Smorgie’s, a new restaurant and bar focused on affordable comfort food, is opening on the aftternoon of Monday, Jan. 29, across the street from the Xcel Energy Center.

A variety of menu items from Smorgie’s, opening Monday, Jan. 29 across the street from Xcel Energy Center. (Courtesy of Smorgie’s)

Open daily and serving its full menu until 1 a.m., Smorgie’s will fill a void in late-night dining in St. Paul.

The restaurant, inside the new Courtyard by Marriot hotel, is also promising two-for-one rail cocktails, house wine and tap beers seven days a week from 3 to 5 p.m. and a brunch with bottomless mimosas on Saturdays and Sundays starting in late February.

The whole goal of the restaurant, owned by Kaeding Development Group and Compass 45, was to create a space where people going to the Xcel for games or concerts could grab a bite to eat and a drink for less than $20 per person.

The menu is a “smorgasbord” of comfort foods — think French onion dip, tater tot hotdish, sloppy joes, smash burgers, Swedish meatballs and even Smorgie’s take on a KFC bowl. For dessert, there will be a variety of church basement bars — how Minnesotan can they get?

Everything on the menu is less than $15, with most entrees landing around $10.

Signature cocktails top out at $12, and tap beers will run you between $6 and $8.

In this time of inflation, when most restaurants are raising their prices to reflect higher ingredient and labor costs, a cheap dinner is a welcome thing, indeed.

Smorgie’s: 150 N. Smith Ave., St. Paul; smorgiesbar.com

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