January 24, 2025 • 28 mins
What does it take to transform a hidden gem into a beloved local eatery? In this episode of 'Total Michigan,' host Cliff Duvernois interviews Evan Sumrell, chef and owner of Aster restaurant in Midland, Michigan. Evan shares his culinary journey from Georgia to Chicago and ultimately to Michigan, revealing the challenges and inspirations behind opening Aster. He emphasizes the importance of sustainability, community, and seasonality in his farm-to-table concept, and discusses the unique offerings and practices that set Aster apart.
Key points discussed include
- Evan's roots and culinary background
- The philosophy behind Aster
- The hurdles faced in establishing and promoting the restaurant
Links:
Aster Midland Website: https://www.astermichigan.com/
Subscribe to our Email Newsletter: https://totalmichigan.com/join/
Find us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/totalmichigan
Watch on YouTube: https://youtube.com/@totalmichigan
Show Notes:
00:00 Introduction
01:21 The Concept Behind Aster
02:18 Evan's Culinary Journey
05:20 The Chicago Experience
11:34 Farm-to-Table Philosophy
14:26 Supporting Local Farmers
15:40 Sustainability Practices
16:58 Challenges of Opening a Restaurant
21:30 Managing Stress and Creativity
24:55 Signature Dishes at Aster
27:35 How to Find Aster
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Evan Sumrell (00:00):
You think if you build it, they will come.
(00:02):
Well, it's not the field of dreams.
It's not true.
You have people that pass bythis restaurant all the time.
And I can't tell you how many peoplecame in here and thought that it
was a part of the place next door.
We're like this kind of hidden gem.
you can have the best food inthe world, no matter what you do.
But if you don't get butts in theseats, you don't have a business, right?
it could be a great product, but if noone knows about it, it's irrelevant.
(00:25):
We're doing really amazing things here.
And now we got to get peopleto sit down and try it.
Cliff Duvernois (00:31):
Hello everyone.
And welcome back to total Michigan,where we interview ordinary Michiganders
doing some pretty extraordinary things.
I am your host, Cliff Duvernois.
It is a really cool trend that we'reseeing in the restaurant business.
When we see the chefs coming up anddoing these purely farm to table
concepts, whatever is fresh, whateveris in season, whatever is organic.
(00:54):
That actually appears on the menu andin poking around Midland, I came across
the spot that has actually been featuredon a number of podcasts and television
shows and radio shows, whatever.
And it's really makinga hit on the community.
And so I need to find outthe story behind it as usual.
So sitting with me today is Evan Sumrellfrom Aster located in Midland, Michigan.
(01:17):
Evan, how are you?
Evan Sumrell (01:18):
Good.
How are you?
Cliff Duvernois (01:19):
I'm doing awesome.
Thank you for asking.
So why don't you tell us what is Aster?
Evan Sumrell (01:24):
So Aster is actually named after my son's birth flower,
which is where the name comes from.
And the idea of Aster was tobe based off of sustainability,
community, and seasonality.
So that's pretty much what our whole ideais when we think about the menu is, you
know, are we supporting the communityin some way by using a local business?
A local farmer is a seasonaland is a sustainable practice
(01:48):
that we can use as well.
Cliff Duvernois (01:49):
So you're, you're farm to table, you do lunch
and dinner, you do dinner only
Evan Sumrell (01:53):
dinner.
So, okay.
So our hours are dinner from four to,I say 9 PM, but if we're still busy,
you know, we try to keep it open.
We'd love to be open as longas possible, Tuesday through
Saturday from four to nine.
And then we do brunchon Sunday from 10 to.
I say three o'clock, butreally it's like two.
Okay.
All right.
Cliff Duvernois (02:13):
And now, so let's take a step back.
Where are you from?
Where did you grow up?
Evan Sumrell (02:18):
So originally from Georgia I went to culinary school
in Georgia right outside of Atlanta.
I went to the art Institute of Atlantaand I got my my alleged bachelor's in
science and culinary business management.
That's what I got allegedlynot so much anymore.
But yeah, I, uh, after graduating,college, I wanted to work in
(02:38):
Michelin star restaurants.
So that's when I moved to Chicagoand, started my journey there.
I got a job at Acadia, which was a onestar at the time and, uh, the South
loop man, I was there for eight years.
But
Cliff Duvernois (02:51):
yeah, so what I'd like to do is I'd like to take a trip back
a little bit because you're, you know,you've grown up, obviously you wanted to
get into the restaurant business and aone star is actually really good for any
restaurant that's out there for sure.
Evan Sumrell (03:08):
Absolutely.
