Besides having a new baby, two restaurants and two cookbooks @chefsuzannevizethann made time to chat with me on the podcast about her beautiful brunch cookbook.

Stephanie Hansen:

Hello, everybody. Welcome to the Dishing with Stephanie's Dish podcast. We are here today with Chef Suzanne Vizethann

Chef Suzanne has written a book called Brunch Season, and the subtitle is A Year of Delicious Mornings from the Buttermilk Kitchen.

And I love a book that takes, like, a single subject but really, like, elaborates on it, because I think when you think of brunch dishes, you have, like, you know, the top five in your mind, and you really have done a comprehensive guide here of how to explore brunch from not just like, egg dishes, but all the way through seasonality. So for me, I love books that either give you seasonal guidance because, like, I'm in summer right now, so how do I make a brunch for friends and what ingredients do I use? I love the way you organize this book. Did you. Is this your first book?

Suzanne Vizethann :

It's our second book. You know, the first book, “Welcome to Buttermilk Kitchen” Was more of a restaurant focused book, like 100 recipes from the restaurant. So this. This book is, you know, more of a standalone book. It's definitely recipes that you would find maybe as specials in the restaurant, but more as me as a chef, like, my voice as a chef.

“Welcome to Buttermilk Kitchen”

Stephanie Hansen:

So let's talk about that for just a second, because I think a friend of mine, Gavin Kaysen from the Twin Cities, he has, like, a book called At Home that's more of his, like, personality and style. And then he has the restaurant books, which are highly stylized. Obviously, it's a beautiful restaurant. What, after writing the restaurant book, made you want to kind of bring that home into your point of view?

Suzanne Vizethann :

I think that I love. Well, first of all, I love cooking, and I love sharing recipes with people. And, you know, like you said kind of, you brought up a really good point that chef recipes and restaurant recipes are just that. They're restaurant recipes, and they're sometimes really difficult to pare down to something small and make them accessible in the home kitchen. And so while we attempted to do that in the first book, I think that this was more of an opportunity to say, okay, hey, this is something that I might cook at home, or, you know, this is something that I like to cook in the summer or in the fall, and kind of really bringing that, like, you in my home with me.

Stephanie Hansen:

So can you tell me a little bit more about your restaurant?

Suzanne Vizethann :

Sure, yeah. So we actually have two the original restaurants in Atlanta, Georgia. It's been open almost 13 years. You know, brunch focused restaurant, open in the morning, you know, breakfast and lunch primarily. And then I actually just opened a restaurant up in Maine. I live here full time up on the mid coast in a town called Camden. And we have, we took over an 81 year old diner and opened another Buttermilk Kitchen here. And that one's called Buttermilk Kitchen at Mariners to honor the old name.

Suzanne Vizethann :

So, yeah, same, same style, you know, still a breast brunch driven restaurant, but a little bit more of a coastal flair since we are right on the water.

Stephanie Hansen:

And did you have a, did you have a move that precipitated opening in another location? Because I'm fascinated by how people can run restaurants. A one and then two, like in two different states. I just don't.

📸 Angie Mosier

Suzanne Vizethann and her restaurant Buttermilk Kitchen serve up some of the tastiest biscuits in the south.

Yields 12-14 biscuits

INGREDIENTS

4 Cups of all-purpose flour2 Tablespoons sugar2 Tablespoons baking powder2 ½ Teaspoons salt½ lb of cold unsalted butter, grated2 ½ Cups Banner Butter buttermilk

INSTRUCTIONS

* Mix together all dry ingredients (everything from flour through salt) into a mixing bowl.

* Add grated butter and mix into dry ingredients until crumbly and fully incorporated.

* Slowly add buttermilk until a sticky dough consistency is achieved (start with 2 cups and add a ½ cup more if needed).

* Scoop biscuits onto a pre-greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 in a convection oven for 10 min (you might need to add time if using conventional oven).

* Rotate and continue to cook another 10-12 min until golden brown and ready to eat.

Suzanne Vizethann :

It's challenging, I'm not gonna lie to you. It is hard and. But I'm very, you know, blessed that I have great people working for me. And I think that because I waited so long to open the second one, I was able to really establish a great team under me that can handle a lot of the heavy lifting when I'm gone. And, you know, I come back, I try to travel back like six to eight times a year to check on them. But I am primarily in Maine and this restaurant's very new, so it requires more of my attention and time. But, you know, I really just am a firm believer that if you attract great people and you treat them well and you pay them well, that they'll be very loyal to you. And, you know, obviously everything's not perfect and.

Suzanne Vizethann :

But you've gotta relinquish some of that control and trust other great people around you.

Stephanie Hansen:

So it's changed a lot in the restaurant business. You've been at it for a while. Like, I just remember the days of like the chef, you know, yes, chef, and the really aggressive screaming and you have to be here 22 hours a day in order to be taken seriously. Like, that culture has changed. And I'm wondering for you if that feels like a refreshing change because you've been in it a long time.

Suzanne Vizethann :

Yeah, no, it definitely does. You know, started off in fine dining, kind of working late, late nights. And I always was really fond of breakfast and kind of breakfast service because not only did it allow you to have your nights free, which I always loved. I'm a morning person. I think too, what I learned very quickly is how important work, life, balance is. And it is, it is A really tough industry and a tough job. And as you know, the, the gen. The next generation coming up is just.

Suzanne Vizethann :

Is different and you talk to them differently and they have different needs and different wants. And I don't think it's a bad thing. I just think that you. I've learned that, you know, you just have to be accepting of those changes and learn something from that new generation.

Stephanie Hansen:

Yeah, it's a very feeling generation. They're very oriented towards having feelings, wanting to share those feelings, wanting those feelings to be heard. Which is probably not surprising when you look at the rise of social media in the last 15 years, where that's what we do. We share over share and share again and share some more and really feel like. And I'm guilty of it too. Like, I really feel like everyone needs to know my feelings at all times. It's very interesting when you put that into a setting of a restaurant, because a restaurant is such a living, breathing microcosm of society or whatever is happening at the time.

Suzanne Vizethann :

Yes. And it's, you know, my first kitchen job, I worked silently. I made $7 an hour. You know, you never challenged the chef. You never challenged anyone around you. You know, you kept your head down and just kept going.

Stephanie Hansen:

Yeah.

Suzanne Vizethann :

So it's different for me, for sure. But, you know, I really embrace this younger generation and their needs and wants because I do think it is important to speak up and, you know, value your life and, and have a balance. So we. And we find that when we're flexible with people that it just creates a much better work environment for everybody. And it's challenging. I'm not going to say it isn't because it is challenging to be flexible in restaurants. But, you know, overall, I think that's a reason why we've been so successful is, you know, when. When we do have the daytime and we just try to treat our people really well.

Stephanie Hansen:

Yeah. And I think it shows. When you talk about your book in particular, did you do all the photographs? Because they're stunning.

Suzanne Vizethann :

Oh, I wish. No, I'm not that talented. No. I have a photographer, Kelly Berry, who's. We've worked together a very long time and she shot the book. And then my good friend Tom Driver was the stylist and he's so great. Phenomenal. He's phenomenal.

Stephanie Hansen:

So great.

Suzanne Vizethann :