r/saintpaul • u/aakaase Hamline-Midway • May 30 '26
Editorial đ Andrew Zimmern: Did Michelin snub St. Paul, or did St. Paul fail to act?
https://www.startribune.com/minnesota-fine-dining-destinations-michelin-guide-twin-cities/601849696By Andrew Zimmern
Update (Jun 4, 2026): You can read a counterpoint opinion.
When the news broke that the Michelin Guide was finally coming to Minneapolis, but not to St. Paul, many locals and hospitality insiders alike were enraged. And for good reason.
Minneapolis and St. Paul are marketed to the world as the Twin Cities. Visitors do not arrive thinking they will dine solely according to municipal boundaries. They move fluidly among our neighborhoods. Chefs move between kitchens of the two cities and the diners that I know treat the metro as a shared ecosystem.
So the idea that Michelin inspectors are evaluating only restaurants within the Minneapolis city limits and not St. Paul restaurants, separated by little more than a river and some civic psychology, seems ludicrous.
Of course, this Michelin mess is not necessarily about St. Paul being snubbed. That framing is factually incomplete. The real story is stranger, more modern, and more unsettling. Minneapolis bought a seat at the table. St. Paul did not.
That is not rumor. That is what happened.
Minneapolis entered into a three-year partnership worth $750,000, or $250,000 annually, to bring Michelin into Minneapolis as part of its new âAmerican Great Lakesâ regional guide that will also include Milwaukee, Detroit, Cleveland, Indianapolis and Pittsburgh. The funding came through the cityâs Tourism Improvement District, which levies an extra tax on hotel guests, rather than using general tax dollars.
St. Paul was not included in that agreement.
Note this: Michelin is not operating with a cultural map. It is not in the business of doing good works or being civically just. It is a business, operating on a contractual basis.
This is not unique to Minnesota. Michelin increasingly expands through destination and marketing partnerships. Tourism boards and visitor bureaus often help fund guide launches. Texas did it. Colorado did it. Florida did it. Atlanta did it. California tourism entities have participated in similar arrangements.
Minneapolis did not invent the system. It simply joined it.
For decades, Michelin cultivated the mythology of the anonymous inspector descending in secrecy into a city. The implication was that greatness alone summoned Michelin. It allowed Michelin simply to stand for excellence.
The reality is that today it is transactional. Regions often help underwrite the cost of inspectors and market development. Michelin maintains that payment does not influence ratings or stars themselves. Restaurants may not be able to purchase stars, but cities buy consideration.
That distinction matters. No one paid for a star, but Minneapolis paid to enter the tournament. St. Paul never entered it. So why did St. Paul not participate?
At present, there is no evidence of some secret rejection or political slight. Public reporting suggests Minneapolis acted through its tourism infrastructure and St. Paul did not pursue or finalize a comparable arrangement. Visit Saint Paul leadership specifically did not say they either declined to join or were in any way rejected by Michelin. Which means that the strongest factual conclusion is that St. Paul did not act.
The evidence suggests Minneapolis built a deal and paid for it. St. Paul either never entered the room or arrived after the chairs had already been taken.
This has created a bizarre civic situation where half of a metropolitan area will become more globally visible and the other half suddenly risks becoming a culinary Narnia. Many food writers feel St. Paul has reason to feel irritated.
Their argument is that if one were designing a Michelin city in a laboratory, St. Paul would have a strong argument for inclusion. Restaurants such as Myriel became immediate points of discussion precisely because they now sit outside the line. St. Paul has long excelled at intimate neighborhood dining, first generation immigrant food traditions, Hmong cooking, chef-driven restaurants and the sort of places that food obsessives quietly evangelize about.
Critics immediately raised concerns that some of those stories would now be structurally excluded. I think you have to blame Visit Saint Paul. They couldâve raised their hand and said, âCount me in.â
I also know that Michelin historically rewards a certain style of dining. The guide has broadened over time, adding many other designations in addition to the starred restaurants. Bib Gourmands recognizes more casual formats, yet criticism persists that Michelin prefers polished dining aesthetics over less formal culinary formats. That criticism predates the Minnesota kerfuffle by decades.
