Meet the Chefs: An Interview with Erin and Mateo Mackbee, the Duo Behind the Inaugural Story Feast

Chefs Erin and Mateo Mackbee of Krewe Restaurant and Flour & Flower Bakery at the Story Feast celebration

When I set out to find chefs for our first Story Feast dinner at St. John’s Abbey in Minnesota, I wasn't looking for someone who could simply cook beautiful food. I was looking for partners who understood what we were trying to create, a gathering where food, place, and community converge into something greater than the sum of its parts.

I found that in Erin and Mateo Mackbee. And was heartened that Brother Aelred Senna from St. John’s couldn’t stop raving about them. And neither could any of my friends who live in the area.

The husband-and-wife team behind Krewe Restaurant and Flour & Flower Bakery in St. Joseph, Minnesota, not only brought their remarkable culinary talent to St. John's Abbey, but their philosophy: that food is a vehicle for connection, for healing, for community. Along the way, among so many other accolades, Chef Mateo has been nominated for a James Beard Award and Flour & Flower was listed by the NY Times as one of the 22 Best Bakeries in America.

I sat down with them before our inaugural gathering to learn more about their journey.

Can you share the journey that led you to open Krewe and Flour & Flower? What inspired you to put down roots in St. Joseph?

Mateo: It all started when we met in 2014. I had been searching for land to grow food, my vision was to teach kids how food grows, then let them follow it back to a restaurant in the cities where they could prepare it. Save the scraps and start the whole process over again.

I met a pastor in a bar, we both had shaved bald heads and knew similar people through our travels. I had been a DJ in a hip-hop group for years in St. Paul and Indianapolis. I was affectionately known as D-Big Sam in those circles, and there are people who still can't call me Mateo because they know me from that part of my life.

We struck up a friendship, and over probably four years of meeting and talking, he shared his vision for his little church on the prairie, this holistic spiritual space in the tiniest Lutheran church in the middle of nowhere. He invited us to central Minnesota, saying he had farmers whose kids didn't want to farm anymore, and maybe they'd have an acre or two for us to try.

We ended up meeting the owners of a local brewery who asked us to cook for them. Three days after we fed them that night, they slapped down this whole remodeling project, they scratched it up that night because they were like, "No, it's not going to work to have you in a separate building. We need it all combined because the food just knocked it out of the park."

What is the origin story of Krewe and Flour & Flower?

Erin: A professor from St. John's brought his friend out to eat at the brewery. His friend owns the building that Krewe is in now and he'd been searching for a New Orleans-style chef for years. He asked if we wanted to open a restaurant specifically focused on New Orleans cuisine. We'd only been open three months and Mateo was like, "Well, hell yeah!" We just moved out to central Minnesota, we've only been open for three months, how in the world are we going to be able to do this? But we went to tour the space.

Mateo: At that time, the owner had no purpose for the building that Flour & Flower is in, he was going to turn it into a big gallery. But immediately I was like, "What's the next steps?" He invited us to New Orleans for recon and R&D, and on the plane ride back we were like, "Let's figure out how to do this." How can you say no to a situation like that?

Erin: Then Mateo asked if we could turn the second building into a bakery, and the owner was like, "Why not?" So we just added another business into the mix. The structure was built but it was still a dirt floor in the restaurant and completely wide open, it took almost a year to get it all built out.

“We look outward, not necessarily inward. We're using food as a vehicle to do good. There's a footprint and legacy being laid, and we're hoping to pull other people into that momentum.” Mateo Mackbee

St. Joseph has really become known as a culinary destination. What makes this little town so special?

Mateo: We were lucky to arrive when there were already people establishing roots, Bad Habit Brewing was expanding, Milk & Honey Ciders (a sponsor of the inaugural Story Feast dinner) was about to launch. We landed at perfect timing to boost what was already moving. I think we inspired more folks to follow their dreams, and we all became a support system for each other.

Erin: There's a food desert out there, from New London to Spicer to Willmar, there's only Chili's and Applebee’s. No independent restaurants. People were craving handmade, from-scratch food made with a lot of care. The weekend we opened, probably 600 people came through in one day. Our POS system broke, we had to take handwritten orders, we were on a two-hour wait. It didn't calm down for months because people could taste the love through our food.

“That moment will forever be instilled in why I get up at midnight some days, why we work 20-hour days. That one connection where you made someone's life a smidgen better on their lowest day, they knew they could come to us.” - Erin Mackbee

Story Feast from above (left photo credit: Tay Elhindi, right photo credit: Bailey Bassen

Community seems central to everything you do. Can you talk about that philosophy?

Erin: People aren't just looking for good food and high quality ingredients, they're seeking affection, connection, and support. They want to know they're not alone. When George Floyd was murdered, we organized donations for Minneapolis churches. The amount of people who came out to donate was insane. That was the moment people realized we're not here just to make money, we're here for a deeper purpose.

Opening during COVID, the bakery opened a week or two before we did, and our structure is all to-go so it was easy to maintain stability. We had lines wrapping around the building Wednesday through Sunday. People respected that we had face masks and only allowed two people in the building at a time.

Mateo: We've built our restaurants as community gathering spaces first. Whatever happens financially allows us to continue those gatherings. We look outward, not necessarily inward. We're using food as a vehicle to do good. There's a footprint and legacy being laid, and we're hoping to pull other people into that momentum.

“The difference is he ignited the passion inside of me, and that's the reason why I show up and cook every day, to try to get somebody's fire to burn a little bit brighter.” - Mateo Mackbee

Every dish seemed to legitimately make people smile, and sometimes even laugh out loud. It was pure joy.

What foundational things shape who you are as chefs?

Erin: For me, it's food memories. I hear Mateo talk about his family recipes that have been passed on for generations, and I can't relate to that because we weren't a family of recipes. My mom would have magazine clippings, my grandma has a whole recipe book of just clippings from different things. So there's no true recipe that defines our family.

For me, it's food memories like my grandma who lived in Omaha. We would visit her towards the end of July when peaches would be so ripe, and she would make us peach pie for breakfast. That for me is my way of having peach pie, only when I can get those beautiful Colorado peaches or local peaches. One bite puts me right back in her kitchen.

We respect the seasons, we're not serving fresh blueberry pie in January. We're intentional about our food, making sure we recognize not only history but where our food is headed.

Mateo: Food memories are always with me wherever I go, but it's also youth empowerment. I want to be a shining light for someone who loves food but doesn't know how to get into cooking. We open up our space for people to come in and get a taste of what that's like.

My basics culinary professor ended up showing up in the restaurant recently, I haven't seen him in 20 years. I just started crying. This man is so amazing. He cooked at Le Bernardin, went to the White House to meet Michelle Obama, started No Kid Hungry in the state of Minnesota. He's starting a post-secondary program at Eden Prairie for younger kids. At 60 years old, passion just pours out of him.

Erin: It was so cool to see Mateo as a student when his professor walked in. As soon as he came in, I was in the bakery, and Mateo was glossy-eyed. I got to sit down with them and watch him listen to his chef. In culinary school, you have one chef that sticks out to you. To see that side of him, he's always a chef to me, but to see him as a student sitting next to his professor, that was probably top five moments of my life.

Mateo: The difference is he ignited the passion inside of me, and that's the reason why I show up and cook every day, to try to get somebody's fire to burn a little bit brighter. At 52 years old, I'm still here before you come and I'm here after you leave. This is hard work, but there's a lot you can benefit from it.

“We're intentional about our food, making sure we recognize not only history but where our food is headed.” - Erin Mackbee

Chefs in their element! photo credit: Caitlin Abrams

Can you share a meaningful moment with guests that's kept you going?

Erin: We have a regular in the bakery, a young woman. We did some pastries for her baby shower in December, and her baby was due two days before Valentine's Day. She had a very traumatic miscarriage the day that the baby was due. The Sunday after, a family member came in to get stuff for the family, so I didn't see her right away, but I gave her a little bouquet of flowers.