Cliff Duvernois (03:08):
Yes.
what was it about food?
Like what was your first foodexperience when it was not just
something that you eat, but.
Something you wanted to do, you
Evan Sumrell (03:17):
know?
Well, it's actuallyit's it comes from home.
I mean, to be honest with you.
my mom's like actuallya really great cook.
Now.
I, we were always on the go.
Like you know, my parent,my both my parents worked.
We were, school.
We did sports.
So, you know, we weredefinitely moving around a lot.
throughout the day, but every weekwas Sundays, kind of when we would
all sit down and have dinner.
(03:37):
That was like our thing.
Cliff Duvernois (03:38):
Right.
Evan Sumrell (03:38):
and, I just got interested in what she was cooking at a young age.
by the time I could see her over thecounter, I was like, what are you doing?
I don't know.
I just was interested in it.
Then my, my grandfather actuallywas a really great cook.
I called him my Pawpaw.
He kind of taught me a lot more.
About like why he liked it.
And, and he also had like a littletiny, like a little garden in his,
(04:02):
and their yard and he would pickvegetables and they would can them.
And it was kind of like myintroduction, not knowing that,
like, there was something there,but just interested in, in it.
Yeah, and then it kindof started from there.
and I've always been told to likehave backup plans like my mom's
like, Hey, have a backup plan ifsomething doesn't work out, you
know, you got to have backup plans.
(04:23):
well, I played hockey and, and, my tinystature, obviously that didn't go far.
So my backup plan was to cook food.
so actually first ever job I was 14.
I worked at Jersey Mike's.
That was the dishwasher.
Oh, okay.
Uh, the sub place.
And then, honestly, just thatalone, just got me interested in it.
And then knew I wantedto go to culinary school.
(04:44):
I worked in a, like a pizzaplace too for a minute.
And then I eventually worked at this,I'm not gonna say the restaurant's name.
Cause it's not, it's not around anymore.
But it was just a terrible restaurant.
It was just, it was introductionto what I thought cooking food was,
was not cooking food and it wasa very, it was a joke of a place.
but it, but it still like made me thinkabout food and, and made me like it.
(05:08):
best way I can put it is kind of, youknow, you're, you're scratching the
itch of what you think you can do.
and I thought I knew how to cook food.
and then I moved to Chicago and then Irealized I had no idea what I was doing.
Oh, really?
Okay.
And learned so much, working.
so we were one star, we eventually gottwo stars, while I was there, it was
(05:29):
a, um, it was a really cool experience.
You learn a lot, like on the go,like you learn how to make, like, he
would always call it like audibles iswhat the chef would always call it.
Like he would change the menuin the middle of service.
And we're like, well, like, this is crazy.
But.
The thought behind it is, you know,like something's changed, something
got messed up or something like it wasjust, you were always on your toes,
(05:52):
like you had to be, you had to bewilling and able to step outside of your
boundaries to try to create something.
Not saying this happened every night, butlike when it did, you needed to be ready.
and when you're at that high level ofcooking food, they expect you to be ready.
And I think that made me like areally just good cook, you know, not.
(06:13):
I wouldn't say necessarily a chef.
I think there's differences inthose terms, but, cooking food.
that is when I was like, wow, this is,This is something I, not every dish needs
to have a protein, starch, vegetable, anda sauce like, you know, cause in culinary
school, that's what you're taught.
Everything is like that.
Very French style.
but modern food is not like that anymore.
(06:34):
It's very like, it could just be protein.
Sauce.
I mean, my goodness.
I mean, I've seen, you know, in a bunchof small things on the side or, you
know, or can have all those things.
It's, it's endless at this point.
That's why I love it because it is vast.
It's, I'm never going to learn everything,
Cliff Duvernois (06:49):
right?
so why did you decide to leaveGeorgia to go to Chicago?
Evan Sumrell (06:54):
Well, I had been visiting Chicago for a number of years.
I had a friend of mine thatwent to DePaul, in Chicago and
a very good friend of mine.
And I would visit and I justfell in love with the city and I
always was a city person anyways.
Like I grew up an hour outside ofAtlanta, like in a dairy farm community.
(07:15):
but it got built up drastically over time.
You know, obviously going up becauseI literally from kindergarten, I
graduated from high school there.
And you see, obviously thetown changed drastically.
But when I got old enough to likego to the city, like that's where
I was, I was always in the city.
I always wanted to go to Atlanta.
so when I went to college, I livedin the city and then my college
(07:36):
was just outside of the perimeter.
There's like a two 85that goes around Atlanta.
