The Great Jucy Lucy Debate Is Finally Settled

Cookbook author, model and all around exemplary specimen of humanity Chrissy Teigen caused a full-on fallout all over social media Thursday when she dared wander into the waters of Minneapolis cuisine. Teigen announced her presence in Minneapolis by soliciting restaurant recommendations and the people of Minnesota responded with an avalanche of enthusiasm and strong opinions.

Her initial Tweet, simply said, “...hi Minneapolis!! let's party. (eat)” was liked 16,329 16,329 times, retweeted 807 times and garnered 780 responses.

Eventually, of the many, many choices on where to dine in the Twin Cities, it is evident that the Jucy Lucy, a cheese-stuffed hamburger is a singular dish that we hang our dining hats on. Legend has it that either the 5 8 Club or Matt’s Bar created the original burger with the molten cheese on the inside, but the question as to who serves the best version of the dish. To say that debate is heated would be an understatement and this was something Teigen soon discovered.

At first, the cheese-stuffed burger novice considered comparing the two originals and then she basically got yelled at by all of the Midwestern-based Twitter users.

Perhaps the 5-8’s fans aren’t active on social media, as she decided to drop that option and stick to either Matt’s Bar or St. Paul’s Nook.

She implored locally based, internationally famous chef Andrew Zimmern to help her choose, but he was in a car in Rome and knew better than to wade into this quagmire of a culinary Sophie’s choice.

In the end, she sent in a huge lunch order for the moderately sized, molten cheese-stuffed burgers from Matt’s Bar, who she’s on a formal first name basis with and addressed as Matthew.

The Teig’s having spoken, Matt’s Bar is the evident winner in the great Jucy Lucy debate.

That wasn’t the only meal she had while in town. There was also a quick dinner at the North Loop’s lobster mecca Smack Shack.

When those plastic bibs are worn as hats on runways next season, we can say the trend started right here in Minneapolis.

• Chrissy Teigen’s ‘Cravings’ and the Search for Cookbook Credibility [E]
• Chrissy Teigen Left a $1,000 Tip at Outback Steakhouse Last Week [E]
• An Eater’s Guide to the Twin Cities [ETC]