Many chefs talk about comfort food, welcoming environments, and a focus on hospitality, but St. Paul’s Karyn Tomlinson really lives those values. Food & Wine, which named her as one of 2024’s best new chefs, called her cuisine style “Grandma Chic.” It’s a combination of farm-fresh ingredients, a commitment to hospitality and kindness, and the technical skill to get the most out of those ingredients.
Chef Karyn Tomlinson Embraces “Grandma Food” for All Ages
Myriel, her restaurant in the Macalaster-Groveland neighborhood of the St. Paul, gets its name from the bishop in Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables who invites the downtrodden Jean Valjean in for a meal off the street. “My parents were really hospitable. Food can really meet people where they’re at and make them feel welcome,” Tomlinson remembered. “In my grandparents’ rural community, I just saw the connection between people whose lives are so connected to the growing of food and sharing and connection to others through food.” She saw her grandparents bring Midwest staples like casseroles and canned soup to people both to celebrate for birthdays and comfort at funerals. They weren’t cooking just out of a love of food or for personal enjoyment, though that was also present. There was real strategy and intention to it.
She encourages anyone who wants to embrace “grandma food” to think not about how flashy a dish can be be, but instead about the technique and philosophy behind it. “You want to use everything really well and not waste anything, which can mean learning how to cook a whole pig,” she said. “You actually have to be really technically savvy to do this, but it’s not showing off.” At Myriel, she and her staff serve items like gizzard, which some people might find off-putting. But Tomlinson believes that many of us are disconnected from our food sources, and once we start to understand better that things that seem gross are natural parts of the dishes we love, we can appreciate them more.
A Philosophy of Hospitality: “Food just tastes better when it’s cooked by someone you know accepts you and loves you.”
One of the challenges of cooking what some might call comfort food is that it requires injecting a meal with an emotion, something subjective that you can’t touch or taste. Just as an artist tries to evoke emotion in a painting, a chef of Tomlinson’s caliber tries to evoke a specific feeling through food. “Going to your grandmother’s house, she expects nothing of you. Food just tastes better when it’s being cooked by someone you know accepts you and loves you,” Tomlinson said.
There is a contradiction inherent to this style of service: You pay to go to a restaurant, and the staff are not your actual friends and family. “While it is transactional, we do our best to remember our guests and keep track of details about them. It sounds normal, but honestly, in modern dining it’s not that common,” she remarked. “Even in really great restaurants with incredible food, there’s sometimes just a mismatch in how you experience the hospitality. With COVID, a lot of places move towards highly efficient models of service and miss out on the human element.” At Myriel, she makes sure all of her staff know her philosophy, the origin of the restaurant’s name, and the values behind what she does.
Food as Connection in a Divided World: “Everybody can relate to good food.”
Dinners with your actual grandparents in 2024 could have the potential to a be hotbeds of political tension, in an election year when the country appears divided. But Tomlinson embraces the challenge of cooking for people of all stripes and hopes food can be a way to bring them together. “This is where the rubber meets the road in terms of hospitality and what it means to gather around the table,” she said. “Relationships are a long game, and hospitality and care has a significant place in that long game.” She focuses on seeing everyone as human first, with the same basic needs, before thinking about differences or strife.
But Tomlinson does acknowledge that with families, social friction can be painful. She recommends making sure you’re cooking things that don’t stress you out, because nothing is worse than going into a holiday dinner with no emotional energy. “And control how much alcohol you serve,” she added, punctuating with a laugh. “But really, the most important part of cooking is your mindset. Know why you’re making what. And draw attention to the moment. Focus on a couple of ingredients that you’re really excited about or incorporate new or old traditions you’d like to implement. Everybody can relate to good food.”
Story by Emma Riva / Photo by Eva Kolenko
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