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December 18, 2025

MN's Top 50 Restaurants, Hating On Holiday Bars, and Helping Hungry Minnesotans

City Cast Twin Cities

MN's Top 50 Restaurants, Hating On Holiday Bars, and Helping Hungry Minnesotans

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Food critic Kirstie Kimball has been to 600 restaurants across Minnesota in the past two years, and she has distilled her findings into a comprehensive list of the top 50 Minnesotan restaurants on her Substack Beyond Beurre Blanc. Host Sean McPherson is joined by contributor and Racket Co-Founder Em Cassel to chat with Kirstie about her methodology for reviewing so many restaurants and to learn why Em hates holiday pop-up bars so much. Later, Sean talks with Anne Laskey, the Cause Marketing and Events Manager at Second Harvest Heartland, about how to help fight hunger this holiday season, and producer Adam Sage joins the conversation to highlight an upcoming winter festival. 


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