DeRusha Eats: W.A. Frost & Company
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The music, the artwork, the décor -- everything about W.A. Frost & Company screams timeless.
"We built it like an institution," owner John Rupp said.
Rupp opened at the corner of Selby and Western on St. Paul's Cathedral Hill in 1976. He saw opportunity in one of the highest crime areas of the state. Rupp had just graduated from law school, he had zero restaurant experience.
"We needed a tenant," he said.
He thought it would be easy to find someone to open a restaurant or a bar, but he was wrong.
"We thought, naively, 'How hard can it be?' So we started with a bar," he said.
They opened the bar and had success.
"It became obvious to us it could become much more than a bar," said Rupp.
By 1978, they built a kitchen and started building what would become a 40-year legacy.
"When we opened, this was the highest crime location on this intersection in the state. So it had a bad reputation," Rupp said. He bought the building for $85,000.
He hired great chefs. In fact, W.A. Frost eventually became a launching pad for some of the Twin Cities best chefs: Lenny Russo now runs Heartland, Russell Klein owns Meritage. Other chefs have opened Tongue in Cheek and Heirloom in St. Paul.
"We're proud of all of them," Rupp said.
The patio at W.A. Frost is legendary, consistently judged the best in town.
"The health department didn't even have a license that would allow you to open an outdoor patio. We had to open without a license and fight City Hall on it," he said.
In a time where new restaurants can have a similar feel with reclaimed wood, Edison bulbs, showcase kitchens and endless taps of craft beer, W.A. Frost feels authentic and special.
"Lots of deals were made here. I've done a few myself," Rupp laughed.
The menu has changed, but it doesn't feel bound by trends. Right now you can get a beautiful Thai-inspired dish like steamed mussels with coconut green curry broth. And you can also get a classic -- a perfectly cooked bistro steak.
"We're aware of course of changing tastes, but we're not chasing any," Rupp said.
In fact, 2015 was his restaurant's best year for sales and for visitors.
"You gain some goodwill from all these years. Now we have the second- and third-generation coming here," Rupp said, speculating that his restaurant is the number one spot for marriage proposals in St. Paul.
W.A. Frost is uniquely St. Paul: built to last, certainly for another forty years.
"Absolutely, longer (even). This is going to be open forever. There are those places, after all," he said.