Location:
Saint Paul, Minnesota
Status:
Permanently closed
Dates active:
1944-1993
Frank Lee’s first restaurant, Lee’s Log Lounge, opened in 1925 along Highway 52 in Saint Cloud. His entrepreneurial spirit led him to the Twin Cities, where he established Lee’s Broiler on 7th Street and 2nd Avenue S in Minneapolis. The resounding success of this restaurant paved the way for another location in downtown Saint Paul.
The Saint Paul location moved to Cleveland and Ford Parkway in the Highland Village area of town in 1944. It was renamed Lee’s Village Inn, and Frank’s wife, Cora, helped out at the new restaurant.
Guests often waited in lines that stretched outside just to sit at one of the dining room’s wooden tables and enjoy pot roast, roasted chicken, extra large popovers, chocolate cream pie, and other traditional dinner favorites.
A fire in 1951 burned the restaurant and many other shops and businesses at the Highland Village Shopping Center to the ground. Lee and Cora rebuilt on the same site a two-level building with their restaurant at ground level and an apartment for themselves upstairs.
Frank Lee died in 1955, and it looks like he operated the restaurant until then. It’s unclear who took over running the business between Frank’s death and 1968 when Frank Theros purchased the restaurant.
Theros, a familiar face in the restaurant business and the neighborhood, had deep roots in the area. His fond memories of dining at Lee’s Village Inn made him the perfect person to take over ownership. His existing restaurants, including the St. Clair Boiler, further solidified his ties to the community.
Lee’s Village Inn closed abruptly in January 1993, leaving the fate of the beloved establishment uncertain. A new owner came forward with plans to modernize the interior and add items to the menu in an effort to attract a younger crowd. It was renamed Lee’s NEW Village Inn.
I couldn’t find any information about this new venture, so it’s unclear whether their vision for the space ever took off.
Ingredients
- ¾ cup water
- ¾ cup milk
- ½ cup sugar
- ¼ cup oil or margarine
- 1¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 egg
- 4½ to 5 cups all-purpose or bread flour
- ⅛ cup lukewarm water
- 1 packet dry yeast
- 1 teaspoon sugar
Instructions
- Combine water and milk; heat to scalding.
- Mix sugar, margarine, salt and egg until creamy. Stir hot milk mixture into creamed until blended. Add half and beat until ingredients, batter is smooth.
- Dissolve yeast in lukewarm water and sugar. Add yeast mixture to batter, stirring in thoroughly. Add rest of flour, kneading to a smooth elastic dough. Let rise in a greased and covered bowl until doubled in size (45 minutes to an hour.)
- Shape into rolls, placing on a greased sheet pan or muffin tin. Let rise until double again.
- Bake at 375° for 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden.