They call it the perimeter.
So anything that's inside theperimeter is considered Atlanta.
And then anything outsideis considered Atlanta.
The suburbs, so it was just outside.
It was literally like an exitoutside, but I lived in the city.
Right.
So anyways, I just visitingover the years, I was like,
Chicago's where it's at for food.
That's where I want to be,to learn because if you, I
(07:59):
mean, everyone knows this.
If you want something, you've got to findout where it's happening and go to it.
Cliff Duvernois (08:05):
Right.
Evan Sumrell (08:05):
So, you know, like you want to be this like really great
stand up comedian, you're not going todo it in some small town in Oklahoma.
You're going to want to go to New York or,you know, now Austin or LA or whatever.
So like be around otherreally great comedians.
It doesn't like cooking fooddoesn't happen in a vacuum.
You've got to like broaden yourhorizons and, and travel and taste
(08:27):
different things and cook at differentplaces and see stuff, you know,
it's not a, it's not something thathappens in a, small space, you know?
So that's where I knew Ineeded to go to Chicago.
Cliff Duvernois (08:38):
If you, so let's take a step back here for a second,
because you're, you're coming toChicago, you landed a job at a
restaurant that at that time had onestar, which is not easy, let alone.
Now they've got to stay, they
Evan Sumrell (08:51):
got one star within the first year of being open.
Cliff Duvernois (08:53):
See, that's incredible.
Now you go there, right?
And you apply for a job.
Did you ever feel like you werein some kind of a pressure cooker?
Like if I do not perform,because it's not just
Evan Sumrell (09:04):
every day, every, every day.
So So my so we do what we what we sohaving a getting a job in the kitchen is
a little bit different than a normal likeinterview, you may have an interview for
a kitchen job, but you also are goingto have a stash is what it's called.
So stash is essentially aworking interview where you
will work a shift for free.
(09:25):
And you, that's, that's what it was then.
Right.
if you saw us here at Aster, I pay you.
but that's how we typically do it.
and you work a full shift.
and they see whetheror not you're worth it.
and if you're worth their time.
when there's, When there'sgood cooks a dime a dozen,
you're having stages every day.
I mean, like when I worked there,we would have stages every day.
(09:47):
We had interns.
We had all sorts of stuff happening.
People coming in and out all the time,you know, turnover rate was high.
It's a high pressure environment for sure.
So every day, if you'renot performing, you're out.
It's like, yeah, someone's goingto take your job, you know?
And the idea It's what it makes youthink is whose job am I going to take?
Who's above me?
I want their job.
(10:08):
That's how you had to thinkevery day walking into this.
Wow.
You know, it's a tough, it's,it's tough to like be like
that 16 hours out of the day.
Not saying every shift was 16hours, but There was a lot of
long days, especially on Sunday,because Sunday you deep cleaned.
So we'd break down the kitchencompletely, and we wouldn't leave
until three, four in the morning.
Sweet Moses.
(10:29):
Yeah.
Cliff Duvernois (10:30):
Yeah.
Kitchen's got to be clean.
Yeah.
Kitchen's got to be clean.
Let's talk a little bit now about,so you've gotten your, you've
gotten your feet wet in Chicago.
You're all in on the restaurant scene.
In Dane.
You're in Midland.
Evan Sumrell (10:43):
I'm in Midland.
Yep.
So, COVID happens.
nobody knows what's going on.
I just kind of hiding out here, inMidland because we could actually, my
son could run around and, you know,be a part, be outside like Chicago.
He couldn't even go to the park, youknow, like he shut down everything.
We're stuck inside our apartment,
Cliff Duvernois (11:00):
right?
Evan Sumrell (11:00):
which is great, but when you're with your family
and everything, but it's not wheneventually you want to get outside.
so we'd hide out here for a little bit.
And once the, I had lost my job whereI was working, things were changing.
And, I just so happenedto find this place.
and in your life, sometimes youdon't want to think back five years,
five years from now and go, whatif, so I was like, well, I've been
(11:23):
working in restaurants this long.
I know what I'm doing.
I think it's time to do my own.
So the Aster
Cliff Duvernois (11:29):
happened.
So where did the, well, solet's take a step back here.
So before you open the restaurant, whydon't you talk to us, you know, whether it
was good experiences or bad experiences,but what kind of shaped your philosophy
when it came to opening this place?
Evan Sumrell (11:45):
Well, I mean, I, I love how you said that, like, you know, farm
to table is a thing or like a thing.
I hate how it's not a fad.
I don't think that it should be.
It's a way of like, we should live.
