Forepaugh’s opens this week: Inside the restaurant’s $1 million restoration

It started with an alarm. There was another middle-of-the-night break-in at the vacant building near downtown St. Paul. Forepaugh’s had become a magnet for late-night lurkers.

The historic mansion was once a crown jewel of the Irvine Park neighborhood, a clutch of stately old homes that are still referred to by the last names of the business barons who commissioned them, ordering ornate woodwork, imported stone fireplaces and details that inspire observers to cluck, “They just don’t make ‘em like that anymore.”

The house built by Joseph Forepaugh holds all that and more: the allure of ghost stories and tragedy. The alarm that night was a familiar sound to Bruce Taher, who owns the house. “It had become a bit of a magnet,” he said. “You know, there are people who come through who don’t have homes and just want to be warm. Or just want to tell ghost stories.”

But this late-night visit to the house, in late 2022, was different. Taher arrived to a broken window and noticed the grand Victorian mansion sagging. The emptiness weighed on it; every floorboard groaned as he walked through. The price tag to replace that broken window would be about $4,000 — the cost of bringing this house back to its splendor would be a lot more. It was hardly an investment that a restaurant, with notoriously thin margins, could be expected to return.

As the founder and president of Taher Inc., which operates dining rooms across the country, Taher prides himself on building a stellar lineup of culinary talent to lead the company’s meal programs. He still calls himself a chef, with a jovial glint in his eye, as the company manages food service programs from Washington, D.C., to Cretin-Derham Hall High School in St. Paul.

Built into the culture of this business is the core belief in the power of food.

Standing inside this old house with multiple dining rooms (seven to nine, depending on whom you ask), Taher felt the push of all that history at his back. “Let’s just get this place back to where it was,” he said.

As a restaurant that doubles as a landmark, the Historic Preservation Commission had to be involved, too. Somewhere between working with the group and completely removing the side porch for rebuilding, St. Paulites caught wind of what was happening — they don’t call it “St. Small” for nothing — and residents love to share stories about the infamous building.

Built in 1870, it could have existed like many of St. Paul’s stately old homes, as just another showcase of bygone wealth, if it weren’t for tragedy, people whisper. The Forepaughs’ maid Molly, the story goes, died by suicide after hanging herself from the third-floor chandelier she was tasked with polishing and throwing herself out the window. She allegedly was carrying Joseph Forepaugh’s child. Years later, in 1892, Forepaugh hanged himself in a park near Selby and Hamline. People claim both spirits are in the house, creating mischief for those who work in the building.

The spooky stories accompanied the house as it was first converted into a restaurant by the Naegele family, who bought it in 1974. When the restaurant group was ready to sell in 2007, they called Taher.

That was the first time Taher made a major investment in the building, one the Star Tribune called “sumptuous” in a 2013 review.

Under Taher’s direction, Forepaugh’s continued as a restaurant in a grand setting with select chef-led talent helming the kitchen. That changed in February 2019, when executive chef Kyle Bell, 32, died after an illness.

“When our executive chef died. It just ... it took the wind out of all of our sails,” Taher said, pausing before continuing. “He had three kids.”

The following month, Forepaugh’s closed, seemingly for good.

After the night of the break-in, Taher decided it was time to rebuild. And again, he found a celebrated chef to help lead the kitchen’s revival.

Tim McKee was the longtime chef/owner of La Belle Vie, but he’s also a first call for restaurants looking for guidance on building a team, menu and staff. McKee is consulting on the project, and has gotten used to running up and down all those stairs — from the basement kitchen to the top-floor dining rooms. “Tim is bringing that talent in here that really matches up with our culture,” Taher said.

McKee tapped chef Jeremy Wessing to run the Forepaugh’s kitchen. Wessing was on the opening kitchen team at Porzana in Minneapolis, and has worked in several bold-name local restaurants. “Tim made the connection and then I met Bruce,” said Wessing, who was then brought into the Taher corporate test kitchen. “They call it the sandbox,” he said. “Kind of like, they have everything you could need and you just play.”

His playground now includes a menu that balances iconic dishes like Fritto Misto and beef Wellington with bar favorites like a wagyu brisket burger and special occasion entrees like mafalde Bolognese and lamb chops with chimichurri. Wessing and McKee are still hammering out menu details, but early drafts look tasty.

Behind the bar is another familiar face in Midwestern hospitality, Nick Kosevich, who was on the front wave of the local and national craft cocktail revolution in the 2010s and is now co-owner of Earl Giles Distillery in Minneapolis. When he first began consulting on bar programs, Forepaugh’s was the site of one of his company’s earliest pop-ups. The homecoming gives him a unique perspective on what to pour.

“You want to surprise and delight people with the menu, but not overwhelm them,” he said. Expect a Manhattan, French 75, Collins and a Cosmopolitan riff. “We use Earl Giles’ cranberry hibiscus elixir with a new orange liquor we just launched, Quadra Sec” — because four is better than triple sec. Garnishes include lots of edible flowers from a local CSA. Cocktails will largely be batched, bottled or kegged for speedier service.

Meanwhile, the restaurant has received a top-to-bottom makeover. Taher brought in local firm Ste Marie Design Group to revive the space.

Eras worth of wallpaper were painstakingly removed until bare walls could be given fresh paint. The side patio was demolished and rebuilt, and the carport rooftop patio was another full rebuild. The once-beige exterior is now bathed in appropriate gothic-era dark colors. Inside, the rooms feel brighter, capturing sunlight pouring through the tall windows. The gilded fixtures shine, new carpet leads up the main staircase and every crystal has been hand-polished.

“We started with a premise of just get this back to where it should be and we never knew how much it would cost,” said Taher. “So far, we’ve probably put in over a million dollars.” She’s a grand dame readying for a big debut.

Staff was filing in for formal training beneath Molly’s chandelier as our visit wound down, looking for new signs of life and an open front door starting on Aug. 16.

Forepaugh’s, 276 Exchange St., St. Paul; get reservations on Tock.