The Friday after Valentine's Day, she came in and there was a line of people. We saw each other through the window and she skipped the line. I met her halfway into the bakery, and I've never clung onto someone or had someone cling onto me as hard as she did. We don't really know each other, I just know her first name from ordering, but we had this connection through food.

She sobbed for a minute. It was one of those moments where people around us kept moving because they knew this had to happen. That moment will forever be instilled in why I get up at midnight some days, why we work 20-hour days. That one connection where you made someone's life a smidgen better on their lowest day, they knew they could come to us. Never underestimate the power of flour and flower. Humans need carbs to get through it. And hugs. And beauty.

Mateo: For me, working with groups of students in different places, they end up coming in to eat or we go there and I cook with them, and you can see their progress. One of them just reached out asking if she could do a stage with us. It's a young lady we've been working with for two years. Those are the things that mean the most to me, going from "I don't think I can" to "maybe I think I can do this" mentality. If they go from that to focusing more because they want to be successful, that's everything.

You've worked with Brother Aelred from St. John’s and done events at the abbey before. What makes it such a special place for Story Feast?

Erin: I'm not religious at heart, I view it in a different way. So I always get a little apprehensive when I'm around folks that live faith every day. But the love that Brother Aelred and Sister Thomasette and all these nuns and brothers bring to us is without condition. I've never been treated so well in my life than we have been in this community.

Every time I see Brother Aelred, we spend 20 minutes talking about something, and it always makes my day so much brighter. It's been so much fun working with the nuns too. Everybody is so kind and checks in with you first, then moves on to what they need. In an industry where everybody only cares about what's coming next, when is that getting fired, I don't care how you're doing, it's been so refreshing to be immersed in all of it.

Mateo: My relationship to religion has always been about relationships. The relationships we've built are the cornerstone of everything. I can't say how many times people walk by the kitchen wanting to say hi, give you a pat on the head, a hug, a thank you. It pushes you right back to why we're here and what we're supposed to be doing.

When people leave and go to other events and spaces, they're like, "This is amazing. You guys are crazy. What are you doing out there?" When I saw the name and I was like, "That's us." Eleven years together, cooking together from two months after meeting, we ARE the story feast. Being part of this isn't serendipitous. It's faith. It was written before we got here. I always attribute all of that to the Holy Spirit. That's my spirituality, very Holy Spirit driven. She's all about the details, and she's making all this happen and bringing it all together.

Learn more about Chef Mateo’s restaurant Krewe →

Learn more about Chef Erin’s bakery Flour & Flower →

Read "From Krewe to the Abbey: The Mackbees' Harvest Homecoming" in Minnesota Monthly →

My newsletter

Every Wednesday in my Substack newsletter, What’s Good Here, I share a new, well-tested recipe alongside guides, how-tos, interviews with inspiring people, and stories about what it means to live a good life. Every other Friday I also share five original recipes plus a step-by-step guide to host a Fantasy Feast inspired by your favorite movies, books and television shows.

Subscribe to What's Good Here →

Interested in partnering with us for a future gathering? See partnership opportunities →

Interested in joining a future gathering? See upcoming events →

In the Press: Minnesota Monthly Covers Story Feast

Chefs Erin and Mateo Mackbee of Krewe Restaurant and Flour & Flower Bakery at the Story Feast celebration

"From Krewe to the Abbey: The Mackbees' Harvest Homecoming"

We're honored that Minnesota Monthly sent writer Taycier Elhindi to cover our inaugural Story Feast gathering at St. John's Abbey. The resulting feature captures the spirit of the evening beautifully and tells a story that goes far beyond a single dinner.

About the Article

Taycier first met Chefs Mateo and Erin Mackbee in 2020, when they had just opened Krewe Restaurant and Flour & Flower Bakery in the small town of St. Joseph, Minnesota. The world was in flux. No one knew what the future would hold, let alone whether a small-town restaurant and bakery would survive.

Five years later, Taycier found herself in the back halls of St. John's Abbey, watching the same two chefs plate braised short ribs and three-day roasted chicken before stepping onto the dining floor to a standing ovation.

The article traces their journey, from a radical act of faith in 2020 to a full-circle moment in 2025.

A Few Excerpts

On the evening itself:

"At sunset on Nov. 1, the historic halls of St. John's Abbey filled with a deep reverence toward the Benedictine laws and principles on which it was built. Low lighting and long candlelit tables stretched under arched ceilings dressed with jars of hand-made pickles, local ceramic-ware, and a healthy share of Brother Justus Whiskey."

On what drives Mateo and Erin:

"While the chefs aren't particularly religious, Mateo describes 'feed thy neighbor' as a steady undercurrent in their work. 'The idea of turning water into wine, or the story of fishes and loaves are teachings that guide us,' he says. 'It's not something we preach, but it's definitely a silent driver.'"

On the menu:

"'We wanted it to feel familiar,' Mateo explains. 'Nothing obscure, dishes people could revisit or even recreate at home. Old-world tones with new-world twists.' The menu serves as an homage to the land's abundance and ability to produce sustenance, one of the many reasons the monks settled there all those years ago."

On what it meant to the Mackbees:

"'It's incredible. The people that came out tonight. Some drove an hour or more just to be here. I'm just grateful. To do what we love and have this kind of response is what everybody dreams of. This is a Super Bowl moment for us.'"

Read the Full Article

Taycier's piece is an inspired meditation on community, craft, and what it means to build something that lasts.

Read "From Krewe to the Abbey: The Mackbees' Harvest Homecoming" in Minnesota Monthly →

My newsletter

Every Wednesday in my Substack newsletter, What’s Good Here, I share a new, well-tested recipe alongside guides, how-tos, interviews with inspiring people, and stories about what it means to live a good life. Every other Friday I also share five original recipes plus a step-by-step guide to host a Fantasy Feast inspired by your favorite movies, books and television shows.

Subscribe to What's Good Here →

Interested in partnering with us for a future gathering? See partnership opportunities →

Interested in joining a future gathering? See upcoming events →

Partner Spotlight: Maine Prairie Studio

JD and Megan Jorgenson, not only ceramicists of extraordinary talent and generosity, but the best dressed at the Story Feast table, too!

The Ceramicists Behind Every Piece On Our Story Feast Table

When I began planning our inaugural gathering at St. John's Abbey, I knew I wanted the table itself to be extraordinary. Not just the food, not just the venue, but the objects we'd eat from. I wanted to celebrate a local ceramicist whose work could hold the meal in every sense.

I reached out to JD and Megan Jorgenson of Maine Prairie Studio. I knew it was a big ask: 180 guests, a multi-course family-style dinner, custom pieces for an event that had never happened before.

To my astonishment and delight, they said yes.

1,300 Original Pieces

What JD and Megan created for Story Feast was nothing short of extraordinary.

They made 1,300 original pieces in 13 different glazes, fired specifically for this event. They walked through the entire family-style menu with Chefs Mateo and Erin Mackbee, listening carefully to every element of the evening, and then designed original serving vessels for every single dish. Platters, bowls, dishes, hundreds of pieces, each one made by hand. They made original water tumblers and whiskey tumblers, vases, platters. Every single element made with tremendous care by JD and Megan.

It was like having a ceramic museum on the table. It added so much visual depth and warmth to the long tables our guests gathered around.

They kept adding elements to execute the vision, refining and expanding as the event took shape. Their generosity and artistry transformed the gathering into something none of us could have imagined.

A Standing Ovation

On the night of the feast, JD and Megan joined us as guests. During the evening, they shared their story with the room, how they'd built Maine Prairie Studio, their philosophy of craft and community, what it meant to create work for an event like this.

They received a standing ovation.