Like you should not eat tomatoesin the middle of winter time.
Like we're doing this podcastright now and outside it's
snowing and we're in Michigan.
You shouldn't be like, I know that youcan go to the store and go buy tomatoes.
(12:06):
I get it.
But how we should eat, you know,we shouldn't, we should eat what
is available for us right now.
That's just how, but it's true.
It's like, You, I'm able, what's greatabout us is like, I have farmers that
have greenhouses that I'm still able tobuy from during the wintertime and I can
buy cool things, but most of the stuffthat's going to be on the menu right now
(12:27):
is braised meats and root vegetables,you know, potatoes and carrots and
parsnip and squash and things like that.
Cause they can last right now.
and I think that's like super important.
To it's a sustainable practice formother nature, you know, I think we
need to take care of mother nature.
It's very obvious I know thingsgo through changes and earth does
(12:49):
this thing or whatever, but Istill think we should respect it.
We live on it so that was a part ofwhat I thought life was and What i've
turned I tried to be with my life.
So I why not do that with my business?
I mean, that's the You It's a, it's avery equal thing, you know, so eating this
way, to me is how we should cook as well.
(13:09):
if you have tomatoes on your menu inthe middle of wintertime, I hope you
canned them during the summertime.
So you're able to do that.
And we've had, we've been able to like,there's been some summers where I canned.
Things of tomatoes, like our whole,bar up top above it was covered
in canned tomatoes and I could usethe tomatoes during the wintertime.
(13:30):
Awesome.
Right.
Those are sustainable practicesthat we should know how to do.
Right.
but.
Having a cherry tomato on your raw cherrytomato on your menu in the middle of
wintertime in Michigan is outrageous,
Cliff Duvernois (13:41):
you know, I was thinking of when you were
talking about that right there.
I was thinking of like how many timesI've gone to like the grocery store,
for instance, middle of winter and theirstrawberries, you get everything you want.
And to me, I can't eat strawberries inthe wintertime because they don't taste
Evan Sumrell (13:54):
like anything.
No,
Cliff Duvernois (13:55):
they don't.
But you, you wait until Julytimeframe, whatever it is, when the
strawberries start to become ripe.
All of a sudden, they're good.
They're full of flavor.
They're super juicy.
So yeah, I totally get what you're saying.
Evan Sumrell (14:08):
I, uh, when I was on under the radar, he said it, he said, and I
say, he's like, you're missing things.
You're like, you'regoing to miss tomatoes.
You're going to miss this.
You know, like I, I liked the, I,the idea of, of putting it that way.
I, yes, I want to miss blueberries.
I want to miss strawberriesin the summertime.
You know, I want to miss, You know, ramps.
I like when you have
Cliff Duvernois (14:27):
them.
You appreciate them.
Evan Sumrell (14:28):
Yes, absolutely.
There's a massive appreciation for him.
and I think that's goes very intune of what we are as a restaurant.
Like, you know, the community base behindthat is that we support local farmers.
you know, shout outs a good set farms.
17 miles away from here and we, they'reat the local farmer's market too.
We buy from her.
(14:49):
She's amazing.
another farm out of Traverse City,you know, work farms we buy from them.
Great stuff.
Another farm, utter blissout of Rodney, Michigan.
Awesome.
You know, there's just so many thatI can name that we are able to,
we get lucky enough to work with.
And showcase what they're doing.
It's, that's alone is, enough.
Right.
I mean, I don't know.
(15:10):
It's just, it's, it's like, I wish thatit's like the thought process of like,
you know, obviously it's not, I just, thefarmer's table is cool and that's great.
But that's not all we are.
It's like we're so much more.
The idea to it is more than justbeing, I'm buying from a farmer.
And then, cause you couldsay that for everything.
Of course, those tomatoes that you'rebuying at the supermarket are coming
from a farm or else are they being grown?
(15:32):
So I could say, I'm buying from a farmto, to, you know, anyone can say that
obviously, but like the practice of.
Being, trying to be as local as you can,trying to be as sustainable as well, like
our fryer oil gets turned into biodiesel,you know, and then a byproduct to make
your biodiesel is glycerin when we getthat back to make soap and that's how
(15:53):
you wash your hands in the bathroom, likefun things like that, that maybe not many
people know or care about, but I thinkit's just a, a cool thing that, that we
practice here that we try to continue.
Sure.
Yeah.
Cliff Duvernois (16:06):
For audience, we're going to take a quick
break and thank our sponsors.
When we come back, we're going totalk to Evan Sumrell, owner of Aster
restaurant in Midland, Michigan,about, some of the challenges he
faced getting this place open.
