In 2000, Mychael and Stephanie Wright founded Golden Thyme Coffee & Cafe on an underused, neglected stretch of Selby Avenue in St. Paul’s Rondo neighborhood. More than just a cafe, Golden Thyme was a community gathering space, a celebration of heritage—and a call to action for the once-thriving Black neighborhood that was destroyed when I-94 was built.
The coffee shop, along with the Selby Avenue JazzFest—also created by the Wrights—helped revitalize the neighborhood. When the couple prepared to turn over the keys in 2023, the Star Tribune reported that more than a dozen Black-owned small businesses had opened within blocks of Golden Thyme over the course of two decades.
And in keeping with that vision of Black business ownership and community strength, there was no group better to hand Golden Thyme off to than the Rondo Community Land Trust, the affordable housing and commercial nonprofit working to build wealth and stability in the neighborhood.
Now, after a few years of fits and starts—a “Golden Thyme Presents” concept is no more, and embattled chef Justin Sutherland is no longer involved with the project—the beloved Rondo restaurant has made its return. And this time, it’s actually two restaurants: There’s Golden Thyme Cafe at 856 Selby Ave., while the new Golden Thyme Restaurant & Bar has opened at 934 Selby Ave.
“Golden Thyme is a community anchor, and has been for nearly 30 years,” says RCLT executive director Mikeya Griffin. “Our goal around placekeeping, and cultural placekeeping, more specifically, is really important to continue forwarding the legacy that is Golden Thyme.”
Griffin says the expansion is in keeping with the land trust’s emphasis on community investment, bringing more than 35 jobs to the neighborhood, with a focus on hiring residents from around Rondo.
“The coffee cafe really also anchors our Rondo Exchange small business incubator,” Griffin says, which has 9,300 square feet of commercial space available to rent for just $7 a square foot. The idea is that these small, affordable retail spaces can support entrepreneurs who are still building their businesses, while the cafe helps bring in a little extra foot traffic.
But if you’re just popping in for a cup of coffee, you’ll find Golden Thyme Cafe 2.0 echoes the original—it’s a place to chat, talk, or have a meeting, all of which we saw happening at a visit earlier this week. There’s a robust menu of coffee drinks, along with some pastries, snacks, and grab-and-go egg sandwiches on English muffins. Two- and four-top tables are scattered around the room, along with leather sofas and chairs in a more loungey area.
A few blocks away, Golden Thyme Restaurant & Bar is “a little more of a fine dining [option] in the community, which it’s lacking,” Griffin explains. The menu takes its cues from the Selby Avenue JazzFest—it’s New Orleans-style dining, Southern classics with contemporary flair. At a preview event in late April, we enjoyed rich, piping-hot cups of chicken and wild rice soup ($8), before tearing into a powerfully seasoned signature fried chicken sandwich ($17) and a catfish po’boy ($18) that must have been more than a foot long, and which I’d go back for again in a heartbeat. It’s all overseen by executive chef Adam Randall (Caribbean Smokehouse, Granite City), a longtime Rondo resident.
The restaurant and cafe are decorated in complimentary color schemes of gold and rich greens, and both feel modern and comfortable at the same time. Located as they are a mere block from one another, you could conceivably do a Golden Thyme bang-bang—stop by the cafe for coffee and a pastry in the morning, then swing into the restaurant for a hearty lunch. “I can’t say enough about the cheesecake,” Griffin says, “so whenever that’s on the menu, y’all should have some.”
“This is all part of Rondo Community Land Trust’s vision to revitalize Selby Avenue as a place where people want to live, work, and play together—and gather,” she adds.
Golden Thyme Cafe
Address: 856 Selby Ave., St. Paul
Hours: 6:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily
Golden Thyme Restaurant & Bar
Address: 934 Selby Ave., St. Paul
Hours: 11 a.m.-9 p.m. daily, with Sunday brunch starting June 8