The night overflowed with appreciation and gratitude for them and their work. Guests understood, viscerally, that they weren't just eating an exquisite meal, but that it was being presented to them on a work of art.

Connections Run Deep

One of the most emotional moments of the evening happened before dinner even began.

I looked over and saw JD embracing Phil Steger, the founder of Brother Justus Whiskey. They knew each other and are old friends. Both are alumni of Saint John's University. JD had apprenticed at The Saint John's Pottery. the very studio we'd toured earlier that day, and Phil had built his distillery on Benedictine values he'd absorbed during his time at Saint John's.

The connections kept revealing themselves: ceramic artist and distiller, both shaped by the same place, reuniting at a table set with JD's work and toasted with Phil's whiskey.

That's what Story Feast is about. The people, the places, the invisible threads that tie us together.

About Maine Prairie Studio

Maine Prairie Studio is the pottery studio and home of Megan and JD Jorgenson, located in Kimball, Minnesota, about thirty minutes from Saint John's Abbey. Their mission is to nurture creativity and elevate the ceramic arts through community education for rural Minnesotans.

JD trained at The Saint John's Pottery, apprenticing under master potter Richard Bresnahan. He brought his infant son along to his shifts in the studio, that baby is now a young man in his twenties who joined us at the Story Feast dinner alongside his father. The lineage of craft, passed down through generations, was present at our table in more ways than one.

Beyond their own work, JD and Megan support artists at every stage through internships, apprenticeships, residencies, and retreats. They offer pottery classes for all skill levels, from introductory "Come Try It" sessions to intensive summer workshops. They host private groups, field trips, and parties.

And they welcome visitors. You can schedule a studio tour and see where the magic happens.

Tell them Story Feast sent you.

One Regret

Two days before the event, JD and Megan invited us to come to the studio for the opening of the kiln, the kiln that held many of the pieces destined for our table. With our task list running long, we couldn't make it.

It's my one regret from the entire event. I would have loved to see those pieces emerge still warm from the fire, to witness the moment when clay becomes art.

Next time.

Visit Maine Prairie Studio

Maine Prairie Studio is located in Kimball, Minnesota.

They offer:

• Pottery classes for all levels

• Summer intensives

• Private group sessions and parties

• Apprenticeships, internships, and artist residencies

• Studio visits by appointment

Learn more and plan your visit →

My newsletter

Every Wednesday in my Substack newsletter, What’s Good Here, I share a new, well-tested recipe alongside guides, how-tos, interviews with inspiring people, and stories about what it means to live a good life. Every other Friday I also share five original recipes plus a step-by-step guide to host a Fantasy Feast inspired by your favorite movies, books and television shows.

Subscribe to What's Good Here →

Interested in partnering with us for a future gathering? See partnership opportunities →

Interested in joining a future gathering? See upcoming events →

Recipes: Turkey Tinga and Charred Tomatillo Salsa Recipes (as featured on The Splendid Table)

Turkey Tinga, photo from Elysian Kitchens, photo credit, Kristin Teig

Honey-Glazed Turkey Tinga

From Elysian Kitchens, as featured on The Splendid Table

Brother Pedro Alvarez, a monk from Mexico, introduced this dish to Saint John's. The honey is the monastery's own; the turkey, wild and donated by local hunters. It's comforting in winter and perfect for a summer barbecue.

Serves 4 | Preparation Time: 2½ hours (it’s worth it, promise!)

Ingredients

For the tinga:

• 2 pounds boneless, skinless turkey breasts, cut into six pieces

• ½ teaspoon salt, plus more to taste

• ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste

• 4 tablespoons honey

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

• 1 large yellow onion, coarsely chopped

• 2 ribs celery, chopped

• 6 garlic cloves, finely chopped

• Leaves from 5 oregano sprigs, coarsely chopped

• Leaves from 5 thyme sprigs

• 1 teaspoon cocoa powder

• 2 teaspoons cumin seeds

• ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper

• 1 bay leaf

• 2 (7-ounce) cans chipotles in adobo, coarsely chopped

• 6 ounces adobo sauce

• 1 (14-ounce) can chopped tomatoes, undrained

• 2 tablespoons tomato paste

• 1 cup chicken stock

To serve:

• 16 flour tortillas

• Queso fresco, crumbled

• Tomatillo Salsa (recipe below)

• Sour cream

• Avocado chunks

• Finely sliced scallions

Directions

Season the turkey all over with salt and pepper and slather with 2 tablespoons honey. Place in an even layer in a slow cooker.

Heat the oil in a sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add the onion and celery and sauté until the onion is translucent, 5 to 7 minutes. Add the garlic, oregano, thyme, cocoa, cumin, cayenne, and bay leaf and sauté until aromatic, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the chipotles in adobo, adobo sauce, tomatoes with their juices, tomato paste, stock, and remaining 2 tablespoons honey and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer gently for 8 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Pour the sauce over the turkey, cover, and cook on low until very tender, about 2 hours.

Transfer the turkey to a plate. Discard the bay leaf. Once cool enough to handle, shred the turkey into bite-size pieces and stir back into the sauce.

Serve in warm tortillas topped with queso fresco, tomatillo salsa, sour cream, avocado, and scallions.

Brother Aelred’s Tomatillo Salsa, photo credit: Jody Eddy

Brother Aelred's Tomatillo Salsa

Makes about 1 quart | Time: 45 minutes

Brother Aelred makes a big batch each fall when the tomatillos and chiles are in season. His tip: char the skins until they're black and blistered. The smoky note really makes it sing.

Ingredients

• 7 large green chiles (Hatch, Anaheim, or poblano)

• 3 small green chiles (serrano or jalapeño)

• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for brushing

• ½ teaspoon salt, plus more to taste

• 12 tomatillos

• 1 small white onion, coarsely chopped

• 2 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped

• 1 bunch cilantro, leaves and stems coarsely chopped

• 1½ cups chicken stock

Directions

Preheat the broiler.

Brush the chiles with olive oil and season with salt. Arrange on a broiler-safe baking sheet and broil until blistered, about 4 minutes per side. Transfer to a bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Once cooled, remove the charred skins (they should slip right off), stems, and seeds. Coarsely chop.

Remove the papery husks from the tomatillos and rinse. Place in a pot, cover with water by 5 inches, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until tender and slightly olive in color, 5 to 7 minutes. Drain, reserving about 1 cup of cooking water.

Combine the chiles, tomatillos, onion, garlic, and cilantro in a blender with ½ cup of the reserved water. Blend until a chunky puree forms.

Heat the oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Carefully add the salsa and stock and bring to a vigorous simmer. Reduce heat and simmer to your desired consistency. Season with salt.

Cool to room temperature before serving. Keeps refrigerated for up to 1 week or frozen for up to 2 months.

Recipe excerpted from "Elysian Kitchens: Recipes Inspired by the Traditions and Tastes of the World's Sacred Spaces" by Jody Eddy. Copyright 2024. Used with permission of W.W. Norton & Company.

Order Elysian Kitchens →

Listen & Learn More

In November 2024, The Splendid Table featured Elysian Kitchens and Saint John's Abbey. You can hear me discuss the book, Brother Aelred, the recipes here, and Minnesota in the interview below.

Listen to The Splendid Table episode →

Listen to The Splendid Table supplement on Instagram →

Read more about Brother Aelred in The Central Minnesota Catholic →

Read more about the Story Feast collaboration with Brother Aelred Senna →

My newsletter

Every Wednesday in my Substack newsletter, What’s Good Here, I share a new, well-tested recipe alongside guides, how-tos, interviews with inspiring people, and stories about what it means to live a good life. Every other Friday I also share five original recipes plus a step-by-step guide to host a Fantasy Feast inspired by your favorite movies, books and television shows.