And more importantly, what you canexpect when you come here and try this
food, we'll see you after the break.
Are you enjoying this episode?
Well, I can tell youthere's a lot more to come.
(16:26):
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Hello, everyone.
Welcome back to Total Michigan, wherewe interview ordinary Michiganders
(16:49):
doing some pretty extraordinary things.
I'm your host, Cliff Duvernois.
Today, I'm talking with the owner ofAster located in Midland, Michigan,
and that would be Evan Sumrell.
And, Evan, before the break, wewere talking about, the journey
to come up here to Midland andto start getting, Aster open.
What I would like to do is Iwould like to talk about how, you
(17:11):
know, you found the spot You'relike, this is where we want to go.
This is where we want to, where we wantto plant, plant the flag, so to speak.
Why don't you plant theflower, plant the flower?
That's right.
Cause Astro's a flower.
why don't you talk to us about like,maybe like one of the two, like one
of the two really like key challengesthat you had getting this place open.
Evan Sumrell (17:33):
Okay.
There's many challengesof opening a restaurant.
First thing is location,location, location.
So like the location for us,downtown makes perfect sense.
I love it.
Ashman street is awesome.
Okay.
Anyone who's listening Ashman streetin downtown Midland has more stuff
on it than main street itself.
So it's very important that Ilike the fact that we're here.
(17:55):
I love the location.
So that was our biggestchallenge and we got that.
Second one was finding the farmers.
I don't, I know some farmers in Michiganthat I used in Chicago, but I don't know
the ones that are more locally based or
Cliff Duvernois (18:09):
that are in the area.
Yes.
Evan Sumrell (18:10):
So luckily for us when we moved here, it was in summer.
So they had the farmers market going on.
And so I met a lot of the farmersand visited a lot of the farms
that we still use to this day.
And that's the reason why, you know, causeI liked what they were doing as well,
because, you know, a lot of the farmersthat we also use are either organic or
(18:31):
they also do, Sustainable practices, youknow, making compost, doing different
types of things, making their ownfertilizers, all sorts of different stuff.
and I thought that was reallyimportant for us, obviously, for
what, what we were doing too.
Why wouldn't we visit the farmthat we're buying our things from?
You know what I mean?
Right.
Makes a lot of sense.
so that was one of the challenges too.
(18:51):
The other challengewas the liquor license.
That was the best part.
it took, uh, it took foreverto get a liquor license.
Something definitely, I hope changes,in the town, to help that procedure.
Because it is.
not fun to go through.
And don't get me wrong.
I'm not the smartest personand I did it by myself.
filling out all the paperwork.
So a lot of the reasons why Ididn't get it so fast is because
(19:14):
I didn't know what I was doing.
But you keep trying, you keep doing it.
and I think, that was, it wasnot in the budget to get a lawyer
to help me get a liquor license.
Let's just say that.
the budget was me.
So figuring that out was a big,Was a big step, And, and trying to
get it as well is just as tough.
There's a lot of, silly things thatunfortunately make it difficult
(19:35):
here to get a liquor license.
I think those were probably someof our biggest challenges too.
And I think.
One of the biggest challenges thatI think I feel like now is getting
people to know who we are, you know,
Cliff Duvernois (19:48):
yes,
Evan Sumrell (19:49):
You think if you build it, they will come.
Well, it's not the field of dreams.
It's not true.
You have people that pass bythis restaurant all the time.
And I can't tell you how many peoplecame in here and thought that it
was a part of the place next door.
I was like, oh yeah, like how, how we arecompletely, we look completely different.
Why would you think that?
and I don't have a giant sign outsideand I don't have all these things.
(20:13):
We're like this kind of hidden gem.
And I like that.
but I think a big thing that I.
I'm coming to terms with is, you know,like, I can't, you can have the best
food in the world, no matter what you do.
But if you don't get butts in theseats, you don't have a business, right?
and that's for anybody.
You don't sell your product.
You don't have a business.
(20:33):
it could be a great product, but if noone knows about it, it's irrelevant.
So the idea now is this is This is thenew challenge is trying to get, I know
that we've, we've hit what we've wanted.
We're doing really amazing things here.
We're changing the menu,literally this week.
So I think that's like, it'slike, we've got this template
down of what we do with our food.
(20:54):
and we're doing really well with that.
And so I'm like, well,let's go on to the next one.
And now we got to get peopleto sit down and try it.
Cliff Duvernois (21:02):
You know, when you do this, because you said before
about opening up a restaurantis really tough and yes, it is,
restaurants go under all the time.
