LAB TALKS: Crafting Culinary Experiences

From the food on your plate to the table it's placed upon, a dining experience stretches far beyond the menu. In this fall's LAB Talk, we're bringing together some of the Twin Cities most innovative, awarded chef-owners to share how they create restaurant concepts that establish them not only as local staples to our dining scene but also push the boundaries of what a dining experience can be. How can a restaurant concept blend the deeply personal with the shared experience of gathering for a meal?

From interactive themed dinners that engage all five senses to colorful menus that honor Southeast Asian street food with playfulness and heat, to cozy, minimalist hyperlocal menus of our region's best ingredients, our panelists have done it all. We're thrilled to welcome James Beard award-winning Christina Nguyen of Hai Hai and Hola Arepa, Food & Wine's 2024 Best New Chef Karyn Tomlinson of Myriel, and Mike Brown, James Beard semi-finalist and part of the Chef-Owner team behind Travail Collective and the forthcoming Stargazer. Alison Arth of Salt + Roe, an expert in helping culinary entrepreneurs bring their vision to life, will guide our conversation.

Event Schedule:

Doors Open and Check-In: 9 am-9:30

Grab a free cup of coffee and say hello to others before the panel begins!

Panel: 9:30-10:15 am:

The panel begins with an introduction from LAB's owner & creative director, Mollie Windmiller, and then we’ll dive into the conversation with Alison Arth of Salt + Roe guiding the conversation as moderator.

Connect with fellow attendees + panelists: 1 0:15-10:30 am

Meet the panelists after our conversation, connect with others, and enjoy an inspirational kickstart to your Wednesday morning!

Meet the Panel

About Christina Nguyen is the 2024 James Beard award-winning chef behind Hai Hai in Northeast Minneapolis and Hola Arepa in South Minneapolis. Hai Hai is a Southeast Asian street food restaurant & bar in Northeast Minneapolis. Hai Hai means two two in Vietnamese - a nod to the building's past life as the infamous 22nd Avenue Station (aka Deuce Deuce), a dive bar & strip club. Inspired by dishes that Chef Christina Nguyen grew up eating at home, at family celebrations, in Vietnamese Sunday school basements & during several trips to Southeast Asia, you can expect to find more than just the standards like pho & pad Thai - Hai Hai shines the spotlight on some lesser-known delicious regional dishes. Hola Arepa was founded by Chef Christina Nguyen & her partner Birk Grudem as a food truck in 2011. They opened their brick-and-mortar restaurant in 2014, you can always enjoy their arepas, other dishes & cocktails in a space inspired by their travels to beach towns and charming old cafes in South America, Central America and Mexico.

About : Mike Brown is part of the Travail Collective with Bob Gerken and James Winberg, a group of culinary innovators and event curators passionate about hospitality. They create dining experiences in downtown Robbinsdale, Minnesota at Travail Kitchen and Amusements. Their other concepts include Nouvelle Kitchen & Brewery featuring small-batch brews and craft pizzas by Pig Ate My Pizza located across the street in downtown Robbinsdale and Dream Creamery in Northeast Minneapolis offering premium ice cream and one of the best smash burgers in Minneapolis. Their newest concept is Stargazer, which includes an elevated cocktail program by Robb Jones and bite flights by Travail Kitchen.

About : And recently awarded Best New Chef by Food & Wine, Karyn Tomlinson is the owner and head chef behind Myriel, an intimate restaurant in St. Paul. She gracefully combines provincial French-inspired cuisine; a hyperlocal, nearly neo-Nordic ethos; and traditions of economy and preservation gleaned from her rural Swedish immigrant farming heritage in Minnesota. There’s also a dash of church basement. She has contemplated calling her cooking style “grandma cooking nouveau.” Karyn studied in France and Sweden and has a heart for hospitality around thoughtfully produced food. Their whole team does as well, and you can follow them on Instagram to catch a glimpse of how everyone brings their talents and unique skill sets to the table.

About : Alison Arth of Salt & Roe is a consultant, leadership coach, and author whose career is dedicated to working with hospitality leaders and teams to get clear on their vision, chart an achievable path towards it, and then provide the support, expertise, and accountability needed to realize it. Since graduating from Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration, she has helped lead over 40 restaurant openings including Michelin-star concepts for Chef Daniel Boulud in New York City, multiple James Beard-nominated restaurants for Chef Gavin Kaysen in Minneapolis, and Bon Appetit’s Best New Restaurant in America in 2018, Nyum Bai. Alison is a proud San Francisco native, an honorary New Yorker, and grateful to call Minneapolis home. Alison helps hospitality professionals find greater joy and deeper purpose in their work, and achieve personal and professional change in the direction of what's most meaningful to them. Follow her on Instagram @saltandroe!

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