Subscribe to What's Good Here →

Interested in partnering with us for a future gathering? See partnership opportunities →

Interested in joining a future gathering? See upcoming events →

Brother Aelred Senna: A Years-Long Collaboration

Brother Aelred Senna

The Monk Behind the Recipes and The Story Feast Gathering at St. John's Abbey

When I sat down to write Elysian Kitchens, the cookbook that inspired the Story Feast Collective, I knew I wanted to include Saint John's Abbey. It was a place I'd grown up visiting, a place that held deep meaning for my family, and a place where food played in integral role, just like I’d witnessed at so many monasteries in other parts of the world.

What I didn't know was that including Saint John's would lead to a collaboration, and a friendship, that would span years and eventually culminate in our inaugural Story Feast gathering.

Meeting Brother Aelred

I first met Brother Aelred Senna in 2018. I'd come to Saint John's to interview monks for the book, and Brother Aelred was the obvious choice for the kitchen. He's the monastery's resident cook and baker, making breads, cookies, desserts for special occasions, and even wedding cakes for couples married in the Abbey Church.

But Brother Aelred isn't just skilled. He's thoughtful about what cooking means: the way a meal can bring a community together, the way a recipe can carry memory across generations, the way feeding people is itself a form of prayer.

We spent hours talking. He cooked recipe after recipe. And he shared stories, about teaching himself to cook as a kid in Texas using the Betty Crocker Cookbook, about his years as a teacher in New Mexico, about the winding path that brought him to Saint John's after nearly two decades away from religious life.

"The Holy Spirit came snooping around," he told me, "and I told her she needed to go away and mind her own business."

She didn't.

The Recipes

Several of Brother Aelred's recipes appear in Elysian Kitchens, including his charred tomatillo salsa, a recipe rooted in his years teaching in New Mexico. He makes a big batch every year when the tomatillos and chiles come into season in the monastic garden, canning most of it as "a welcome reminder of summer during the unrelenting Minnesota winter."

The salsa is served alongside Honey-Glazed Turkey Tinga, a dish introduced to the monks by Brother Pedro Alvarez, a young monk from Mexico. The tinga reflects its journey: Mexican in origin, adapted to Minnesota with local wild turkey donated by hunters and honey from the monastery's own hives.

"Take it slowly," Brother Pedro advises. "Let the house fill with the smoky aroma. It will bring everyone to the table."

Brother Aelred on the grounds of St. John’s Abbey on the day of the Story Feast gathering when fall was in all its Minnesota glory

From Book to Table

After Elysian Kitchens was published in November 2024, an idea that had been quietly forming finally took shape: What if I brought the book to life? What if I gathered people at monasteries and other unique, often hidden places around the world, and created the kind of gatherings the book celebrates?

Brother Aelred was instrumental in making it happen at St. John’s. He helped coordinate with the abbey and connected me with the chefs for our inaugural event, Mateo and Erin Mackbee of Krewe and Flour & Flower Bakery. He advised on the flow of the evening, and embodied the Benedictine hospitality that defines Saint John's.

On November 1, 2025, 180 guests gathered in the Great Hall for our inaugural Story Feast. It was everything we'd hoped… and everything the book had been building toward.

Listen & Learn More

In November 2024, The Splendid Table featured Elysian Kitchens and Saint John's Abbey. You can hear me discuss the book, Brother Aelred, and Minnesota in the interview below.

Listen to the Splendid Table episode →

Read more about Brother Aelred in The Central Minnesota Catholic →

Get the Turkey Tinga and Charred Tomatillo Salsa recipe from Elysian Kitchens →

My newsletter

Every Wednesday in my Substack newsletter, What’s Good Here, I share a new, well-tested recipe alongside guides, how-tos, interviews with inspiring people, and stories about what it means to live a good life. Every other Friday I also share five original recipes plus a step-by-step guide to host a Fantasy Feast inspired by your favorite movies, books and television shows.

Subscribe to What's Good Here →

Interested in partnering with us for a future gathering? See partnership opportunities →

Interested in joining a future gathering? See upcoming events →

Tour Spotlight: The Saint John's Pottery

Treasures from The St. John’s Pottery

A behind-the-scenes tour at our inaugural Story Feast gathering

Every Story Feast gathering includes more than a meal. We invite guests to explore the places where they dine, to understand what makes them extraordinary. At St. John's Abbey, that meant offering three optional tours before the cocktail hour. Every single one filled to capacity.

This is what we love about Story Feast guests: you come curious.

A Potter, a Proposal, and Three Hundred Years of Clay

In the late 1970s, a young man named Richard Bresnahan returned to his alma mater with an unusual proposal.

He had just spent nearly four years in Karatsu, Japan, apprenticing with Nakazato Takashi, a 13th-generation master potter and designated National Living Treasure. He'd arrived not knowing a word of Japanese. He left as a certified master potter, carrying with him centuries of tradition and a vision for what pottery could become.

His proposal to the president of Saint John's University: let me start a pottery studio, and let me bring in enough clay from a nearby site to keep it going for three hundred years.

Because it's Saint John's, the president said yes.

Forty-Five Years and Counting

The Saint John's Pottery opened in 1979 in an abandoned root cellar beneath Saint Joseph Hall. Today, more than forty-five years later, Richard Bresnahan is still its director and artist-in-residence and the pottery has become one of the most respected ceramic studios in the country.

Everything about the studio embodies Benedictine values: sustainability, community, hospitality, the dignity of labor. The clay is mined locally. Glazes are made from ashes, flax, soybean straw, navy beans, sunflower hulls, wood. Water and packing materials are recycled. The massive Johanna Kiln, built in 1994 and named after Bresnahan's mentor Sister Johanna Becker, is the largest wood-fired kiln of its kind in North America, 87 feet long, capable of holding 12,000 pieces in a single firing that takes ten days and sixty volunteers working around the clock.

It's a place where craft is practiced the old way, and where time moves differently.

The Only Paid Apprenticeship of Its Kind

Since 1981, more than fifty apprentices have trained at The Saint John's Pottery. What makes this program unique: every apprentice receives a stipend, room, and board. Since 2016, the benefits package has included healthcare.

It's the only pottery apprenticeship of its kind in the country that pays its apprentices and provides benefits.

The results speak for themselves: every former apprentice is still involved in the creative process, working with clay or other mediums, teaching or running their own studios.

One of those apprentices was JD Jorgensen, who later founded Maine Prairie Studio with his wife Megan. JD brought his infant son along to his shifts in the pottery studio, that baby is now a young man in his twenties who joined us at the dinner alongside his father. Together, JD and Megan crafted every piece of pottery for our Story Feast gathering. (More on their extraordinary work in a future post.)

Tea at Three

Every afternoon at 3 p.m., something beautiful happens at The Saint John's Pottery.

Work pauses. Tea is prepared. And everyone, the master potter, the apprentices, any visitors who happen to be present, gathers around the irori, a traditional Japanese-style hearth at the entrance to the studio. A cast iron kettle hangs from the ceiling, heated by a wood fire below. Tea is poured into handmade cups. Conversation unfolds.

In the words of Saint Benedict: "All guests who present themselves are to be welcomed as Christ."

This is pottery not as production, but as practice. Not as commodity, but as community.

There are seemingly endless shelves of pottery throughout the vast studio

What Guests Experienced

On the evening of our gathering, guests toured the pottery studio, learning about clay processing, glaze development, and the cycles of the Johanna Kiln. They saw where JD Jorgensen had trained, and they understood, perhaps for the first time, how the ceramics on their dinner table had come to be.

They felt what it means to step into a place where time, craft, and intention merge.

Learn more about The St. John’s Pottery →

Looking Ahead: 2026–2027 Season

For our upcoming season, Story Feast tours will be even more expansive. You'll have the option to spend a few days, or just one, or an hour, or not at all (sometimes you just want to feast!) immersing yourself in a place. Visiting locations that define the food culture of the region. Meeting the makers. Understanding the sense of place and identity that makes each location extraordinary.

