Andrea is the Baum behind BernBaum’s, the beloved bagel shop and restau­rant that graced down­town Far­go from 2016 to 2024. (Hus­band Brett Bernath pro­vides the Bern.) Baumgardner’s food roots can be traced to her high school job at Leeby’s where she worked with gruff, knowl­edge­able butch­ers and seri­ous farm-style bak­ers who turned out per­fect cake donuts, pies, and lefse. Dur­ing col­lege, she spent a year in Spain and France, great­ly expand­ing her palate and her pants size. A grad­u­ate of Macalester Col­lege and San Francisco’s Cal­i­for­nia Culi­nary Acad­e­my, Baum­gard­ner externed at Chez Panisse before cook­ing on the line at Vivande and Eos in the Bay Area and at Box­er in Los Ange­les. She was the open­ing chef at Cobras & Mata­dors (LA), before return­ing to Far­go in 2003 as the open­ing exec­u­tive chef of the Hotel Don­ald­son and then part­ner and chef of Green Mar­ket Kitchen. She was a Humphrey Fel­low in Pub­lic Pol­i­cy at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Min­neso­ta and a James Beard semi­fi­nal­ist for Best Chef: Mid­west (2020 and 2024).