Appetites: The Twin Cities' appeal to big-city chefs

Spoon and Stable has been named Restaurant of the Year by Minnesota Monthly and other local publications. No surprise there, since its chef and owner Gavin Kaysen has been lauded with accolades since his North Loop eatery opened in late 2014.

The restaurant is perhaps the best example of a trend of big-city chefs moving to the Twin Cities to open their own restaurants. Tom Crann spoke with Minnesota Monthly editor Rachel Hutton about the effect that some decidedly non-culinary factors such as way of life and cost of living have had on our dining scene.

Kaysen is a native of Bloomington, Minn., so it makes sense he'd open a restaurant in Minneapolis. But Hutton said the high quality of life, lower stress levels and lower cost of living in the Twin Cities has drawn Kaysen and others to open up restaurants there.

Plus, the level of sophistication in the Twin Cities dining scene is getting higher.

"We aren't New York, granted, but we've been getting a lot of respect and attention from the national press that his Manhattan colleagues would look at him and not look down their nose," Hutton said.

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