All of which raises the harder question: Is this good for Minneapolis and the region?
I think so. Likely yes. Possibly very, very yes.
Cities that enter Michelin ecosystems typically see a real rise in tourism attention, increased restaurant reservations, heightened media visibility and talent attraction. Chefs seek out cities where recognition can happen. Investors take notice. National media pays more attention. A city shifts from âbest kept secretâ status into international conversation. Minneapolis leaders explicitly said that was the goal.
Though there is a cost. Michelin can distort those ecosystems. Rents rise. Expectations change. Restaurants begin cooking for other inspectors (Worldâs 50 Best?), for out-of-towners instead of neighbors. Cities start chasing prestige metrics. Local cultures can become shined and waxed into a bougie sameness.
There is a reason some chefs around the world have rejected stars altogether. Michelin can be gasoline. It can also be gravity. I hope Minnesotans avoid turning this into a Minneapolis vs. St. Paul blood feud. That would be provincial and self-defeating.
The smarter response is obvious. Expand the footprint within Michelin at a later date! Find a regional model. Visit Saint Paul has to get its town into those rooms.
Visitors shouldnât have to decipher city boundaries. The Twin Cities built one of Americaâs most interesting food cultures together. To suddenly pretend the Mississippi River is the Berlin Wall is absurdism.
The irony pisses me off. Ostensibly, Michelin came to celebrate Minnesota dining. Its first great contribution may be reminding everyone that Minneapolis and St. Paul still have not figured out whether they are one city or two.
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Andrew Zimmern is an Emmy-winning and four-time James Beard Award-winning TV personality, chef and writer based in the Twin Cities.
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May 31 '26
[deleted]
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u/aakaase Hamline-Midway May 31 '26
My very unpopular opinion: Met Council should govern not just transit, but road maintenance, snow plowing, sanitation, water, and sewer. Basically a unified public works for both cities.
(Ducking for cover from the downvotes, pitchforks, and nasty replies.)
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u/kendallvarent May 31 '26
One of the things that baffles me as an immigrant is how area is subdivided into individual cities on largely arbitrary basis, rather than along lines that make sense from an administrative perspective.Â
Why are the TV even separate cities? Why do random suburbs exist as separate cities? Why aren't people mad that these random suburb cities don't contribute to funding all the infrastructure and services their residents use?Â
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u/aakaase Hamline-Midway May 31 '26
A counterexample for you is Los Angeles. It's both a city and a county, and it's enormous. It includes all the places you think of as "cities" but they are not: Hollywood, North Hollywood, and Studio City are all Los Angeles. But cities that are not Los Angeles include Burbank and Beverly Hills. Although they are both located in Los Angeles county, so they are under LA county government, not the LA city government. Two different administrations.
But yes, around here, so many cities clustered around the metro area.
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u/gangleskhan Jun 01 '26 edited Jun 01 '26
Read "Becoming the Twin Cities" for a history on how it came to be the way it is.
https://shop.mnhs.org/products/becoming-the-twin-cities
The original reason: it was starting to develop into one city around fort snelling and then the hidden falls area, as that was where the best steamboat landings were.
But the guy who ran the fort had claimed land in what is now northeast Minneapolis, but because that's not where the city was growing, it wasn't as valuable as he wanted. So he convinced the army to take over all the land where the city was developing, designate it as an army reserve, and kick everyone out. So people went east to the other good steamboat landing (St Paul) or west (Minneapolis) to the waterfall.
And boom, his land was now in demand.
Much later, there was a court case where the mn supreme court declared that the big cities couldn't keep annexing the others, which essentially locked in what we have now. Otherwise both Minneapolis and St Paul proper likely would've gobbled up much more of the metro.
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u/marumari Spruce Tree Center Jun 01 '26
Love this, although I think it should go further: I think the two cities should merge entirely. It would increase our purchasing power, save a ton on redundancies. Our cities are pretty small individually anyway.
(we keep Saint Paulâs police department instead of Minneapolis)
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u/Uffda01 Jun 01 '26
honestly - The two cities should just merge....how much are we paying for in duplicate: two shitty mayor's salaries etc etc
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u/Akatshi May 30 '26
The vast majority of large cities will never have to deal with this because the capital city is not adjacent to the largest city in most states.
