Spirit, Soul & Suerte
Mexico Meets Austin through the Magic of Masa!
Words by Hannah J Phillips Photos by Ashley Haguewood
Combining Traditional Mexican Cuisine with the Essence of Eclectic East Austin
When chefs Fermín Núñez and Sam Hellmann-Mass first met in 2010, they never planned to open a Mexican restaurant together eight years later. At the time, Sam was sous chef at Barley Swine, where Núñez came to gain extra experience on his days off as sous chef at La Condesa. Before service, the kitchen staff would fist bump saying “Suerte” (which means luck in Spanish). Little did they know where Suerte would lead.
Opening early 2018, Suerte’s wildly successful first year came down to more than luck, even more than the magic masa behind their menu. It’s the soul and spirit mixed into every detail of the restaurant.
Simply put, masa is a corn dough used in tortillas, tamales and many Central American dishes; less simply, the dough is derived from a delicate process called nixtamalization. Intrigued by the rich history of its three humble ingredients (corn, calcium oxide, and water), Sam became determined to find the highest quality masa for house-made tortillas. His quest reconnected him with Fermín who, by then, had added other Austin notables like Launderette to his resumé. A native of northern Mexico, Fermín shared the vision to combine house-made masa with traditional Mexican cuisine and local ingredients.
Their restaurant was born of a mutual passion rather than identifying a tortilla-sized hole in the market. But as good timing and good luck would have it, their masa did fill a void in the Austin food world – both as an ingredient in their tortillas and what Fermín calls the “canvas of Mexican cooking.” His mission at Suerte is to showcase both the simplicity and diversity of masa, incorporating it in different shapes and sauces and pastries. On the menu, you’ll find those various shapes under “Vitamin T” (Mexican slang for corn since so many masa dishes start with that letter), ranging from the familiar shape of the suadero tacos to the more exotic Tlayuda, a thin-rolled fried masa topped with green chorizo and white bean refrito.
Elsewhere, fresh corn takes center stage as foamy gouda street corn in the Snackcidents section, while masa sneaks into yellow corn dumplings under the crispy Duck Breast y Mole Negro and even slides into desserts like the Blondie. Served with merengue, cajeta (caramelized goat’s milk) and butternut ice cream, the masa makes way for sweet notes before kicking in as an almost-aftertaste: a final momento of the sensory journey you’ve just concluded. Masa plays the same role on the weekend brunch menu, hiding in the popular palmier y cajeta or more prominently encasing the sweet and savory dark Mole Flautas topped with fried duck egg.
Mixed with the masa are ingredients from East Austin farms. Sam says the hunt for the best ingredients usually leads to small farms not too far away, and both chefs love the creative constraints of working with what is in season. That commitment keeps the restaurant grounded in the spirit of its East Austin setting, which is also woven throughout the interior décor, a mix of Mexican craftsmanship and local esthetics. Guests will also find the spirit of East Austin in the spirits themselves. Don Dario is a nod to the restaurant that once occupied the same spot. Sam says he saw the empty space while on East Austin Studio Tour and thought the building had “good soul,” which is well-preserved in its new iteration.
One could spend a lot of time trying to pinpoint exactly which parts of the nixtamalization process makes the masa at Suerte so good, but diners aren’t hooked by research; they’re hooked by flavor. In the ever-expanding culinary bubble of Austin, a restaurant’s survival depends on its customers being hooked, coming back for old favorites and new seasonal offerings. At Suerte, it’s not just the flavor of the masa, but the authenticity with which it is made, paired perfectly with its East Austin setting and the raw talent of the Suerte team itself.
Sam and Fermín are both of a true chef mindset—meaning they are focused on the task at hand today and letting Suerte work its magic. “You focus on the process, and that’s how you get where you want to be,” Sam explains. “The goal is getting better every day, and we do that by paying attention, being present, and caring.”
On the Horizon
East Side Café owner retired and sold her business to Sam Hellmann-Mass. Opened in 1988, East Side Café was a restaurant at the forefront of the farm-to-table movement in Austin. “People have a lot of attachment to East Side Café,” says Sam, “and Elaine set a high bar for all of us restaurateurs in town to make something as enduring as she did. I’ve got my work cut out for me.”
Contact:
(512) 953-0092
1800 E 6th Street
suerteatx.com
