Home > Relish Austin > Archives > 2008 > November > 07 > Entry
New restaurant critic Mike Sutter: What’s in Your Fridge Friday?
The annual dining guide hits your front porch this morning, and in it — in addition to 12 new reviews of Austin’s top restaurants — is the answer to the burning question many astute diners have had for the past few months since the Statesman’s restaurant critic Dale Rice left the paper to teach at Texas A&M.
In the state of the newspaper industry, I guess there were two questions: Will Dale be replaced? If so, by whom? Both answers you’ll be pleased with.
Yes, and his name is Mike Sutter.
Mike has worked at the Statesman for 23 years, 14 of which as XL art director (in fact, he’s the brain and artist behind many of the creative XL covers in the past decade). I’ve had the pleasure of eating with him while working on this year’s dining guide and found out that A) he is as insightful and sharp as his desk is clean and XL covers are brilliant B) he thinks like father-of-two-girls/reporter/chef/average diner all at once C) he loves trailer tacos as much as he does fancy foie gras.
Although his appearance will remain anonymous (it’s incredible that in 2008, a Google image search of his name yields not a single image), you’ll get to know his voice and perspective well in the coming months through his reviews, stories and an as-yet-untitled blog that will launch by the end of the year.
But first, have a peek in his fridge:
What three things are always in your fridge? Maxwell House coffee: Judge if you will. I brew the big-dollar beans, too. Nothing better than a walk from the American-Statesman to Whole Foods for coffee roasted that very second. But there has to be a morning standard, a bomb-shelter staple. Maxwell House is the first pot of the day, for shuffling our 9-year-old to the schoolbus, for chasing the squirrels away from the tomato plants, for figuring out what-on-earth-could-be-wrong-with-the-Volkswagen-now. My Mom wants her ashes buried in a Maxwell House can.
Beer for any mood: There are at least six different kinds of beer in there at any given time. And the labels must be fronted — that is, turned so they face foreward, for easy inventory. Current stock: Giddy-Up, Mothership Wit, Fat Tire and 1554 Black Ale from New Belgium; Celebration and Pale Ale from Sierra Nevada; Sam Adams Double Bock; plus Belgian farmhouse and British session ales I brewed myself.
Limes: My wife is an amazing cook. She loves plucking cilantro leaves to freshen up salads, mincing and crushing fat cloves of garlic for marinara, slicing shallots to caramelize with Brussels sprouts. And she always buys limes. Handfuls of perfect, shiny green limes. My guess is that they act as ballast for the produce drawer, because we
never actually use them. They just sit there until they’re Hulky-brown and hard as hand grenades. I use them to chase away squirrels while I drink my Maxwell House.
What’s your favorite condiment? My Aunt Debbie’s jalapeño sweet pickles. They’re perfect in, on and around any kind of sandwich, with grilled meat, with fancy restaurant leftovers. And no, you can’t have any. I’m down to my last jar.
How do you use leftovers from fancy restaurants? Taking home doggie bags is dodgy business. You want to maintain some illusion of cool detachment from reality in a nice place, but there’s no way you’re leaving behind the rest of that $45 steak just for the sake of looking smooth. Plus, if I ate every single thing on the table in a single sitting every single time, I’d be looking at my outgrown fat pants in the upstairs closet and thinking, “Man, those were some lean and hungry times.”
So we abide by the mantra, “This will taste great on eggs in the morning.” Duck from Aquarelle? Great on eggs. Pork belly from Uchi? Beyond great on eggs. Egg-and-prosciutto pizza from Vespaio? Um, great on eggs!
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By Holly
November 7, 2008 9:49 AM | Link to this
Hand-grenade limes…too funny. Got ‘em in my fridge, too.
By sandy
November 8, 2008 5:39 PM | Link to this
We put all of our leftovers w/eggs! Delish! Great reading finding this site! I’m off to make my NO PEEL apple cake, check it out if you have time on my blog. www.reluctantentertainer.com
Sandy
By Jon
November 8, 2008 6:54 PM | Link to this
Heeeyyy my uncles so cool isnt he? leave it to the Sutter family to get up some cool recipes, gota love ya man, Jon