Sneak Peek: Mr. Paul's Supper Club

Their #1 goal: that when you leave, your face hurts from smiling so much.

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Here's a bit of a too-early-controversial take: Mr. Paul's Supper Club, the jazzy New Orleans supper club that opens on Friday in Edina, is the full circle connection of string ends that started with the legendary Town Talk Diner back in 2006.

Not in food, not in concept, but in heart and soul.

Mr. Paul's is the creation of Tommy Begnaud and Nick Kosevich, both of whom were acolytes of Tim Niver and Aaron Johnson who opened the very cool drinky diner which helped spur the local cocktail revolution and created a space for a finer diner in the Twin Cities eating landscape. I'm so sorry if you don't remember it, and I'd like to clink a glass and lock eyes with you if you do.

"I've been chasing the dragon of what it is to be like Town Talk, and create that feeling again, for my whole career," Kosevich told me as we walked through the quickly assembling space. "I believe that that was something magical and special and really, it hasn't happened since then."

What we're talking about isn't a re-creation of something iconic, like the ill-fated 2013 Figlio resurrection at the West End. This is more a proof of life, that something so remarkable and earth-cracking, although long gone, can have a really tasty ripple effect. 

"There's a level of freedom in hospitality where you get to be the self you choose. We were pushing elements of service at Town Talk. Niver taught us how to work that point bar, where every person that comes in, either I know you, or I'm about to know you, and you're gonna leave knowing us," Kosevich went on. "It's the way that we're gonna create that energy and really enable everybody to feel like, hey, this is your section. We want you to own it, we want you to feel like this is your bar." 

And to be clear: this is familial. Begnaud is tied to Mr. Paul through blood and Rebel Yell, so this NOLA-tinged restaurant is less theme and more homage to his grandfather's roots. 

There are cheeky touches here and there: the wallpaper game throughout is next level. The main dining room is laid with half-moon booths as plants drip from overhead. There's a sense that not everything should be perfect. A certain set of tiles for the back bar arrived in the right color, but the wrong size: they made do. 

I joked with Aaron Wittkamper, the designer who did an immaculate job with the Brother Justus space, that this project was probably a touch harder to bring together. It's just a million moving pieces and like three levels of ideas, but dammit if there's not pink grout in the hallway. 

There's a smallish private bar that can be booked for events, the whole emerald green space is cavey in the best way. There will be a dark vibe to the shelves and candle lit alcoves come this weekend. In fact, expect a lot of candles throughout the space. The private dining space in the back also sports dark tones to balance the window walls on one side. This main wall is focused on a gallery collection of art that once belonged to Mr. Paul, and it sets the tone for the room. Behind a pink cabinet is a full audio-visual system, to support private event needs. Because dammit, this is still Edina.

Begnaud remembers walking though the Commander's Palace kitchen on a visit, and everyone they passed said hello and welcomed them. He's hoping for that same convivial vibe as people pass through the pink-grouted hallway (next to the bathrooms) on their way to Mr. Paul's Po' Boys and Jams. Go down the black hallway, follow the balloon animal. 

The small side shop promises good times from the minute you see Mr. Paul's carnival cutouts on the wall, to the second you start fishing in your pocket for a gumball machine quarter, to the moment you realize there's Ace of Base on the live jukebox. The po' boy shop will open later this coming week, with sandwiches and drinks. The Balloon Emporium cocktail experience, with Kosevich leading a ticketed session of cutting edge drinks and eats performance, will start in January.

This is the Go Big moment for Begnaud and Kosevich: it's a huge space with multiple layers, multiple concepts, and they've worked years to get here. I haven't had a bite, but I have no doubt that there will be marching bands and buskers roaming the room, that there will be more helium sucked than is probably wise, that on your third visit you may be brought to your seat through the back bar, with a bump along the way.

Perhaps, if it all pulls off, this fresh opening crew might come back together in 15 years and create something crazy and new that germinated at Mr. Paul's. That's how this is all supposed to work, you know. 

Opens Friday!