Restaurant news: Apostle Supper Club now open in St. Paul

There's a massive new restaurant and bar angling for pregame business across from St. Paul's Xcel Energy Center. Apostle Supper Club from Sarah and Brian Ingram's Purpose Restaurants opens for dinner and drinks this week.

The restaurant looks like a lost set piece from an Elvis movie, with an A-frame open kitchen, tiki bar, a wall of orange shag carpet and a fireplace "sunken" living room (it's really on the same level). The space seats up to 400 people, plus outdoor seating during patio season.

The menu echoes the couple's first Apostle Supper Club at the top of Duluth's slow-spinning Radisson. Expect hearty fare, shrimp cocktail, giant pork chops, tableside martinis and Jell-O cake for dessert.

The restaurant (253 Kellogg Blvd., apostlesupperclub.com) will be open from 4 p.m.-1 a.m. weekdays and noon-1 a.m. Saturdays and Sundays, with brunch service to come.

El Norte Kitchen, the beloved food truck from Ben, Tricia and Elijah Allen, has announced that this weekend will be its final service. In a social media post they said, "Our family recently grew and this new chapter has made us reassess our focus and priorities. For right now, it's best that our family-run business take a pause so we can decide what's next for ENK and focus on our family."

El Norte Kitchen began as a pop-up before expanding to the truck, serving a blend of Southwestern cuisine.

On Oct. 28 the truck will be at Summit Brewing (910 Montreal Circle, St. Paul) and the final bow will be at the annual Halloween Street festivities at 329 W. Michigan St. in St. Paul. Both nights are 4-8 p.m.

The counter service Mediterranean eatery Zait & Za'atar (1626 Selby Av., St. Paul, zaitzaatar.com) will close Oct. 30. "The post-pandemic challenges of inflation and being able to continue staffing the restaurant with the same caliber of employees that we have been blessed to work with have contributed to our decision," reads a statement on the website.

Even before the pandemic it could be tough to find a nice restaurant to dine at on a Monday night. Luckily, that list just got a little longer with the expanded hours at the Lexington (1096 Grand Av., St. Paul, thelexmn.com). The historic restaurant, with chef Nick O'Leary in the kitchen, will welcome guests seven days a week starting Nov. 7 — which just happens to be the day that pie maven Rachel Swan's desserts are expected to hit the menu. To entice diners, the restaurant is offering a three-course dinner for $45, with $5 martinis and Manhattans.

Chloe by Vincent will be the name of the new French restaurant from celebrated chef Vincent Francoual. Named for his young daughter, it will be a more casual eatery and a part of his partnership with the owners of EaTo.

According to its website, Chloe by Vincent will serve "dishes that adopt the mantra of Chef Bernard Loiseau: Any dish with more than three (or four) ingredients/flavors is too complicated. Simple flavors prepared correctly deliver the best culinary punch."

Chloe by Vincent (700 S. 3rd St., Mpls., chloebyvincent.com) will open in December.

In case you missed it, Red Table Meat Co., which has been supplying local and national restaurants, wine bars and cheese shops with artisanal salumi from Midwest-raised heritage pigs for the past eight years, will close at the end of 2022.

But the Twin Cities' charcuterie needs will not go unmet: Erik Sather, of Lowry Hill Meats, will take over Red Table's space at the Food Building (1401 NE. Marshall St., Mpls., foodbuilding.com), where he will open a new meat processing operation.

Mike Phillips began his foray into the art of preserved meat at the long-departed restaurants Chet's Taverna and Craftsman. He honed his skills into what would eventually become Red Table, an anchor business in the Food Building. At its peak Red Table was distributed to gourmet markets on a national level.