Rising Chef: Jason Suttmiller of The Local Eatery and Pub
38-year-old Jason Suttmiller is originally from Cleveland, Ohio. He began working in the food industry when he was just 12-years-old. He worked for a local party center as a bus-boy, and he loved the job because he got to stay up late on the weekends and hang out with a very interesting group of people. That’s when he was first turned on to the food industry. He then got his first cooking job when he was 18 working in a Cleveland area bar.
Jason earned his pastry degree from Johnson and Wales. After graduating he spent ten years in Miami, Florida. He moved to Indianapolis from Miami two years ago.
His favorite dish ever eaten is passion fruit panna cotta at Bourbon Steak in Miami, Florida. He says the dish was perfect in every way possible, and he still dreams about it.
His favorite place to eat is Szechwan Garden on the city’s west side on Lafayette Road. Jason says they make arguably the best Chinese food he’s ever eaten. And after having helped run a “from scratch” Chinese kitchen in Miami he has a greater appreciation for the cuisine.
There isn’t a single item Jason dislikes to cook, but he does wish he was better at cooking eggs. He says eggs are easy to mess up and tough to get perfect.
Jason’s pantry staple is cooking fats. That’s right, Jason keeps mason jars of cooking fats in his kitchen at all times. He clarifies and seals up jars of different fats and stores them. Jason says there’s nothing like cooking your green beans in rendered bone marrow.