Because a great meal isn't just about what's on the plate. It's about where you are, who made it, and what that place means.

My newsletter

Every Wednesday in my Substack newsletter, What’s Good Here, I share a new, well-tested recipe alongside guides, how-tos, interviews with inspiring people, and stories about what it means to live a good life. Every other Friday I also share five original recipes plus a step-by-step guide to host a Fantasy Feast inspired by your favorite movies, books and television shows.

Subscribe to What's Good Here →

Interested in partnering with us for a future gathering? See partnership opportunities →

Interested in joining a future gathering? See upcoming events →

Partner Spotlight: Lift Bridge Brewery

Root Beer from Stillwater-based Lift Bridge Brewery was included in our well-stocked goody bag!

A Story Feast Partner at Our Inaugural Gathering

When we set out to find beverage partners for our first gathering, beer was an essential. This is the Midwest, after all! We wanted a brewery that understood what we were trying to create: a company rooted in place, committed to quality, and proud of where they come from.

Lift Bridge Brewery checked every box.

Stillwater's First Brewery Since Prohibition

Lift Bridge Brewing Company was founded in 2008 by a group of friends, neighbors, and homebrewers in Stillwater, Minnesota. It was the first brewery to operate in Stillwater since Prohibition… and when Minnesota changed its laws in 2011 to allow craft breweries to sell pints on-site, Lift Bridge opened the state's very first taproom.

That pioneering spirit runs through everything they do.

Named after Stillwater's historic lift bridge over the St. Croix River, the brewery has grown into one of Minnesota's largest craft beer producers. But they've never lost their connection to the community that raised them. Through every can, bottle, and tap pull, Lift Bridge wants drinkers to taste the history of Stillwater: the pride, the fun, and the uncompromising natural ingredients that go into every batch.

At St. John's Abbey

During our gathering, we served a selection of Lift Bridge beers throughout the dinner to give guests a taste of Minnesota craft brewing alongside the harvest feast.

And in every goody bag, guests took home a can of Lift Bridge Root Beer.

Lift Bridge became one of the first breweries in Minnesota to craft nonalcoholic root beer back in 2014, originally available only in their taproom. It's made with the same care and attention as their beer; no shortcuts, no artificial anything. Just a delicious, old-fashioned root beer that feels like a celebration in itself.

Why We Partnered

Story Feast is about place. It's about celebrating the people and producers who make a region extraordinary. Lift Bridge embodies that spirit: a brewery built by friends who believed Stillwater deserved great beer, and who've spent nearly two decades proving them right.

We're grateful they said yes.

Learn more about Lift Bridge Brewery →

My newsletter

Every Wednesday in my Substack newsletter, What’s Good Here, I share a new, well-tested recipe alongside guides, how-tos, interviews with inspiring people, and stories about what it means to live a good life. Every other Friday I also share five original recipes plus a step-by-step guide to host a Fantasy Feast inspired by your favorite movies, books and television shows.

Subscribe to What's Good Here →

Interested in partnering with us for a future gathering? See partnership opportunities →

Interested in joining a future gathering? See upcoming events →

What's In Your Bag? Our Approach to Goody Bags

Root Beer from Stillwater-based Lift Bridge Brewery was included in our well-stocked goody bag!

From our inaugural Story Feast Gathering at St. John's Abbey in Minnesota

Let's be honest: most event goody bags are forgettable. A few branded pens, some promotional flyers, maybe a granola bar. You toss it in the back of your car and forget about it by the time you get home.

That's not what we do.

A Celebration, Not a Promotion

At Story Feast, the goody bag is an extension of the gathering itself, a way to carry the evening home with you. Every item is chosen with care: things to eat, to drink, to savor long after the candles have burned down and the table has been cleared.

No junk. No logos on cheap plastic. No flyers for things you'll never read.

Just beautiful, high-quality products from the people and places that made the evening possible.

The St. John's Abbey Goody Bag

When guests left our inaugural gathering, they carried home:

• A ceramic whiskey tumbler from Maine Prairie Studio — handmade especially for the event to accompany whiskey from Brother Justus Whiskey

• TÖST — the nonalcoholic sparkling beverage served throughout the dinner

• Lift Bridge Brewery Root Beer — a Minnesota classic. Lift Bridge was a Story Feast partner and we served their fantastic beer during dinner and then sent guests home with a nonalcoholic product from this must-visit brewery in Stillwater

• Honey from St. John's Abbey — harvested on the monastery grounds and included in Chefs Mateo and Erin Mackbee’s dishes throughout the evening.

• Baked goods from Flour & Flower Bakery — made by Chef Erin Mackbee

• Housemade pickles from Krewe — made by Chef Mateo Mackbee and also served throughout dinner

• Kombucha from Northstar Kombucha — in a variety of flavors and also served throughout dinner

• And more!

The only problem? The bags were so stuffed that guests had to hold them from the bottom. We genuinely worried they might break.

That's the kind of problem we're happy to have!

Why It Matters

A Story Feast gathering isn't just a meal. It's an experience, one that we hope stays with you. The goody bag is our way of extending that feeling: a reminder of the place, the people, the flavors, and the stories you shared.

When you open a jar of those pickles a week later, or pour a glass of that kombucha on a quiet evening at home, we want you to remember the candlelight, the conversation, the moment you realized you were sitting next to someone who would become a friend.

Every future gathering will include a goody bag like this, a celebration of the place and the people who came together to create something unforgettable.

You'll leave happy. You'll leave content. And you'll leave with something worth keeping.

My newsletter

Every Wednesday in my Substack newsletter, What’s Good Here, I share a new, well-tested recipe alongside guides, how-tos, interviews with inspiring people, and stories about what it means to live a good life. Every other Friday I also share five original recipes plus a step-by-step guide to host a Fantasy Feast inspired by your favorite movies, books and television shows.

Subscribe to What's Good Here →

Interested in partnering with us for a future gathering? See partnership opportunities →

Interested in joining a future gathering? See upcoming events →

Tour Spotlight: The Abbey Church and Brutalist Architecture

The entire north wall of the church is composed of 430 hexagons of stained glass set in a honeycomb concrete lattice. When it was completed, it was the largest stained glass wall in the world.

A Behind-the-Scenes Tour at Our Inaugural Story Feast Gathering at St. John’s Abbey

Every Story Feast gathering includes more than a meal. We invite guests to explore the places where they dine, to understand what makes them extraordinary. At St. John's Abbey, that meant offering three optional tours before the cocktail hour. Every single one was filled to capacity.

This is what we love about Story Feast guests: you come curious!

A Building That Changed Architecture

Before there was a film called The Brutalist, there was a church in rural Minnesota that helped inspire it.

St. John's Abbey Church was designed by Marcel Breuer, the Hungarian-born, Bauhaus-trained architect who would go on to shape the look of the 20th century. Built between 1958 and 1961, it was his first religious building and remains one of only two churches he ever designed in the United States.

The director of The Brutalist discovered St. John's through a small book written by a monk who had kept minutes of his meetings with Breuer. That monk's memories, of working alongside a visionary architect to build something unprecedented, helped spark the film's fictional story of a Holocaust survivor and immigrant architect building his masterpiece in America.

The real masterpiece sits on a quiet campus in Collegeville, visible from Interstate 94 over a mile away.

The Bell Banner

The first thing you see is the Bell Banner, 112 feet of poured concrete and steel rising from the prairie. It holds five bells, the largest weighing 8,000 pounds, that call the monks and community to prayer. The upper window frames a cross made from oak trees harvested from St. John's own arboretum.

It's not a steeple. It's not a tower. It's something entirely new, a shield, a beacon, a statement of faith in concrete form.