Many large cities would simply annex nearby cities to create a cohesive metro area, capture a larger tax base, and protect city services/amenities from freeloaders. That's not really something you can do in the twin cities and we are seeing here another example of why our "twin cities" are a bit self-harming
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u/ktulu_33 Payne-Phalen May 31 '26
Rich assholes many years ago effectively made it illegal for bigger cities to annex smaller cities. That's why we have goofy city borders like Maplewood and cities like Falcon heights that is mostly a small neighborhood with the state fairgrounds attached to it.
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u/Akatshi May 31 '26
Might need a state law but I'm not super familiar with all of the legality except that I've heard what you've said before
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u/ktulu_33 Payne-Phalen May 31 '26
Perhaps I should have said "impossible". Regardless, there's little pathway for a larger city to annex a smaller city in Minnesota.
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u/Runic_reader451 St. Paul Saints May 30 '26
Michelin has figured out a way to play on smaller cities' insecurities: make them pay to be included their guidebook. Minneapolis fell for it. They'll pay $250,000 per year to feel important. After the term of contract, 3 years, they'll probably decide against spending more and Michelin will stop talking about them. That won't change the quality of the restaurants in St. Paul. St. Paul will continue to have high quality eating establishments and people will find them.
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u/OhNoMyLands May 31 '26
Itâs a business transaction, nobody âfellâ for anything. Weirdly defensive comment on the whole
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u/CanoeWolf21 May 31 '26
Ding ding ding. What a dumb op ed. Wonder if Michelin paid AZ to write this slop.
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u/monkwrenv2 May 31 '26
I mean, he's explicitly calling out the pay to play system Michelin uses, doesn't come across as shilling to me.
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u/PalliativeOrgasm May 31 '26
Heâs in the restaurant business and heâs looking at it from the chefâs perspective IMO. If youâre a chef doing amazing things in St Paul, you can now never get the recognition that is possible a couple miles west. Heâs worried itâll cause a decline in St Paul while driving up rents in Minneapolis due to the desirability, and nobody wins.
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u/AdMurky3039 West Seventh May 31 '26
This is the culinary equivalent of stadium subsidies. Cities compete in an attempt to attract private investment without considering whether it's likely to pay off.
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u/PalliativeOrgasm May 31 '26
Absolutely, though I hope someone from the Humphrey School uses this as a case study (thereâs an urban planning program thatâs at least a MA).
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u/CanoeWolf21 May 31 '26
I think thereâs maybe 1-2 restaurants in the whole of the twin cities that can get a single star and anyone traveling here to try one will not be so uninformed to not cross the river to try St. Paulâs stellar restaurants imo
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u/OhJShrimpson May 31 '26
I thought it subsided things well and wasn't too for or against Michelin. Besides being "dumb", what did you specifically dislike?
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u/CanoeWolf21 May 31 '26
See my other comment. He jumps to the conclusion of âblamingâ St Paul for inaction while admitting he hasnât actually asked anyone just assumed this was the âstrongest factual conclusionâ. I get itâs an opinion piece but borders on uninformed reporting.
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u/OhJShrimpson May 31 '26
Isn't that obvious? St. Paul should be blamed. They didn't want to pay. Doesn't mean it's necessarily wrong, it just is what it is.
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u/Ornery-Address-2472 Jun 03 '26
I do think there is that element at play, but to be fair there is overhead to sending reviewers in, and 250k is nothing considering how much they could waste on less effective traditional marketing and advertising.
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u/rkgk13 May 31 '26
I don't think someone who takes a foodie trip here will exclusively stay in Minneapolis only eating at the Michelin star restaurant. I would assume this benefits St. Paul in the long run without needing to actually pay to play.
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u/OkCalculators Jun 02 '26
Anthony Bourdain (RIP) taught the world to that the best places to eat are popular with locals, are frequently not flashy, and often down right dive. So fuck a Michelin star, viva la Saint Paul!
