Pork Hotdish
Ingredients
- 1 c. onions, chopped
- 2 green peppers, chopped
- 1½ c. celery, chopped
- Oil
- 8 c. cooked or baked pork
- 6 c. cooked rice
- 1 large can cream of chicken soup (3 lb. 4 oz. size)
- 2 c. milk
Instructions
- Sauté the onion, green pepper and celery in about 4 tbsp. of oil until just tender. Then, combine sautéed vegetables with rice, soup, and milk.
- Bake at 350° for 1½ hours.
About Lee’s Village Inn
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 customers of the beloved establishment wishing for just one more meal at Lee’s.
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