Chef Karyn Tomlinson has built something special at her St. Paul restaurant, Myriel.
Recently, she’s been racking up accolades, from Food & Wine to the James Beard Foundation, recognizing her contributions to the culinary world. Tomlinson is often celebrated for her “granny cuisine” — rich, history-steeped, deeply flavorful dishes without the froufrou fanfare that sometimes defines fine dining.
Her latest honor comes from the prestigious James Beard Foundation, which named her a Best Chef: Midwest semifinalist. The category, which includes Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin, pits her against 19 other top chefs from the region.
In September, Food & Wine named Tomlinson a Best New Chef, describing her style as “grandma chic.” Writer Raphael Brion noted that she has considered calling it “grandma cooking nouveau.” At Myriel, Brion writes, “you’ll find warmth and light, grace and hospitality, life-changing lentils, and a soul-satisfying apple pie.”
A fun aside: Tomlinson also creates the hand-drawn illustrations featured on Myriel’s website, adding yet another personal touch to her work.
We recently spoke with Chef Tomlinson about her latest recognition, her approach to cooking, her love for “unglamorous ingredients,” what’s next for Myriel, and—of course—that apple pie.
Chef Karyn Tomlinson (Courtesy of Karyn Tomlinson)
The following interview has been lightly edited for clarity and length.
Congratulations on being named a Food & Wine Best New Chef! How validating was that?
So validating! It’s really encouraging to know that other people see what we do at Myriel as something significant and special.
Can you tell me a bit about Myriel? Its ethos, its focus, its food?
Myriel is about excellent hospitality and a connection to the land around us. We use time-honored cooking and preservation techniques to highlight the ingredients grown by an incredible community of farmers.
How is Myriel influenced by St. Paul?
We are in a neighborhood that values loyalty and authenticity. It takes a while for people to get used to new things, but when they do they are so supportive. We love that!
Myriel is about building relationships with people in our community and part of that means having an a la carte menu that allows people to integrate the restaurant into regular life (not just special occasions).
Tell me a bit about your career prior to Myriel?
Before Myriel, I was a Chef de Cuisine at Corner Table in Minneapolis. It was there that I came to see the possibilities in a robust whole-animal butchery program and a more radical approach to sourcing ingredients.
Prior to that, I had been all over the place–spending time in Sweden at Fäviken, doing a few years as a pastry chef, doing catering and test kitchens. My journey started after going to culinary school in Paris.
What does Midwestern cuisine mean to you?
I don’t feel like I can speak for the whole Midwest, but my approach has been to focus on ingredients that grow well around us and lean into some of the traditions that I grew up with.
For example, my Swedish ancestors who came to Minnesota to farm embraced the four-season climate in the way that they farmed and cooked and I certainly have taken cues from that culinary history. As midwestern demographics continue to evolve, this looks different as more cultures make an imprint on future generations.
Chef Karyn Tomlinson putting the finishing touches on a dish at Myriel (Courtesy of Karyn Tomlinson)
How would you define the cuisine at Myriel?
At Myriel, we lean heavily into French and rural European cooking techniques to highlight our ingredients. Simplicity, focus and less-is-more are indicative of our approach to our dishes. Nothing is superfluous, everything is very intentional and designed to delight our diners in ingredients that are sometimes overlooked.
You mentioned in a spot on the CBS News morning show that your Swedish grandmother's approach to cooking at large was practicality — can you speak a bit to that?
Yes! Cooking was never about showing off for my grandmother. She used what she had to feed people and make them feel welcome and loved the best she could. My grandparents were not well to do, but their gift was making anyone at their table feel like they belonged. Sometimes this meant putting a very simple meal together when that was what my grandmother had time for.
Do you recall the first dish you felt like you really "mastered?" This could be something from a professional perspective or something you whipped up at home and felt especially proud of when you were 12 — up to you!