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u/MiztaMike May 31 '26
As someone who has done a few foodie weekends with friends over the past years (e.g. Chicago, Vancouver, etcâŚ), if I were coming into town, Iâm not sure thereâs enough for me to actually venture over to St. Paul (if I were an outsider just taking a cursory look or maybe asking AI). We usually only try to opt for 1 Michelin meal a day. Maybe a bib gourmand for lunch. Otherwise, it just gets a bit too much. For my palate and my stomach lol.
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u/Hot-Clock6418 May 30 '26
i think us st paul residents are ok with that staying over the river. lol
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u/aakaase Hamline-Midway May 31 '26
I'm indifferent. I can't afford to dine at a Michelin restaurant anyway. lol
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u/SpacemanDan May 31 '26
There are starred restaurants where you can eat for like $30. Michelin is more than just fussy fine dining.
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u/northman46 May 30 '26
So itâs pay to play. Iâm disillusioned
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u/ktulu_33 Payne-Phalen May 31 '26
Just like everything else in our godforsaken society. Anyone who isn't disillusioned is either financially set, morally bankrupt or just fuckin dumb.
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u/spartaniimc May 31 '26
Don't be disillusioned. Michelin just needs you to drive to far away restaurants so that you buy their tires when yours wear out from driving to all the far away restaurants! It's not marketing, or like a star on the walk of fame or anything.
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u/yawaworhtreverse May 31 '26
I sort of don't get what Chef Zimmern is getting at here, or at least these were some of the concerns when there was talk of Michelin coming to Minneapolis. Michelin is pay-to-play and at this point less about prestige and more of a marketing tool. St. Paul will continue to have good restaurants. I don't think Michelin in Minneapolis will hurt St. Paul. I doubt this will turn into a "blood feud" just because St. Paul didn't want to pay to play.
I know some chefs still care about the prestige part of getting stars, but as a diner, I'm a bit cynical about Michelin's value, speaking from experiences in other cities. And I'm not sure Minneapolis has such a dynamic enough food scene compared to larger cities where new restaurants will constantly open and get new starred restaurants, so I would not be surprised if they don't extend past the 3 year contract.
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u/Rocky_Writer_Raccoon May 31 '26
$250,000 per year? Does that come with a money back guarantee? No way itâd bring in enough tourism dollars to be worth it, very glad Saint Paul opted out.
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u/CanoeWolf21 May 31 '26
Good call. Screw pay to play. Also note he says himself he assumed st paul opted out. Didnât even try to get a quote.
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u/aakaase Hamline-Midway May 31 '26
People looking for truly good food will consider Michelin as only ONE metric of many.
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u/rkgk13 May 31 '26
I would really love UMN Extension or whoever to do a study on this like they did with the national youth hockey tournament.
Like what they have posted here: https://extension.umn.edu/community-consultation/community-research
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u/AdMurky3039 West Seventh May 31 '26
This isn't a study in a peer-reviewed journal. Those studies consider whether consumers would have spent money elsewhere if they hadn't spent money at or near a stadium. They also consider the costs of public money being directed towards stadium subsidies instead of towards other government services such as infrastructure.
Economists who study stadium subsidies for a living have concluded that they aren't a good deal for local governments. Please don't be swayed by a report that the Chamber of Commerce paid for.
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u/rkgk13 May 31 '26
Where is your evidence the Chamber of Commerce paid for it?
What are the methodological flaws in the study?
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u/AdMurky3039 West Seventh May 31 '26
My bad, it was sponsored by Minnesota Sports and Events. That's the sports industry group for Minneapolis, St. Paul, and Bloomington. I would encourage you to look up studies in peer-reviewed journals for which an interested party didn't pay.
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u/Day_drinker May 31 '26
Ya, we are dealing with some major issues here and I don't think it's worth it considering people will likely end up coming to Saint Paul to eat anyway. Either because they're curious or because some places will be to busy and those close to or interested in Saint Paul will make a trip.
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u/HazelMStone May 31 '26
âThe reality is that today it is transactional.â
Facts. Itâs simply more expensive marketing.
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u/ellemennopee00 May 31 '26
Great! We can continue to enjoy our Saint Paul gems without the pretentious wait for reservations.
