Excellent news for the St. Paul restaurant scene: The Commodore is coming back!

Owner John Rupp said the Cathedral Hill restaurant will go through a soft-open phase beginning Thursday, Sept. 18, at 4 p.m. During the first month or so, the Art Deco space, first opened in 1920, will serve cocktails and a snack menu. It’ll be open Thursday through Sunday nights.

In November, the space will fully reopen as a restaurant with a full dinner menu.

The Commodore has been mostly closed since the COVID pandemic, except for private events. Rupp said there’s still plenty of space available for rentals, “but now we’re going to add the open-to-the-public component.”

“When we planned this, by the way, we thought the weather would be inclement,” Rupp said, which helps draw people indoors.

But the glit

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