molly yeh’s favorite minnesota spots to eat, shop & explore By Andrew Parks When it came time for a life change, hit Food Network host Molly Yeh knew the opportunity and quality of life in Minnesota were precisely what she was seeking. “One of the things that got me into food was sitting at the back of the orchestra, waiting a really long time for my one cymbal note,” says Molly Yeh, a Juilliard-trained musician. “It made me very antsy. And since I needed something creative to fill that time, I started thinking about food.” That creative spark took her from Juilliard to Girl Meets Farm, bestselling cookbooks and Bernie’s—her family-inspired cafe in East Grand Forks, Minn. “Living here has been as inspiring and energizing as I’d dreamt it would be.” On local East Grand Forks eats, she says, “The Blue Moose has a walleye sandwich I really like. And Mike’s Pizza is thin, crispy, and cut into little squares…Since the slices are so small, you can eat more of them.” For grocery runs, she swears by Hugo’s: “They have a pretty extensive selection of… local specialties like lefse, lutefisk, Swedish pearl sugar. Before I moved here, I had to order that online.” Each summer, her family heads to Bemidji. “Our favorite trail is the bog walk…It’s perfect for little kids like ours. There are some great places we always return to, like the Minnesota Nice Cafe — the first place I had wild rice pancakes [and] a hot dog stand called Lucky Dogs. It’s so good.” She also loves Northern Waters Smokehaus in Duluth (“some of the best smoked fish I’ve ever had”) and Hai Hai in Minneapolis. “I dream about their crispy rice salad. I’m a when-in-Rome type of person—I love leaning into what each place does best.” Molly Yeh Credit: Chantell and Brett Quernemoen Lake Bemidji State Park Bog Walk Trail Credit: MN DNR Read Molly’s full story at ExploreMinnesota.com/yeh ThE MinnEsOTa Way Of LifE | 19
Explore Minnesota Travel Guide 2026 Explore Minnesota Travel Guide: Page 19
