Supatra's

By Erik Hare

Just in time for the first big snowfall, the West End of Saint Paul is warming up with the warmth that comes from a well crafted Thai meal. Supatra’s restaurant has opened up at 967 West Seventh Street, and many of us couldn’t be more pleased.

This may not seem like a great development to those of you who aren’t from the West End, so some explanation is required. Supatra’s was well known for many years at their previous location in Lowertown, but the renovation of the building they were in forced the restaurant to seek other accommodations. After a bit of renovation for their own needs, they found a home on the West End.

The West End has seen somehard times in past years, and has been known throughout Saint Paul as a “tough” neighborhood. A generation of activism has helped to turn the West End around, but the story is not quite what most people expect. The Fort Road Federation has worked with the city and many non-profit agencies to renovate houses and generally pull the West End up through carefully targeting some of the worst parts of it and supporting the rest.

It may not seem obvious to outsiders that renovating the housing brings you a great Thai restaurant, but it does. When people think of a long commercial strip, such as West Seventh, they often think about direct investment in the stores and restaurants that line it as the way to improve things. But who will shop there? The demographics of the surrounding neighborhood are the most important part of what attracts business, and they do respond to improvements in the housing around them. It takes years, but the effort pays off over the long term.

At the upper end of West Seventh, there is a part of the long strip that is more isolated from the rest of the neighborhood by its proximity to Downtown and some geographical features. The redevelopment of Irvine Park in the 1970s led to some improvements on the strip in the 1980s, and by the 1990s the area was booming with a dozen eateries and bars. The arrival of the new Xcel Center, home of the Minnesota Wild hockey team, was only the icing on the cake.

The effects were not felt further down West Seventh until more recently. Supatra’s is near the intersection of Randolph Avenue, a corner that is in the process of seeing some major construction. Why is this heating up? The Brewery Breakthrough has something to do with it, along with the hundreds of individual renovations that have come in the wake of the large public investment.

Confidence in the housing stock brings higher incomes, which support more shops and restaurants. It’s been about a decade at this end of West Seventh, and it’s time for a big change. Supatra’s is what we hope to be only the first part of a new wave of commercial investment, just like what happened further up the street. When you have a long commercial strip to turn around, you have to take it one section at a time.

So how is Supatra’s on its second day open? The food is as wonderful as it was before, although the kitchen mechanics have a few bugs in them – we had to wait an hour because our order was lost. Nevermind. The Holy Basil Supreme was fabulous, as is everything on the menu. Because Supatra has a commitment to her cuisine, even writing a great book on the subject, we expect her to be an institution that we can rely on as the West End continues to change. That’s even better than a spicy meal on a cold day to me.

Just a reminder . . during the holidays consider shopping and dining close to your home.  Support small businesses and the businesses in your community.