed in? Genius.
In conclusion? Get yourself an October reservation and celebrate spooky season in style.
The Lexington: 1096 Grand Ave., St. Paul; 651-289-4990; thelexmn.com
Forepaugh’s
The burger at Forepaugh’s in St. Paul, pictured in September 2025. (Jess Fleming / Pioneer Press)
I had been promising my youngest son, who is a huge fan of a cheffy burger, that we’d go to “the haunted mansion with the great burger” for many months, and I finally pulled the trigger.
Workers continue renovations to ready Forepaugh’s Restaurant in St. Paul for a planned early August reopening on Tuesday, July 23, 2024. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
He was fascinated by the history of this newly (and beautifully) renovated restaurant, in the mansion built by Joseph Forepaugh in 1870. I told him about Forepaugh’s rumored affair with Molly, one of his servants, who died in the mansion. Her spirit is said to roam the three floors of dining space, especially the third.
Ghost stories are nice and all, but how was dinner?
It was great! Both of my sons ordered the burger, a double-smash that consists of wagyu brisket and chuck patties that are crisp outside and juicy in. The restaurant now includes its excellent skinny fries with the $20 burger, which might seem expensive until you look at burger prices at some of the other high-end restaurants in the Twin Cities. I guess this is just the way of the world now.
Shellfish Rigatoni at Forepaugh’s in St. Paul, pictured in September 2025. (Jess Fleming / Pioneer Press)
My husband’s shellfish rigatoni was black, just like the paint job on the mansion, made so by squid ink. The shrimp, calamari, clams and mussels were all fresh and cooked perfectly, and the spicy tomato sauce took things up a level.
I was in a comfort-food mood, so I went with the mafalde bolognese, which is long, curly-edged noodles topped with a creamy, meaty sauce that absolutely hit the spot.
If you’re an oenophile, you already know that the wine list here is excellent, as is the craft cocktail list, so if you’re looking for a cool bar to take a date or a friend, Forepaugh’s is great for that, too. And I hope you see Molly, or even Joseph himself, who has been said to roam the dining room in period garb.
Forepaugh’s: 276 S. Exchange St., St. Paul; 651-666-3636; forepaughs.com
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