The Stained Glass Wall

Behind the banner, the entire north wall of the church is composed of 430 hexagons of stained glass set in a honeycomb concrete lattice. When it was completed, it was the largest stained glass wall in the world.

Designed by Bronislaw Bak, the art professor at St. John's, the colors shift through the liturgical year, reflecting the seasons of the church calendar in glass and light. On a sunny day, the whole interior glows.

The hexagon pattern isn't just beautiful, it's structural. Each piece supports its neighbors. Monks, faculty, students, and volunteers assembled the glass panels together in the abbey's old dairy barns.

Poured by Monks

What makes St. John's even more remarkable: the entire structure was cast in concrete poured on-site, supervised by Breuer's team but built largely by local carpenters and the monks themselves. The concrete still bears the impression of the wooden forms they constructed.

Inside, massive concrete columns rise like trees, branching into beams that support the folded plate roof. The nave seats 1,500 worshippers in a trapezoidal space designed to bring everyone as close as possible to the altar, no columns blocking the view, no hierarchy of seating.

It was radical for its time. It still feels radical today.

International Significance

I.M. Pei once suggested that were it not hidden in rural Minnesota, St. John's Abbey Church could be ranked among the 20th century's greatest architectural achievements. When it was dedicated in 1961, one reviewer called it "the most exciting architectural story since the building of the great medieval churches in Europe."

Breuer went on to design the UNESCO headquarters in Paris, the Whitney Museum in New York, and dozens of other landmark buildings. But St. John's remained special, the project that marked his turn from furniture design to monumental architecture, and the one he returned to throughout his career.

I.M. Pei once suggested that were it not hidden in rural Minnesota, St. John's Abbey Church could be ranked among the 20th century's greatest architectural achievements.

What Guests Experienced

On the evening of our gathering, one of the monks led a tour of the church and its architecture, explaining the Bell Banner, the stained glass, the folded concrete walls, and the vision that Abbot Baldwin Dworschak brought to the project in the 1950s.

Guests walked the space where monks have prayed five times daily for over sixty years. They stood beneath the honeycomb wall as afternoon light filtered through. They heard the story of a small community in Minnesota that dreamed boldly and built something that would stand for centuries.

That's what it means to understand a place. To get a real sense of it.

Looking Ahead: 2026–2027 Season

For our upcoming season, Story Feast tours will be even more expansive. You'll have the option to spend a few days, or just one, or just an hour (or to skip it all because sometimes you just want to get to the feast!) immersing yourself in a place. Touring the places that comprise a location’s food culture. Meeting the makers. Understanding the sense of place and identity that makes each location extraordinary.

Because a great meal isn't just about what's on the plate. It's about where you are, who built it, and what that place means.

My newsletter

Every Wednesday in my Substack newsletter, What’s Good Here, I share a new, well-tested recipe alongside guides, how-tos, interviews with inspiring people, and stories about what it means to live a good life. Every other Friday I also share five original recipes plus a step-by-step guide to host a Fantasy Feast inspired by your favorite movies, books and television shows.

Subscribe to What's Good Here →

Interested in partnering with us for a future gathering? See partnership opportunities →

Interested in joining a future gathering? See upcoming events →

Partner Spotlight: TÖST Sparkling NonAlcoholic Beverage

TÖST was served throughout the evening and a bottle was also sent home with every guest in their goody bag

At every Story Feast gathering, we want everyone at the table to feel celebrated, including those who aren't drinking alcohol. Nonalcoholic options shouldn't be an afterthought. They should be just as thoughtful, just as delicious, and just as beautiful in the glass.

That's why we were thrilled to partner with TÖST for our inaugural event at St. John's Abbey.

What Is TÖST?

TÖST is a premium nonalcoholic sparkling beverage crafted with white tea, white cranberry, and ginger. It's dry, not sweet, developed in collaboration with Michelin-starred chefs and James Beard Award winners to pair beautifully with food, just like fine wine.

All-natural ingredients. No artificial flavors. Low sugar, low calorie, and sophisticated enough to hold its own at any table.

It's the kind of drink you actually want in your glass, whether you're driving, sober-curious, abstain from alcohol, or simply choosing not to drink that evening.

TÖST not only tastes fantastic, it paired so well with the colors at our Story Feast dinner!

At St. John's Abbey

Throughout the cocktail hour and dinner, guests sipped TÖST alongside the other beverages we served. It looked elegant, tasted wonderful, and gave everyone something celebratory to raise.

And when guests headed home, each goody bag included a bottle of TÖST to enjoy later… a little reminder of the evening and an invitation to recreate that feeling of celebration at their own table.

Why It Mattered

Hospitality means making everyone feel included. At Story Feast, we believe the drink in your hand shouldn't determine whether you feel part of the toast. Partnering with TÖST helped us create a table where everyone belonged.

We're so grateful they said yes.

Learn more about TÖST →

My newsletter

Every Wednesday in my Substack newsletter, What’s Good Here, I share a new, well-tested recipe alongside guides, how-tos, interviews with inspiring people, and stories about what it means to live a good life. Every other Friday I also share five original recipes plus a step-by-step guide to host a Fantasy Feast inspired by your favorite movies, books and television shows.

Subscribe to What's Good Here →

Interested in partnering with us for a future gathering? See partnership opportunities →

Interested in joining a future gathering? See upcoming events →

In the Press: Coming Home: Story Feast in the Place Where It All Began

With my grandfather Peter Bragelman (and a very unfortunate haircut) after a fishing trip on Mille Lacs Lake in Minnesota where my grandparents had a cabin. photo: Evelyn Bragelman

Reflections on Our Inaugural gathering at St. John's Abbey

A few weeks after our gathering at St. John's Abbey, writer Dianne Towalski published a piece in The Central Minnesota Catholic about my career and the event. Reading it felt like watching my life play back in a way I hadn't quite seen before, the threads connecting my grandparents' kitchen to monastery kitchens on four continents, and finally back to Minnesota.

I'm so grateful to Dianne for taking the time to listen, to ask the right questions, and to tell this story with such care.

Read the full article: "St. Cloud native 'will travel for food'" →

Where It Started

I grew up in St. Cloud. I went to Sts. Peter and Paul School, then Tech High School, before leaving for the University of Minnesota, followed by five years of outdoor adventures in Seattle, and eventually culinary school in New York. But before any of that there was my grandpa, my grandma, and my mom.

With my amazing culinary school classmates at Manhattan’s Institute of Culinary Education. I genuinely love these people and many of them are still close friends. The people who cook together stick together!

My grandpa was a food lover before the concept was celebrated like it is today. He once drove us to South Dakota on a whim because he'd heard of something called a bison burger and wanted to try it. His curiosity about food, where it came from, who made it, what made it taste the way it did, shaped everything about how I move through the world. "Will travel for food" started with him.

My grandma was an incredible cook. We spent hours together canning vegetables from my grandpa's garden, wrapping fish in waxed white butcher’s paper for the basement freezer, making meals from whatever we'd harvested or caught that day. She taught me that cooking is how you take care of people.

And my mom, she made stained glass as a hobby and would sell her creations at the fiddling contest and art sale that St. John's used to host each year. That's how we spent our weekends: walking around the lake at St. John’s, taking in the fall leaves, stopping in for Johnny bread or maple syrup or honey.

For special occasions, midnight Mass, holidays, we always went to St. John's. It felt magical to be there.

They Were There

When I stood in the Great Hall last November, watching 180 guests gather for dinner in the same space where monks have shared community for generations, I felt their absence. My grandma, my grandpa, my mom, all of them gone now.

But I also felt their presence.

I know they were there somehow. Enjoying it right alongside me. Watching us bring together everything they'd taught me, about food, about curiosity, about gathering people at a table and making them feel welcome.

St. John's will always be theirs as much as it is mine.

