Russ and I meandered down to St. Paul for a family gathering a few weeks ago. We brought a gift card with us that my cousin had given me to the Apostle Supper Club. When she had given it to me, Duluth still had an Apostle Supper Club. It used to be in the rotating top of the Radisson Hotel. However, they closed without notice and before we could use the card. We’d been there a couple times before and were looking forward to dining there again. It looked like St. Paul was our only other option.

The Apostle touts itself as “a 1960s Palm Springs-inspired supper club, piano lounge, and tiki bar” located in the heart of St. Paul. It also has a fireplace lounge in the back, which is where we were seated.

The décor is what struck us first – full of 1960s colors of orange, red, brown and yellow. While the front part of the club where the bar is has windows, the rest of the place has the dark, no-window supper club vibe. Cushioned chairs were scattered about and the tables were bedecked with those small lounge lamps. The fireplace lounge sports a freestanding circular yellow-gold fireplace surrounded by matching comfy chairs.

But the best part of the décor was what I found on my way to the bathroom: a wall of shag carpet! Done in yellow, brown, red and orange, of course. I had to run my fingers through it and make sure that Russ saw it before we left. The Duluth restaurant was well-decorated, but it did not have a shag carpet wall.

Our dinner was excellent. For an appetizer, we shared the broiled crab and artichoke dip, which was served with grilled baguette and veggies. We savored those nice big chunks of crab. My main course was red curry striped bass – a pan-seared bass fillet served on a bed of crispy sesame rice with red coconut curry sauce and a radish salad. The fish was cooked just right, with crispy skin and a flakey center. I’m not a big fan of radishes. I couldn’t really tell that the salad had any radishes in it, which was a good thing for me.

Russ’s entrée was the rigatoni arrabbiata with a spicy roasted tomato sauce, garlic, white wine and whipped basil ricotta. He said the sauce was excellent. You can add various meats to the dish, but Russ was fine without them.

We topped the meal off with espresso crème brulee. I’d never had that particular type of crème brulee before and it was truly memorable – a coffee and cream confection!

During our meal, some hubbub ensued at a table in a dark corner of the fireplace lounge. Two people arrived bearing a dozen roses, which they presented to a woman at the table who had been dining with a man. Then one of the rose-bearers broke out into song. We couldn’t really hear what is was, so we spent some time speculating whether this was a birthday celebration or something more romantic.

Our speculation was put to rest when the man at the table got down on one knee and presented the woman with a ring box. She said, “Yes!”

I tried to get a photo of this occasion, but alas, the two performers were standing in my way. This was the best I could do.

Russ and I remarked that we seem to attract marriage proposals whenever we go to the Twin Cities. The last one happened at the Como Conservatory when we visited it for a poinsettia show.

If you live in the twin cities and would like to be engaged, Russ and I are available for hire, ha ha!

While we will miss The Apostle in Duluth, we’re glad to know that it’s still done right only a couple of hours away should we have a yearning for a supper club experience.

UPDATE: The Supper Club is closing the end of May 2025. I guess we’ll need to find someplace else for a supper club vibe. 😦