Suzanne Vizethann grew up with an appreciation of food. But it wasn’t until her time at the University of South Carolina that she really fell in love.
Throughout her college years, a deep love of the Food Network led to culinary school, a career as a personal chef, and work at Atlanta restaurants like One Midtown Kitchen. Eventually, she opened Buttermilk Kitchen in 2012, and with one cookbook down and another on the way, she hasn’t slowed down yet.
Rough Draft Atlanta had the opportunity to speak with Vizethann about her career and work. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
To start, I would love to hear a bit about your upbringing and what got you interested in cooking in the first place.
Suzanne Vizethann: Born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, and just grew up in a family that was really appreciative of food. It was always around me and instilled in me, but it wasn’t until I went off to college [that I] just kind of fell in love with watching the Food Network. I would go into the store and I would try to recreate recipes. It just sort of dawned on me – I’m really, really passionate about this.
After college, that led me to do culinary school, and then one thing led to another. I worked in a lot of kitchens, and then started a career as a personal chef at a little company called The Hungry peach. I did regular personal chef services, but I also specialized in private dinner parties. We opened a brick and mortar in [the Atlanta Decorative Arts Center] … over in Peachtree Hills. I think we opened in 2009, and then ended up selling it like, five years ago maybe.
I opened Buttermilk Kitchen in 2012. We’re 10 and a half now, which is crazy. That’s kind of me in a nutshell.
You mentioned the Food Network, and I know that you were also on “Chopped,” sort of early on. Can you talk a little bit about that experience?
Vizethann: It was wild! And I was really young in my career at that time. They reached out to me and asked to apply, so I did and got on the show. It was a crazy experience. I think I was like, 26 – I mean, I was a baby.
I ended up winning, which was amazing and kind of a boost of confidence and morale that I needed. It was incredible, personally and professionally, because it gave me a lot of confidence. Also personally, I think it was more of just like – you’ve got to put yourself in a really uncomfortable situation sometimes. It would have been so easy for me to just say no, I don’t want to do it. But it worked out. To this day – it was over 11 years ago – and people ask me about it like, once a week.
After college, did you always want to come back to Atlanta and work as a chef?
Vizethann: At first, I didn’t really know. But being from Atlanta, and it being a much bigger city than anywhere in South Carolina – actually, they used to have a culinary program I believe in Charleston, but then they moved it to Charlotte. And I was like, well you know – if I had to choose between Charlotte and Atlanta, I’m going to pick Atlanta. My family was there, friends were there, so it made the most sense for me.
What about Atlanta’s food and restaurant industry specifically appeals to you?
Vizethann: I have a lot of Southern pride. I love that it’s the South. I think that it’s an amazing place for a chef right now. You know, we’re getting a lot of great restaurants and foodies, and more and more people are moving here every day. I also love where Buttermilk Kitchen is – it’s actually the neighborhood I pretty much grew up in. So it still feels really small, even though you’re in a really big city. I love that intimate part of it. There’s a lot of good people here.
For Buttermilk Kitchen, why did you settle on the breakfast/brunch concept? What were the steps leading up to opening the restaurant?
Vizethann: Well at Hungry Peach, that’s what we were doing. It was breakfast/lunch, those daytime hours. I came from a background of fine dining, or night service. I burned out on that really quickly. I’ve always been a daytime/morning person. I love getting up really early, and I knew that the nighttime life was not for me.
Not only did the hours appeal to me, but I love breakfast food, and I felt like there was a really big niche to be filled in the Atlanta area of chef-driven breakfast places. There’s just not a lot of places that take that care and really pay attention to the quality of food. Breakfast a lot of times, unfortunately, is just kind of more of an afterthought. And I could see why, as I got into it. It’s really fast-paced. It’s totally different than that artistic plating style of more of a dinner-service restaurant, which I think a lot of chefs are used to and are comfortable with. So I really just saw a need in the market.
Was it just the hours part of it that burned you out on fine dining?
Vizethann: Yeah. You know, you’re getting off at sometimes one in the morning. And it takes you about two hours to fall asleep. You wake up the next day late, sometimes you wake up 10, 11 o’clock, and you do it all over again. I just did not like that as a schedule. It was fun for a little while, but it just wasn’t for me.
I’m a morning person as well, so I completely understand that.
Vizethann: Yeah, I just wanted like, some sort of normalcy and balance. Even though it’s a lot of work – it’s very challenging – in breakfast, at least, I knew that I would have nights off and some sort of normalcy.
I know you had a cookbook come out a couple of years ago, right?
Vizethann: Yeah, and I’m actually writing a second one.
I was going to ask if it was something you like enough to do again – obviously that answer is yes. Can you take us through the process?
Vizethann: I loved the process. It was really, really incredible to put everything down, and the first time you actually get to hold the book in your hands. The first book was a restaurant cookbook, and the second book is going to be … a little bit more about me and my personal style. So I’m really excited for that opportunity to show people a slightly different angle.
It’s super rewarding. It’s a lot of work, but I really enjoy the process of it.
How would you categorize your personal style?
Vizethann: For me, it’s so much more than just the food. It’s how the design is, how it looks on the plate, what type of plate it is – I love the entertainment aspect of it. I love that whole process, of not only just developing the recipe, but also creating how it’s going to look on the plate. It’s just really fun.
This is my last question, and whenever I ask chefs this they always say it’s hard to choose. But do you have a favorite thing on the menu?
Vizethann: Ooh, yeah that is hard! Right now, it’s weird. I’m normally a pretty healthy eater, but we have this – you know everyone, they think about us, they think about our chicken biscuit, and our pancakes – but we have this smoked meatloaf sandwich on the menu. It comes on this crispy potato bun, with caramelized onions, and it is so good. It’s just like this umami bomb went off in your mouth.
I think right now, that’s probably my favorite. It changes sometimes. The BELT is something that has been on the menu since day one. It’s just a play on a BLT, but what makes it really special is it has these pickled green tomatoes in combination with the regular red tomatoes. So it just gives you that nice, acidic punch, and really rounds out all the flavors. It’s really good.