Prepping for a photoshoot at Art Culinaire. Freezing on Grimsey Island on the Arctic Circle, three hours by ferry north of Iceland, with Chef Gunnar Karl Gislason of Dill in Reykjavik. Gunnar and I wrote the cookbooks North: The New Nordic Cuisine of Iceland and The Hygge Life together. This was the final day of a two year shoot for North so even though it was bitter cold, we were happy!

Thank You

To Dianne Towalski, for telling this story so beautifully. To Brother Aelred Senna, who helped bring the event to life and who understood from the beginning what we were trying to create. To Mateo and Erin Mackbee, who cooked a meal worthy of the setting. To every guest who joined us.

And to my grandparents and my mom, for giving me a roadmap.

Read the full article in The Central Minnesota Catholic →

My newsletter

Every Wednesday in my Substack newsletter, What’s Good Here, I share a new, well-tested recipe alongside guides, how-tos, interviews with inspiring people, and stories about what it means to live a good life. Every other Friday I also share five original recipes plus a step-by-step guide to host a Fantasy Feast inspired by your favorite movies, books and television shows.

Subscribe to What's Good Here →

Interested in partnering with us for a future gathering? See partnership opportunities →

Interested in joining a future gathering? See upcoming events →

Photographer Spotlight: Bailey Bassen at St. John’s Abbey

Minnesota was at its autumn best on the day of our event at St. John’s Abbey.

Most of the images on this website exist because Bailey Bassen reached out with a generous offer: Would we be interested in having her photograph the event?

We'd never worked together. We'd never even met. But something about her portfolio, and her willingness to take a chance on a brand-new gathering, made us say yes immediately.

It was one of the best decisions we made.

A Leap of Faith

Photographing a Story Feast gathering is not a simple assignment. Our events unfold across hours, in multiple locations, with dozens of moving parts. At St. John's Abbey, that meant capturing:

• Three simultaneous tours spread across the monastery grounds

• A cocktail hour with 180 guests

• A multi-course dinner by candlelight in a historic dining hall

• The chefs, the partners, the details, the atmosphere

• Interviews I conducted with key collaborators

I wasn't sure how to prepare someone for all of that. So I wrote Bailey a very detailed shot list, every moment, every partner, every angle I hoped we'd capture, and trusted that it would be enough.

Then the day arrived, and we barely crossed paths. I was managing the event. She was somewhere else entirely, doing her work. I caught glimpses of her moving quickly through the crowd, camera raised, but we didn't have time to check in.

I had no idea if we'd gotten what we needed.

And Then the Photos Arrived

When Bailey delivered her files, I understood.

Every moment was there. The tours: all three of them, happening simultaneously in different corners of the abbey were captured beautifully. The food, the table settings, the candlelight. The guests laughing, the chefs plating, the pottery glowing in the candlelight. The quiet moments and the joyful ones.

I still don't know how she did it. I imagine her sprinting from the organ workshop to the pottery studio to the church to The Great Hall and back again, catching every shot on the list and dozens I hadn't thought to ask for.

She didn't just document the day. She deeply understood it.

A Joy to Work With

Beyond her stunning work, Bailey was an absolute joy, professional, easygoing, and fully committed to capturing something special. She showed up ready, asked the right questions, and then disappeared into the work with quiet confidence.

If you're planning an event in Minnesota and need a photographer who can handle complexity, move fast, and deliver images very quickly that make you catch your breath, Bailey is your person.

Nearly every image on this site is Bailey's, unless otherwise noted. We're so grateful!

Learn More About Bailey →

My newsletter

Every Wednesday in my Substack newsletter, What’s Good Here, I share a new, well-tested recipe alongside guides, how-tos, interviews with inspiring people, and stories about what it means to live a good life. Every other Friday I also share five original recipes plus a step-by-step guide to host a Fantasy Feast inspired by your favorite movies, books and television shows.

Subscribe to What's Good Here →

Interested in partnering with us for a future gathering? See partnership opportunities →

Interested in joining a future gathering? See upcoming events →

Tour Spotlight: Organ Building & Woodworking at St. John's Abbey

An organ blueprint at St. John’s Abbey

A behind-the-scenes tour at our inaugural Story Feast gathering

Every Story Feast gathering includes more than a meal and a cocktail hour. We invite guests to explore the places where they dine, to understand what makes them extraordinary. At St. John's Abbey, that meant offering three optional tours before the cocktail hour. Every single one filled to capacity.

This is what we love about Story Feast guests: you come curious!

A Thousand Years of Benedictine Craft

The tour of Abbey Woodworking and the new organ building workshop wasn't just a behind-the-scenes look at a facility. It was a window into a tradition that reaches back more than a millennium.

Benedictine monks have been building pipe organs since at least the ninth century. As they spread across Europe, they carried with them not only prayer and scripture, but practical arts: bronze-casting, glass-making, wood-carving, and organ building. The monastery was a place of learning and making, where skills were passed from master to apprentice, and craft was considered a form of devotion.

Ora et Labora, pray and work, is the Benedictine motto. At St. John's, the two have never been separate.

The Workshop

Abbey Woodworking has operated at St. John's since the monastery's founding in 1856. The monks harvest lumber from their own 3,000 acres of forest, mill it on site, and build furniture that lasts for generations. Pieces made over 90 years ago are still in daily use.

In 2023, a brand new 30,000-square-foot woodshop opened, and with it, something remarkable: Saint John's Abbey Organ Builders, a world-class organ building workshop led by Austrian-born master builder Martin Pasi.

Pasi is among a small group of builders worldwide who create mechanical-action pipe organs entirely by hand, using methods unchanged for centuries. Every pipe is cast from molten lead. Every key is carved from cow bone. Every component is made in-house, one organ at a time.

He came to St. John's in 2019 to install an expansion of the Abbey church's organ, adding nearly 3,000 new pipes to the original 1961 instrument. During those seven months, he fell in love with the place. When he heard the monks were planning a new woodshop, he proposed something bold: merge his life's work with theirs.

Now, Pasi and his team build organs in Collegeville, training the next generation of builders in a craft that might otherwise disappear.

The woodworking shop at St. John’s Abbey

What Guests Experienced

On the evening of our gathering, guests walked through the new facility with members of the team. They saw raw lumber stacked for drying, tools arranged with monastic precision, and pipes in various stages of completion. They heard stories about the organs Pasi has built, for cathedrals in Omaha, Houston, and Cincinnati, and about the abbey's long history of making things by hand.

They also heard something harder to articulate: the quiet hum of a place where work is done slowly, carefully, and with intention.

Visit St. John’s Abbey Organ Builders →

Looking Ahead: 2026–2027 Season

For our upcoming season, Story Feast tours will be even more expansive. You'll have the option to spend a few days, or just one, or even just an hour, (or none at all if you’re strictly there for the feast!) immersing yourself in a place. Visiting off-site locations that tell the story of a location. Meeting the makers. Understanding the sense of place and identity that makes each location extraordinary.

Because a great meal isn't just about what's on the plate. It's about where you are, who made it, and what that place means.

My newsletter

Every Wednesday in my Substack newsletter, What’s Good Here, I share a new, well-tested recipe alongside guides, how-tos, interviews with inspiring people, and stories about what it means to live a good life. Every other Friday I also share five original recipes plus a step-by-step guide to host a Fantasy Feast inspired by your favorite movies, books and television shows.

Subscribe to What's Good Here →

Interested in partnering with us for a future gathering? See partnership opportunities →

Interested in joining a future gathering? See upcoming events →

Partner Spotlight: Milk & Honey Cider At St. John’s Abbey

A cider tasting at Milk & Honey Cider, photo: Jody Eddy

Some partnerships begin with an email. This one began with a bonfire.