My question to you is, is that whenyou're talking about, like, especially
like now getting butts and seats, howdo you handle the pressure, right?
I mean, we got bills to pay.
We got to pay the staff.
We got payroll.
(21:23):
We've got like you weretalking about before.
They got the farmers coming in.
How do you like manage that, that stress?
Evan Sumrell (21:30):
I'm answering a question therapy, lots of it.
I honestly, getting out ofthis restaurant, I also live
like above the restaurant.
I probably shouldn't say that on air.
but I'm in this buildingevery day, all day.
Cliff Duvernois (21:46):
Right.
Evan Sumrell (21:47):
I sleep here.
You know, this is my home.
This is literally, this is my home.
Getting out of this placeis what recharges me.
you know, I do other side, Iplay golf during the summertime.
I just picked up skiing.
so been skiing, just trying to likedo things that are not involved
with actually cooking food.
Cliff Duvernois (22:08):
Right.
Evan Sumrell (22:08):
I still love cooking.
It doesn't mean that I don't love it.
It just, well, having creativity forme, creativity is not a force thing.
It's like a, Weird like I don't know it'sin the ether or whatever don't cry like
it's in it It doesn't it doesn't dishescome to me when I see things and then
I think about stuff or they just caughtthey just end up In my head, I don't
(22:30):
know I don't it's not like somethingthat I it's not if I try to force stuff
to happen It just doesn't work that way.
Right?
My creativity doesn't work that way.
I learned it could be doing somethingthat is completely irrelevant to cooking
food and I We'll just think of a dish.
I don't know.
It's just wild.
It's just a weird, a weirdthing that happens sometimes.
Well, cause you're not thinking about it.
(22:51):
Yeah.
And I think it happenswith a lot of people too.
Like a lot of creative humans, creativitycomes in all shapes and forms and you
don't know when it's going to happen.
It's like, I don't know.
Sometimes you feel it.
Make it.
So there's been some dishes that I feellike it was like a gift, like here,
like you, this, like, here's an idea.
See if it works.
And then you're like, wow, thisis something I'm still doing.
(23:12):
10 years later,
Cliff Duvernois (23:13):
right?
Evan Sumrell (23:14):
This dish was really great.
Cliff Duvernois (23:15):
I know you mentioned before about, uh, skiing and I know
personally, I enjoy skiing justbecause of the aggressive nature of it.
Because when I'm going now, I'mtalking about downhill skiing,
not cross country skiing.
What I'm going like in thedownhill skiing, Man, I am 100
percent locked into that moment.
I'm not thinking about the show.
I'm not thinking about the interviews.
I'm not thinking about anything else.
(23:36):
And I think that's importantto be able to completely shift
your mind out of what you do.
So that way you can go back.
Yeah, because if
Evan Sumrell (23:44):
you are skiing and you're going really fast and
you make a misstep, it hurts.
You are a yard sale onthe side of the hill.
I yard sailed this past weekend,man, and my neck still hurts.
but I'm, you know, I'mgoing to go again on Monday.
I like, I really, and this is, I getMy thing is like, you know, getting
older and learning new things is fun.
(24:06):
It's like, it's a challenge.
And I think that also helps youwith having it being physical is
a good thing, obviously, but alsohelps clear your mind with other
things that are going on in life.
and the creativity of the restauranttoo, because that's one thing that,
why I want people to come here,people are coming here to eat.
Right.
So I want them to bepresent in the moment.
And if we're not.
Thinking about the food and beingcreative with the food, then
(24:30):
we're getting them away from theidea of what Aster is, right?
So that's the whole thought process.
It's got to be a full thoughtwhen we have a dish on the menu.
It's like, the idea is like,okay, what's the main focus?
And then we kind of go from there.
But the main focus iswhat's coming from the farm.
If we can get this, then, theneverything else that goes with it,
(24:51):
what else can we do that's in season?
That's going to come with it too.
Right.
It's kind of the idea.
Cliff Duvernois (24:55):
Now, when you talk about, because I know we talked before
about the seasonality of the dishes andeven your menu is changing this week,
my next question would be is that,because with your menu changing all
the time, do you have actually staples
Evan Sumrell (25:09):
on
Cliff Duvernois (25:09):
the menu?
Evan Sumrell (25:10):
Yeah, we do actually.
so we have our burger.
I'm going to say everyone right now,our burger is the best burger around.
I'll put it up to anybody.
Cliff Duvernois (25:18):
The reviewers love it.
Evan Sumrell (25:19):
I'll tell it.
