Fabulous Fern’s Files for Bankruptcy

It has been a good run for Fabulous Fern’s, the St. Paul neighborhood bar and restaurant that has served Cathedral Hill on Selby Avenue for 26 years. However, its future is in jeopardy as owner Dan Dahlin files for Chapter 11 amid health issues, according to a report in the Pioneer Press.

Dahlin assures the paper that business is going “great, but the 72 year old’s heart health and a recent surgery t is driving this decision. The goal is that someone will purchase the combination restaurant and bar with the small patio and ample parking spaces in the recently booming neighborhood.

Fabulous Fern’s, named for a mythical “bejeweled barfly” portrayed as a saucy old lady in a painting inside the restaurant and on the menus, has weathered several restaurant changes.

Fabulous Fern’s

When the smoking ban first went into effect, a room was built around the bar to shelter dining customers from the offending tobacco vapors before cigarettes were banned entirely from city restaurants.

The restaurant is known for popcorn, beers and wings in the bar and comfort food like fettuccini Alfredo in the dining area.

Despite reassurances that business is not the reason behind the bankruptcy, neighborhood sources say that the days are likely numbered for Fabulous Fern’s.

• Fabulous Fern’s owner says health issues prompted bankruptcy filing [PiPress]
• Fabulous Fern’s [WEB]
• These Are All the Twin Cities Restaurants We’ve Lost in 2017 [ETC]