The first two things I learned to make were really good scrambled eggs and apple pie. I had asked my grandmother to show me both when I was a young girl and I still feel a sense of accomplishment when I make them today. The pie is something in particular that perfectly encapsulates the kind of hospitality that I love.
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Raphael Brion wrote on your Food & Wine Best New Chef profile that your food is "restrained and subtle, precise and sophisticated . . . brave in its minimalism." Do you feel as though that sums up your cooking well?
Those are kind words and absolutely in keeping with my goals as a chef.
When the team at Myriel works on new dishes, I think of it like an editing process. What doesn’t need to be here? What is distracting and what is essential? How do you say the most by using just enough?
There's a certain homey, unpretentious essence to your food. What do you attribute that to?
That comes from the people-centric cooking and style of hospitality that I saw so clearly in my grandparents and other people I admire. It also comes from a desire to steward our resources well and minimize waste.
If the goal of haute cuisine is to show people the best cut of this or the ultimate version of that, there is inevitably a lot that cannot be used. Here, we use old and more rustic techniques to show the beauty of all the bits.
I know that you serve a lot of the food at Myriel on vintage china. Could you speak a bit to why you opt for that? So interesting.
In part, we feel it is practical or even more sustainable to use pieces that exist already and often languish in vintage stores. And more than that, it also evokes a sense of intentionality and welcome that is so important to our style of hospitality.
When you see a table set with the best china, you know your presence is anticipated and special. It is a little “extra” and communicates honor to the guest.
Farms of Myriel map (Courtesy of Karyn Tomlinson)
The writing of your captions on Instagram are so evocative. Any plans for a book in the future? (A memoir, a cookbook, whatever!)
I hope to, yes! I am working with a literary agent now and hope to make significant progress this year.
Why do you cook?
I cook because it is integral to a healthy society to connect and care for one another over the table and it touches on so many other things that are important as well (like food systems). It gives me great joy to facilitate this in a particular way at Myriel and to do it with a team of incredibly talented and like-minded people.
Do you have a number one favorite ingredient to work with?
No! That is always changing.
I love the challenge of finding delightful ways to use any ingredient and the more unglamorous the better (like carrots or celery!). I do love cooking duck and the fact that you can quite easily use everything. That is one of the central items on the menu at Myriel for that reason.
What stands out for you as a formative moment that got you into cooking or food at large?
My deep curiosity for cooking started right after college when I started gardening. My grandfather kept a larger farmer’s garden and I was always fascinated by that.
Later on, when I experienced the joy of growing and feeding others from that for myself, that’s when things clicked. I realized at that point the potential that food has to play a significant role in society and that I enjoyed the whole process.
What would you say are your three most used ingredients?
Impossible to answer! I often finish a dish with butter and some sort of tangy or acid component like brine or vinegar.
This winter at Myriel, we are often reaching for dried herbs that we processed at the end of harvest, which has been a fun challenge.
What’s your biggest tip for cutting down on food waste?
Know where your food comes from and who grows it: This is one of the most motivating factors for me in cutting down on waste. If we know these things about our ingredients, it is far more compelling to use them fully and use them well. It is also more fun!
How do you practice sustainability in your cooking?
I believe that one of the most important ways to approach sustainability is to cook with ingredients that grow nearby and that are in season (or preserved from their season). This helps us to consume more proportionately to what the land around us can support and be in better rhythm with that.
This is nothing radical – people were doing this since the beginning of time – but it takes a greater amount of intentionality in a world of globalized food sourcing. We build our menu around this at Myriel.
What's next for you, ideally?
As I mentioned, this year I’m hoping to work on a book and I’m also working on a film project that centers around some of these ideas. Bottom line, I want to find ways to encourage more people to find this holistic approach to hospitality and better integrate with the ingredients around us.
What is your response to your recent James Beard semifinalist nomination? Congratulations!
It is a huge honor for me and for the team at Myriel who works so hard every day to execute our vision. I’m so grateful to know that what we’re doing resonates with people and take it seriously knowing that we have this platform.
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