Bring it on.
Come try the burger.
I promise you're going to like it.
And we do change the burger, butthe burger will never go away.
We'll always have some rendition ofa cool burger on the menu right now.
It is a bacon, jam, aioli, dill, pickles,cheddar cheese sauce, and then you get
two patties that are four ounces each.
(25:39):
So it's an eight ounce burger.
and then we do this funny thingwhere we say, make it a double.
and then, so it's actually three patties.
And it's a joke, becauseIt's not a double to triple.
because it's a joke becausethere I'm going to shout out
to a restaurant in Chicago.
This, to, it's a burger joint.
It's called Osho of all.
if you go to Chicago, they have the bestburger, one of the best burgers in town.
(26:02):
There's another place too.
That's really good.
Right.
but They do, they do that.
If you get a single, it's a double,you get a double, it's a triple, if
it's a triple, it's a quadruple, ifit's quadruple, it's five patties.
So it's like, it's a, it's ajoke and kind of an ode to them.
They're like, you know, they did, we do a,we already give you two patties, but you
make it a double, it's actually a triple.
Cliff Duvernois (26:22):
Right.
Evan Sumrell (26:22):
and then we, we, we kind of, we mess around with
the burger every now and then.
So that's a definitely a bigstaple, big seller to obviously our
hush puppies are a giant staple.
So it's a smoked whitefish, that wefold into a dough called Pâte à Choux.
Um, and Pâte à Choux is like a whatyou would make eclairs from right?
but instead of baking itWe actually deep fry them.
(26:42):
and then we make them savory and then weserve it with cocktail sauce and that's
been a staple on the menu, man, sincewe put them on, be honest with you.
and then the other dish isobviously our, our mushroom risotto.
one of our farmers, uh, utter bliss, whichis out of Rodney, Michigan, shout out.
They, he, I buy mushroomsand eggs from him.
So that dish is literallylike just for him.
(27:04):
So it's just a simple, wemake a mushroom risotto.
The mushroom, the risottois made in a mushroom stock.
Um, and then we have like roasted mytalking mushrooms that go on top of it.
Comes with a poached egg.
we finish it with Parmesan,lemon zest and chives.
and then.
But I'm hungry, so those three are likepretty much will probably never go away.
(27:26):
Right.
I think, like I said, the burger maychange every now and then, but really,
we will always have the burger on
Cliff Duvernois (27:33):
man.
That's beautiful.
Evan Sumrell (27:34):
Yeah.
Cliff Duvernois (27:35):
If somebody is listening to this and they want to
come and check you out or maybe evenfind you online, how can I do that?
Evan Sumrell (27:40):
So we have, Believe it or not, we're, we're on YouTube.
We're on, Instagram, Facebook.
It's Aster, Michigan, at Aster, Michigan.
we're located at one three, fourAshland street, in downtown Midland,
Michigan, four, eight, six, four, zero.
Come see us,
Cliff Duvernois (27:54):
Evan.
Thank you so much for takingtime to chat with us today.
Really appreciate it.
And for audience, you can alwaysroll on over to Total Michigan.
com and click on Evan's interview and getall the links that he mentioned above.
We'll see you next time.
When we talk to another Michiganderdoing some pretty extraordinary
things, we'll see you then.
You think if you build it, they will come.
(00:02):
Well, it's not the field of dreams.
It's not true.
You have people that pass bythis restaurant all the time.
And I can't tell you how many peoplecame in here and thought that it
was a part of the place next door.
We're like this kind of hidden gem.
you can have the best food inthe world, no matter what you do.
But if you don't get butts in theseats, you don't have a business, right?
it could be a great product, but if noone knows about it, it's irrelevant.
(00:25):
We're doing really amazing things here.
And now we got to get peopleto sit down and try it.
Cliff Duvernois (00:31):
Hello everyone.
And welcome back to total Michigan,where we interview ordinary Michiganders
doing some pretty extraordinary things.
I am your host, Cliff Duvernois.
It is a really cool trend that we'reseeing in the restaurant business.
When we see the chefs coming up anddoing these purely farm to table
concepts, whatever is fresh, whateveris in season, whatever is organic.
(00:54):
That actually appears on the menu andin poking around Midland, I came across
the spot that has actually been featuredon a number of podcasts and television
shows and radio shows, whatever.
And it's really makinga hit on the community.
And so I need to find outthe story behind it as usual.
So sitting with me today is Evan Sumrellfrom Aster located in Midland, Michigan.
(01:17):
Evan, how are you?
Evan Sumrell (01:18):
Good.
How are you?
