Eat local with You Me Food Review

Amy McPartlin and Susan Rogers are the Roseville pair behind You Me Food Review. They try out locally owned restaurants around the Twin Cities and beyond and share their playful energy and joy of food with viewers on social media.

The Roseville Reader sat down with them over coffee at Happy Monday & Co. in Roseville to get to know them. Here's our conversation:

TRR: How did you start doing this together?

Amy: "We like to travel. And right before the pandemic, we were traveling in South America, and we were trying local junk foods down there and posting videos on Facebook, and our friends thought they were hysterical. And then we came back and the pandemic had started. It took a while, but we saw that we could kind of segue into supporting small businesses because people were watching us, enjoying our content and then going places that we would go. And it grew from there.

Before that, we didn't even think twice about small business. Didn't even know what an impact just getting a hot cocoa at a small business was."

Susan: "During the pandemic, we were like a source of entertainment for people...We were literally entertaining people for ten minutes. We were getting out. We got out because I work at a hospital. She worked at a grocery store."

Amy: "So neither one of us stopped working. There was no shutdown for us."

TRR: How long have you lived in Roseville?

Susan: "Oh, Amy’s a lifer. I’m a St. Paulite. I’ve lived in Roseville maybe 30 years. My mom always took me to Rosedale. Roseville is the best city in the whole Twin Cities."

Amy: "You get a big yard. You're right between both cities. It's really nice. I agree."

Susan: "It's the best first tier suburb in the Twin Cities by far." 

TRR: How many restaurants have you gone to overall, do you think?

Amy: "I did look to see how many. I have a comprehensive list of all of the small restaurants in Roseville and we’re trying to make our way through that."

Susan: "Oh, god, we’ve done like 600 videos. Wow. Blows my mind. Yeah. Wow. Right? But, you know, it's obviously not just Roseville and St. Paul."

TRR: How has this experience of investing in local small businesses changed your experience of living where you live?

Susan: "We care a lot more about small business and how important is. Because every dollar spent in a city stays in the city."

Amy: "Meeting the owners of businesses is a blast for us."

Susan: "And the chefs."

Amy: "We actually started out not knowing anything. Neither one of us know anything about food. So our first videos, we started realizing small businesses were, at the very least, more interesting. And then I made little flashcards of all the local chefs because I'm a nerd and I wanted to make sure that I got it right if we met any. So then we became kind of like chef fan girls."

Susan: "Then we kind of got a little immersed into that community, which was different for us because then we got recognized by them and we recognized them."

TRR: Do you find that the business owners, the chefs, they're really interested in being a part of this?

Susan: "They're very welcoming. And we always ask them to come over. It’s kind of fun. And we don't expect anything from them. We rarely get free food. That's never our intention."

Amy: "We've heard stories from some business owners where influencers will kind of pressure them into freebies. And that seems like a really jerk move when what you're trying to do is support a small business. What we'll do is, we'll order whatever it is we want. And if then, there's something else that they wish we would highlight, they're welcome to give it to us and we'll mention it. If we're going for dinner, I already pre-planned that I was going to pay for dinner. I didn't necessarily pre-plan I was going to pay for three dinners. So if they want to give us two other things. Okay. But that's not our shtick. Our shtick is not pressuring small business owners."

Susan: "We’re really not foodies either. Everyone loves to eat. It’s more that people like our bantering."

Amy: "That’s what I think makes us different."

TRR: Is there a type of cuisine you think is missing from Roseville?

Amy: "We could use a sandwich place."

Susan: "Like Cecil’s Deli."

Amy: "Yep. That’s what we need. We need a sandwich place."

Susan: "With really good crisp bacon. Really good meat."

Amy: "We do like Mavericks and actually, Maverick’s has more sandwiches than we give them credit for."

Susan: "Love Mavericks."

Amy: "Yep. And Saint Paul Bagelry."

TRR: What are some of your favorite Roseville restaurants?

Amy: "I like this row back here [near Perimeter Drive]. Karta Thai and Stone Pho. Karta Thai’s Golden Karta Special is really good."

Susan: "Mi Sant. Excellent. I like that whole little area."

Amy: "Station 6 at Rosetown American Legion. Station 6 has the best smash burger that is a good deal."

Susan: "We like Baldamar a lot. They also have a Champagner Brunch that is unspeakably amazing." 

Amy: "Their bread is life. It’s so worth it. . . . They have a really good happy hour though that has very reasonably priced meals."

Susan: "I tried for awhile to refer to Lexington as Roseville’s Eat Street because there are a number of independent food places we like there: from Mudslingers Coffee, to Mavericks, Sprinkles, and St. Paul Bagelry.  The nickname didn’t catch on." 

Amy: "Another favorite Roseville coffee shop is Makwa Coffee."

Susan: "In the summer we like getting ice cream at Patti’s when they have Butter Brickle as one of their flavors." 

Amy: "We try never to repeat unless it’s really good. What's the point of going somewhere and spending the money on a meal if we've already done a review?

We did yesterday on Ville City because I was like, I'm too far behind in editing. She loves their mozzarella sticks. I like their…what's the name of that pizza I like? It's got ricotta florets. I mean, Mmmm. So good.

And Lisu Thai. Love that place. Whenever we feel under the weather their Thai Basil Fried Rice is our comfort food." 

TRR: You’ve also done food reviews of church meals?

Amy: "We love church meals. Love."

Susan: "Yes. Lutefisk."

Amy: "We did a Lutefisk dinner that was amazing."

Susan: "Amazing. It was horrible."

Amy: "No, I mean, it was an amazing experience.  The whole time she was cracking up."

Susan: "And we do Lent dinners."

Amy: "And there’s the Ukrainian one with the dumplings."

Susan: "Oh god, that was good."

Amy: "That was so good. And the Hispanic church that has the enchiladas. That’s really good because, yeah, fish is disgusting."

TRR: Do you get feedback from viewers saying that they tried a place because of something that you posted?

Amy: "Yep. At the State Fair this past year, we did Danielson and Daughters onion rings, and that one blew up on TikTok. We had gone there the first day and we tried these onion rings. And then we went like, eight times. The next time we were there, they had to have barriers up because the line was so long."

Susan: "That was the first time we ever realized we had influence. You really don't know the extent of it, but when sometimes we're out in public, someone will recognize us."

TRR: In 2020, you changed your approach from doing videos about food while traveling to covering local restaurants instead. Are you changing your approach at all now because of what is happening in our community?

Amy: "The businesses we frequent are usually small businesses. We’re lucky to live in a place with such an amazingly diverse immigrant community.  Because many of the best local restaurants are owned by immigrants, we often frequent immigrant establishments and love them. That hasn’t changed due to the current chaos in the Cities, it’s something we’ve always done and always will do.  

We try to remind viewers that where they spend money matters. Most often this subtle message is more focused on ideas like “support local” and “support small business,” but historically, if we feel a specific community is experiencing negativity in some way, we’ll start supporting restaurants from that community with more frequency. The thing that has most changed now is that we are not sure how to be supportive. Do we post videos about immigrant-owned establishments? Would that bring unwanted attention or would it bring needed business? Is it insensitive to post food review videos now, or is it a good distraction? We honestly don’t know.

When 2026 is a memory, we will still be out supporting small businesses, supporting immigrant establishments, and posting positive videos suggesting great local places to visit." 

TRR: Is there anything else you want to say?

Susan: "If you see us say hi. Don't be shy."

Amy: "Yeah, we like when people say hi."

You can find Amy and Susan trying more restaurants on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok @YouMeFoodReview. Learn more on their website.