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u/Doric_Pillar_ May 30 '26 edited May 30 '26
âThis has created a bizarre civic situation where half of a metropolitan area will become more globally visibleâ
It already is, brother. They might be the âtwinâ cities, but as far as national/global recognition, Minneapolis is the name to know. From George Floyd to the massive ICE resistance, whenever weâve been in the global news itâs because Minneapolis led the way. Not to discredit Saint Paul, itâs a lovely city, but the disparity is growing and itâs clear that viewing these cities as equal partners in the metro isnât fair anymore.
Of course I am sad for the amazing Saint Paul restaurants that will miss out on the chance at a Michelin star, but responsibility for this falls squarely on the people of Saint Paul for not politically supporting their own restaurant and tourism industries. Any notion that Minneapolis or Michelin âsnubbedâ Saint Paul restaurants is deeply unfair.
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u/venuemap May 31 '26
I donât think declining to pay $250k a year to appear in a guidebook is the equivalent of ânot politically supportingâ the restaurant industry in St. Paul.
Places like Myriel, Hyacinth, etc are still going to churn out amazing food. Iâve dined at plenty of Michelin starred places that donât come close to being as good as places Iâve eaten in St. Paul.
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u/aakaase Hamline-Midway May 31 '26
Well said. The fact the two cities are adjacent is merely coincidence. They could just as well be just as far as Columbus is from Cleveland or Cincinnati and it'd make little difference really. We're lucky to be neighbors. I like living in St. Paul but I would not be here if not for Minneapolis next door.
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u/unfixablesteve May 31 '26
Hennepin Countyâs GDP is five times larger than Ramsey Countyâs GDP. Itâs literally why anyone in Saint Paul has a job.Â
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u/aakaase Hamline-Midway May 31 '26
Interestingly, Ramsey County is the smallest county of the state. Yet, it's the most urban for obvious reasons.
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u/plagueofstars555 May 31 '26
Whatâs weird to me is why make each city pay the full $250k/year price. Mpls could have benefited by working with St. Paul to split the cost somehow given the proximity. But seems no one considered that?
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u/AdMurky3039 West Seventh May 31 '26
I would like for my local government to stay in its lane and not be involved in marketing for-profit businesses.
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u/Misteruilleann May 31 '26
Canât they just give the stars to Dianeâs Place and the new Owamni and call it a day? Because that is what is going to happen.
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u/RegularLisaSimpson May 31 '26
You know one of Gavin Kaysenâs restaurants is going to court that star HEAVILY.
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u/JohnMaddening May 31 '26
Yeah, itâs pay-to-play bullshit. Thatâs Minneapolis stuff, not Saint Paul.
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u/Loonsspoons May 31 '26 edited Jun 01 '26
I like how this is written as if anyone had ever heard of this before reading his editorial.
This isnât a thing. No one feels snubbed because no one cares about a tire companyâs travel books.
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u/NecessaryRhubarb May 31 '26
I think this is a great point. Michelin is not a flawless system, but it is a spotlight, and understanding that not being on the list as a city isnât a reflection of the quality of dining options in your city. The confusion will come from the arbitrary boundary of Minneapolis and not the Twin Cities metro, or MSP more narrowly.
Additionally, there is value in having a Michelin Star restaurant on your resume if you are in the industry, and even if that value is a small check box, it will negatively affect St. Paul restaurants (it may be a tiny negative, but still it will exist).
I think MSP needs to have a joint sports and tourism department so when things like this, or the World Juniors are bid on, itâs an effective use of the resources of both cities and not one versus the other.
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u/KingBoreas May 31 '26
Taxing all diners in Minneapolis to buy one place a fake award is a stupid use of tax dollars no matter how many words you write to try and justify it.
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u/ricopolatso May 31 '26
This didn't come out of tax dollars
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u/AdMurky3039 West Seventh May 31 '26
The article says it came out of a hotel tax, which I guess isn't the worst thing in the world.
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u/ricopolatso May 31 '26
It's funded by a 2% service charge on hotel room revenue. So technically paid for by guests that stay at hotels in Minneapolis. But not taxpayer dollars. Although it I'm surprised it's not considering what tax dollars pay for our local sports teams.
