Why this St. Paul restaurant sources its ingredients from Minnesota farms

Several mornings a week, Myriel co-owner and chef Karyn Tomlinson drives more than an hour from the Twin Cities to Cokato to hand-select farm-fresh ingredients for the next few menus.

Her "shopping" list on a recent sunny Wednesday was fairly typical for this time of year: 40 pounds of asparagus picked that morning, some freshly foraged mushrooms and two whole, slaughtered pigs.

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• But first, she stopped at an old dairy farm along Highway 12 to fill the bed of her business partner's pickup truck with lumber stored in the barn.

Driving the news: The wood will become the shelves of a new pantry and private dining room at Tomlinson's critically acclaimed Mac-Groveland restaurant, which she's building out this summer to accommodate groups and special events.

The big picture: The decision to use lumber from trees cleared from 87-year-old farmer Dan Nyquist's land is only natural, given that Myriel operates on a locally sourced, whole hog -to-table ethos.

Catch up fast: The restaurant, which opened in 2021, crafts its ever-changing menu around food Tomlinson sources from small farms, largely in Wright County.

• The relationships Tomlinson has forged with the farmers around Cokato are deep — she's bought produce from Nyquist since stopping for squash back in 2019.
• She asked where she could get some milk, and he sent her to his son down the road.

Dan Nyquist (left) showed Tomlinson (far right) the boards on a recent visit. Photo: Torey Van Oot/Axios

And the network expands through word of mouth, as it did that Wednseday when the Nyquists not only recommended another neighbor who could prep the boards, but hopped into their own car to show Tomlinson the way.

Zoom in: These days, the Nyquists let Tomlinson page through their seed catalog to make requests before planting begins.

• She also forages frequently on their properties with Dan's wife, Jane.
• Both Nyquists wrote into their wills that she can keep doing so after they die.

What they're saying: Dan Nyquist says he appreciates the support for small farms that have a harder time weathering drought and disease.

• Plus: He's enjoyed seeing — and tasting — Tomlinson's transformation of ingredients grown in his own backyard.
• "It's something that farmers don't normally do," he said of the experience.

Between the lines: Working closely with farms that don't deliver to the Twin Cities is a way for Tomlinson to support sustainable farming in an area where she has family ties. The food takes on more value "when we have a name, a story behind it," she said.

• "We're not getting caviar … We're getting cool vegetables and proteins from cool farmers."

Tomlinson snacks on an edible plant as she talks with Jane Nyquist. Photo: Torey Van Oot/Axios

Case in point: While her business partner, James Brown, cut the boards with a borrowed chainsaw, Tomlinson made plans with Jane to return to forage the next day.

• As we talked, the chef spotted violet wood sorrel nearby , an edible plant with a lemony zing.
• "Oh yeah, that's good," she said as she popped a piece in her mouth.

Once milled, the boards will become pantry shelves in the new dining room. Photo: Torey Van Oot/Axios

Myriel, Two Doors Down

While Myriel's approach has attracted national press and accolades, including a James Beard nomination for Best Chef Midwest this year, the model is labor intensive, costly and hard to scale.

By the numbers: At $145 per person, the tasting menu is already one of the most expensive in the Twin Cities.

It also requires flexibility of the menu and her staff, since ingredients are subject to the weather and harvests.

• She says she's often "waltzing in at 3:30, right before staff meal, carrying loads of things" that need to be prepped or worked into upcoming dishes.

Yes, but: Tomlinson's private-dining expansion could help her unconventional business model stay feasible.

The intrigue: Bigger groups looking to celebrate without buying out the whole restaurant are hard to accommodate in her current 38-seat dining room, she said.

• But she can't move to a much bigger space or open more days without "really changing our strategy."

What to expect : The new dining room in a neighboring space is set to open later this summer.

• Myriel, Two Doors Down will offer "family-style meals using our best ingredients and prettiest china" for 8-14 people, she explains.
• "We want to give an experience where it's almost like you're going to your grandma's house. I don't mean that we're doing grandma food, per se, but it's intimate."

Plus : Tomlinson plans to rent out the space during the day to business groups for lunch and drinks.

The price tag: The dinner food-and-beverage minimum is $1,400.

• The "working lunch," which she plans to make available Wednesday-Saturday, will be $110 a person.

But before those events can get booked, Brown needs to build shelves out of the Nyquists' boards.

The bottom line: After dropping off the lumber to be milled, it was time to drive another 20 minutes west to pick up the asparagus from another farmer.

• "It's not practical for every chef to go to the degree that I'm going," Tomlinson acknowledged.

"Oh my stars," Jane interjected. "I hope it continues to be practical for you."

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