A few days before our gathering at St. John's Abbey, we drove out to Milk & Honey Ciders, which is just down the road from the abbey, to pick up their contribution to the evening: kegs of their Estate Cider, bottles of their Pommeau, and, at their insistence, the proper tulip glasses to serve it in. They care about how their cider is experienced right down to the shape of the glass.

What I didn't expect was to stay for a tasting by the bonfire.

The Cidery

Milk & Honey sits in the rolling hills of Stearns County, just north of St. Joseph, Minnesota. The taproom overlooks their orchard, rows and rows of heirloom and traditional cider apple trees stretching toward open fields. It's the kind of place where you're invited to walk the grounds, watch the pressing operation, and settle in with a flight while the afternoon disappears.

Founded by Peter Gillitzer and partners, Milk & Honey focuses on dry, tannic, highly aromatic ciders made with minimal intervention. They source heirloom varieties from across the country, apples with names like Calville Blanc d'Hiver, Arkansas Black, and Kingston Black, and blend across multiple years of production. The result is cider that tastes like wine: complex, layered, meant to be savored.

Their motto: Let the apples shine.

That Afternoon

We arrived to pick up the kegs and ended up by the bonfire, tasting few of their crisp, refreshing ciders as the sun dropped behind the orchard. We talked about cider, about community, about what it means to make something by hand in a world that rewards speed.

The next day, they'd be pressing apples in the production room, fruit already harvested, the whole space fragrant with the aroma of bright, fresh apples. I wished I could stay for that. Next time.

Milk & Honey Cider, photo: Jody Eddy

What We Served

At St. John's Abbey, guests enjoyed Milk & Honey's Estate Cider throughout the evening. It’s dry, aromatic, and a perfect counterpoint to the richness of the meal. After dinner, we poured their Pommeau: a blend of apple brandy and fresh-pressed juice aged two years in barrels. Warm, spiritous, with notes of caramel, oak, and dried fruit. Served neat, in those tulip glasses, exactly as intended.

Visit Milk & Honey

The taproom is open Thursday through Sunday, year-round. Bring your own food, order a flight, and settle in. Each season offers something different: cozy winters by the fire, fall harvest energy, summer evenings on the patio. It's worth the drive.

Visit Milk & Honey Ciders →

My newsletter

Every Wednesday in my Substack newsletter, What’s Good Here, I share a new, well-tested recipe alongside guides, how-tos, interviews with inspiring people, and stories about what it means to live a good life. Every other Friday I also share five original recipes plus a step-by-step guide to host a Fantasy Feast inspired by your favorite movies, books and television shows.

Subscribe to What's Good Here →

Interested in partnering with us for a future gathering? See partnership opportunities →

Interested in joining a future gathering? See upcoming events →

Partner Spotlight: Northstar Kombucha at St. John’s Abbey

A bottle of Northstar Kombucha was sent home with every guest in their Story Feast goody bag.

One of the joys of hosting Story Feast gatherings is connecting guests with the makers behind what they're eating and drinking. At St. John's Abbey, that included Northstar Kombucha, a small-batch kombucha company based locally in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Throughout the evening, guests enjoyed Northstar's Raspberry Hibiscus kombucha, bright, refreshing, and a perfect complement to the rich courses coming out of the kitchen. And when they headed home, each guest left with a goody bag with one of the Northstar flavors: Grapefruit Basil, Lavender Ginger, Raspberry Hibiscus, White Peach, Strawberry Rose, Cherry Elderberry, Honey Ginger, and Blueberry Maple.

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A Building Full of Makers

A few days before the event, I drove to pick up the kegs and goody bag bottles myself, and love where Northstar calls home.

They're based in a shared maker space that houses a small community of independent producers, each one crafting something by hand. It's the kind of building where you walk in for kombucha and leave with a deeper appreciation for the people doing the slow, careful work of building something real. This is what Minnesota's food and beverage scene looks like at its best: collaborative, community-rooted, and absolutely extraordinary.

About Northstar Kombucha

Northstar Kombucha is brewed in small batches using organic ingredients and live cultures. Their flavors are creative but balanced, the kind of kombucha you actually want to drink, not just tolerate for the health benefits. Full disclosure, it’s one of my all-time favorite kombucha brands so when they said yes to partnering with us for our inaugural event, I was over the moon!

You can find Northstar at co-ops and specialty grocers across Minnesota, or order directly from their website.

Visit Northstar Kombucha →

Northstar Kombucha’s ginger hibiscus kombucha being served at our Story Feast event at St. John’s Abbey in Minnesota.

A Note on the Founder

We always invite our partners to join us at gatherings and we love when they can share their story directly with guests. One of Northstar's founders, Dan Fischer, couldn't make it to St. John's that night. When I invited him he explained that he was on dad duty with his kids. And honestly? That's exactly the kind of person we want to partner with!

My newsletter

Every Wednesday in my Substack newsletter, What’s Good Here, I share a new, well-tested recipe alongside guides, how-tos, interviews with inspiring people, and stories about what it means to live a good life. Every other Friday I also share five original recipes plus a step-by-step guide to host a Fantasy Feast inspired by your favorite movies, books and television shows.

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Interested in partnering with us for a future gathering? See partnership opportunities →

Interested in joining a future gathering? See upcoming events →

See the Menu: A Harvest Feast at St. John's Abbey

Vespers cocktail creation during the Story Feast cocktail hour at our St. John’s Abbey gathering.

For our first-ever Story Feast, we gathered 180 guests in the historic dining hall at St. John's Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota, the same room that has sheltered Benedictine monks for generations.

The meal was created by Mateo and Erin Mackbee, the husband-and-wife team behind Krewe Restaurant and Flour & Flower Bakery in nearby St. Joseph, Minnesota. Mateo is a 2025 James Beard Award semifinalist for Best Chef: Midwest. Erin's Flour & Flower was named one of the best bakeries in America by The New York Times in 2024.

But their impact goes far beyond awards. Since opening in 2020, Mateo and Erin have become anchors of the St. Joseph community: confronting social justice issues, championing local producers and other culinary establishments in the region, and proving that a small-town restaurant can change the culture around it and inspire community members to create a support system rooted in empathy, kindness, and of course, incredible food! Their food honors both ancestry and a circular economy that sustains itself and thrives.

Their presence at our table made this gathering unforgettable and we were so honored that they created this extraordinary, carefully planned meal and joined us at the Story Feast table!

As Minnesota Monthly wrote: "The dinner served as a meditation on community, craft, and care."

Read the full Minnesota Monthly article about our event and to learn more about Chefs Erin and Mateo

Read Jody Eddy’s interview with Chefs Erin and Mateo

The St. John’s Abbey Story Feast Menu

A Multi-Course Family-Style Feast Inspired by Minnesota Traditions & Seasons

Shared Bites

• Walleye Rillettes on Rye Crisps

• Wild Rice Arancini with Cranberry Compote

• Pickled Garden Accents

Salads & Bread

• Seasonal Harvest Salad

• Roasted Beet Salad with Horseradish Cream

• Rustic Breads & Compound Butters

Main Platters

• Braised Short Ribs with Juniper Jus

• Maple-Glazed Roast Chicken

• Foraged Mushroom & Barley Casserole

Sides

• Charred Carrots with Maple & Hazelnuts

• Seasonal Grain Pilaf

• Corn Grits with Smoked Chili Oil

Desserts

• Honeycrisp Apple Galette with Cardamom Cream

• Church Basement Sweet Bar Sampler

My newsletter

Every Wednesday in my Substack newsletter, What’s Good Here, I share a new, well-tested recipe alongside guides, how-tos, interviews with inspiring people, and stories about what it means to live a good life. Every other Friday I also share five original recipes plus a step-by-step guide to host a Fantasy Feast inspired by your favorite movies, books and television shows.

Subscribe to What's Good Here →

Interested in partnering with us for a future gathering? See partnership opportunities →

Interested in joining a future gathering? See upcoming events →