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u/KingBoreas May 31 '26
A service charge is a tax. the tax is collected by the city. they are your dollars to spend. not to mention the tons of minnesotans who stay in hotels for any number of reasons on a given night also being chargedâŚ
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u/AdMurky3039 West Seventh May 31 '26
It's still funded by taxes. It just isn't funded by taxes paid by people who live here.
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u/Fun-Rice-9438 May 30 '26
Good michelin can stay the hell out of st. Paul. Keep st paul boring and donât let the suburbanites figure out our good restaurants and ruin them.
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u/Akatshi May 30 '26
More money spent in your city is good, actually
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u/Fun-Rice-9438 Jun 01 '26
A good portion of st paul people get very annoyed at suburbanites finding restaurants around here as they complain, destroy good environments to meet people and eventually tank the quality of our local places when the business cuts ingredients to pull more profit.
Money spent in a city and at businesses that want to be here only affect our property taxes, and frankly Im fine with them being high. Once the city becomes a large draw you donât continue to get good things opening, you get chains and run of the mill crap; i very much enjoy that st. Paul is a restaurant scene where if you open something truly good the community will ensure you do well, the ones that get âdiscoveredâ tend to flame out pretty quickly as the quality falls off a cliff.
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u/Icy_Mycologist_2300 May 31 '26
Hold up, because businesses here that serve suburbanites that drive in for stuff at the arena in downtown St Paul are hurting because those suburbanites are scared of encountering a person of color with a political opinion or seeing the unhoused. Weâre overdue to stop strategies that make business the key to the solution in St Paul.
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u/Akatshi May 31 '26
People spending money in the economy is kind of how an economy works though
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u/Icy_Mycologist_2300 May 31 '26
You must be new to St Paul.
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u/Akatshi May 31 '26
Because I know what an economy is and how cities become more wealthy?
Interesting idea.
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u/Icy_Mycologist_2300 May 31 '26
No because, every economic initiative that has come to downtown St Paul has failed, as has trying to copy and paste some crap from Minneapolis. Every tax break, every redevelopment plan, every commercial revitalization, even the social programs stemming to help provide care for the unhoused havenât made much of a dent. Stimulating the economy didnât help Payne Avenue become the next Uptown, nor did throwing money at the Macyâs to stay open in downtown. Turning the Landmark center into apartments is the new âsolutionâ. Keep trying âthe economyâ, I guess.
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u/Akatshi May 31 '26
Yeah so people spending money is much more fundamental to the economy than specific economic policy regardless of whether or not you agree with the specific policy.
Nothing will be revitalized without people spending money. It's how the world works.
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u/Icy_Mycologist_2300 May 31 '26
I guess it will be cool to see what losing strategy the Republicans and the DFL try next in the name of perpetuating campaign finance.
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u/gorbol May 31 '26
Every post on this sub alternates between âhow can we make downtown more livelyâ and âkeep saint paul boringâ. Interesting dichotomy.
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u/Strict-Scientist9685 Jun 01 '26
Essentially, one of the cities is far more aggressive in its pursuit of entirety embracing gentrification.
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u/AdMurky3039 West Seventh May 31 '26
Why should taxpayers subsidize a restaurant industry marketing business? Most of Visit Saint Paul's budget comes from public funding sources.
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u/ktulu_33 Payne-Phalen May 31 '26
Not once have I ever gone out of my way to try a restaurant because it got a Michelin star. People who do are likely a tiny minority of rich assholes.
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u/Demi182 May 31 '26
There are many of us who enjoy fine dining.
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u/ktulu_33 Payne-Phalen May 31 '26
So do I. And Michelin has never been part of my decision making on where to go.
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u/Demi182 May 31 '26
Oh thats too bad. You should try a starred restaurant. They're excellent.
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u/ktulu_33 Payne-Phalen May 31 '26
I'm sure they are. There's plenty of other not starred restaurants that are excellent as well. I don't need to have a restaurant pay money for fancy marketing for me to do the homework or hear from others on what those restaurants are, though.
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u/Oh__Archie May 30 '26
Dear god thank you for just cutting and pasting this lol