Have a heart

Maxie’s Southern Comfort
6732 W. Fairview Avenue
414-292-3969
maxies.com

Save yourself a trip to N’awlins: Take I94 to 68th. Head north one block north and pull into Maxie’s Southern Comfort. With snow piled high as corn in July, Maxie’s is a hot spot that has already been discovered after eight months in business. Executive Chef Joe Muench puts the South in yo’ mouth with every bite of Southern specialty from barbecued shrimp and ribs to fried green tomatoes and succotash to blackened catfish. Is it any different from what you’d have south of the Mason-Dixon? Yes: it’s a whole lot better here.

Muench opened Maxie’s for owners Dan Sidner and Chick Evens as a sister bistro to Evens’ Maxie’s Supper Club in Ithaca, New York. Their broad take on Southern cookery is reflected in the French, Spanish, German and African accents to the cuisine.

The atmosphere is warmed with cayenne-colored walls, sparkling little chandeliers and red drapes roped together with massive gold tassels. The chef’s diverse culinary education and experience is evident on every plate. A notable special: the large grilled scallops served over sweet potato hash with frisee lettuce and a poached egg that bursts open to enrich the light butter sauce is mighty fine for anybody hankering to “grab a root” (have dinner). The suggested wine pairing is a rich, smoky pinot noir that tangles nicely on the taste buds with the hickory bacon in the hash. Just as enticing are the seared tenderloin filets drenched in a bourbon glaze, with barely steamed fresh spinach and crunchy corn succotash.

Though the chef personally eschews fried food, the creamy potato croquettes and the lacey onion rings are evidence that he’s mastered the art. Using them as accents rather than focal points keeps the diner out of the heart attack zone. Slow your pulse even more with a Scarlet O’Hara, a tot of Southern Comfort, cranberry juice and bitters that, like its namesake, is sweet, sassy and surprisingly potent.

Chef Muench learned his trade right here in Milwaukee, starting at his grandmother’s table. “How many kids come home to boiled heart for dinner?” he wants to know. “My grandmother lived with us for six years and it was like Thanksgiving every day. She made bread, applesauce and rhubarb and we ate a lot of unconventional foods like oxtail soup, beef tongue and liver and onions. Coming through the hardships of war, she used everything. That exposure piqued my interest in cooking: helping her, watching her and just eating.”

Though Muench has never lived or worked outside the state, family visits to Louisiana gave him a bank of food memories to tap in his current employment. “Southern cooking was always on my radar. Southern has the largest cumulative style – barbecue to game to fish.”

Muench tried college but was impatient with the pace. MATC’s culinary arts program gave him the opportunity to work in his field while he was getting his degree. “I could see the rewards of working sooner. A lot of college students don’t have any idea what they’re going to do when they finish. MATC is ACF [American Culinary Federation] accredited, so you’re getting the same degree as if you went to the CIA [Culinary Institute of America] if you apply yourself. All the tools are there. They have a fantastic facility and offer a broad-based European and classical French foundation.”

His cooking experience is an eclectic mix of mom & pop shops, fast-paced, high volume chains, the finest of fine dining (The Grenadiers and Sticks and Stones), an exclusive golf club (Big Foot Country Club in Lake Geneva) and a ground-breaking steakhouse (Eddie Martini’s, which he opened). Each brought experiences that would ensure his success at Maxie’s; most importantly, how to balance family and a demanding career.

“The key to success,” according to Muench, “is realizing that there is no finish line. You’re only as good as your last meal.” He measures his personal achievements simply, with pride: “With all the ways people fail in this business, to say at the end of the day you love your wife, you haven’t turned to the bottle and haven’t pulled all your hair out.” VS