Husband-and-wife team Bjorn and Megan Jacobse are turning a year of well-received Twin Cities pop-ups into a permanent home, opening Aubergine in their native St. Paul. The restaurant trades on a very specific idea: the hearty, butter-forward bistro cooking of Lyon, filtered through a Midwestern sensibility.
A love letter to Lyon
Lyon is often called the gastronomic capital of France, home to the bouchon tradition of unpretentious, deeply satisfying food. Rather than chase pan-French clichés, the Jacobses have narrowed their focus to Lyonnaise dishes, the kind built on time, technique and sauce.
What lands on the plate
Expect the classics executed with care rather than reinvented beyond recognition. The kitchen leans into the region's love of richness and its reverence for pastry.
- Fish en croute, baked in golden pastry
- Smoked meats and charcuterie
- Buttery viennoiserie and layered pastries
- Foie gras and other rich, sauce-driven plates
Midwest flair
The couple describe their cooking as classic French with a Midwestern accent, a nod to the ingredients and hospitality of their home region. That framing matters: it keeps the food grounded and approachable rather than staged as a museum piece of French tradition.
From pop-up to permanence
Aubergine is the pair's first brick-and-mortar, a graduation from the pop-up circuit that has become a proving ground for ambitious young chefs. The pop-up format let them test dishes, build a following and refine a point of view before committing to a lease, a path more restaurateurs are taking to reduce the risk of opening cold.
For St. Paul, long the quieter half of the Twin Cities, the restaurant is a hometown story with real ambition. The Jacobses could have chased attention in Minneapolis; instead they are betting that serious cooking belongs in the neighborhood where they grew up. If the pop-ups were any indication, diners will follow the butter and the sauce across the river.