Cliff Duvernois (01:19):
I'm doing awesome.
Thank you for asking.
So why don't you tell us what is Aster?
Evan Sumrell (01:24):
So Aster is actually named after my son's birth flower,
which is where the name comes from.
And the idea of Aster was tobe based off of sustainability,
community, and seasonality.
So that's pretty much what our whole ideais when we think about the menu is, you
know, are we supporting the communityin some way by using a local business?
A local farmer is a seasonaland is a sustainable practice
(01:48):
that we can use as well.
Cliff Duvernois (01:49):
So you're, you're farm to table, you do lunch
and dinner, you do dinner only
Evan Sumrell (01:53):
dinner.
So, okay.
So our hours are dinner from four to,I say 9 PM, but if we're still busy,
you know, we try to keep it open.
We'd love to be open as longas possible, Tuesday through
Saturday from four to nine.
And then we do brunchon Sunday from 10 to.
I say three o'clock, butreally it's like two.
Okay.
All right.
Cliff Duvernois (02:13):
And now, so let's take a step back.
Where are you from?
Where did you grow up?
Evan Sumrell (02:18):
So originally from Georgia I went to culinary school
in Georgia right outside of Atlanta.
I went to the art Institute of Atlantaand I got my my alleged bachelor's in
science and culinary business management.
That's what I got allegedlynot so much anymore.
But yeah, I, uh, after graduating,college, I wanted to work in
(02:38):
Michelin star restaurants.
So that's when I moved to Chicagoand, started my journey there.
I got a job at Acadia, which was a onestar at the time and, uh, the South
loop man, I was there for eight years.
But
Cliff Duvernois (02:51):
yeah, so what I'd like to do is I'd like to take a trip back
a little bit because you're, you know,you've grown up, obviously you wanted to
get into the restaurant business and aone star is actually really good for any
restaurant that's out there for sure.
Evan Sumrell (03:08):
Absolutely.
Cliff Duvernois (03:08):
Yes.
what was it about food?
Like what was your first foodexperience when it was not just
something that you eat, but.
Something you wanted to do, you
Evan Sumrell (03:17):
know?
Well, it's actuallyit's it comes from home.
I mean, to be honest with you.
my mom's like actuallya really great cook.
Now.
I, we were always on the go.
Like you know, my parent,my both my parents worked.
We were, school.
We did sports.
So, you know, we weredefinitely moving around a lot.
throughout the day, but every weekwas Sundays, kind of when we would
all sit down and have dinner.
(03:37):
That was like our thing.
Cliff Duvernois (03:38):
Right.
Evan Sumrell (03:38):
and, I just got interested in what she was cooking at a young age.
by the time I could see her over thecounter, I was like, what are you doing?
I don't know.
I just was interested in it.
Then my, my grandfather actuallywas a really great cook.
I called him my Pawpaw.
He kind of taught me a lot more.
About like why he liked it.
And, and he also had like a littletiny, like a little garden in his,
(04:02):
and their yard and he would pickvegetables and they would can them.
And it was kind of like myintroduction, not knowing that,
like, there was something there,but just interested in, in it.
Yeah, and then it kindof started from there.
and I've always been told to likehave backup plans like my mom's
like, Hey, have a backup plan ifsomething doesn't work out, you
know, you got to have backup plans.
(04:23):
well, I played hockey and, and, my tinystature, obviously that didn't go far.
So my backup plan was to cook food.
so actually first ever job I was 14.
I worked at Jersey Mike's.
That was the dishwasher.
Oh, okay.
Uh, the sub place.
And then, honestly, just thatalone, just got me interested in it.
And then knew I wantedto go to culinary school.
(04:44):
I worked in a, like a pizzaplace too for a minute.
And then I eventually worked at this,I'm not gonna say the restaurant's name.
Cause it's not, it's not around anymore.
But it was just a terrible restaurant.
It was just, it was introductionto what I thought cooking food was,
was not cooking food and it wasa very, it was a joke of a place.
but it, but it still like made me thinkabout food and, and made me like it.
(05:08):
best way I can put it is kind of, youknow, you're, you're scratching the
itch of what you think you can do.
and I thought I knew how to cook food.
and then I moved to Chicago and then Irealized I had no idea what I was doing.
Oh, really?
Okay.
And learned so much, working.
so we were one star, we eventually gottwo stars, while I was there, it was
(05:29):
a, um, it was a really cool experience.
You learn a lot, like on the go,like you learn how to make, like, he
would always call it like audibles iswhat the chef would always call it.
Like he would change the menuin the middle of service.
And we're like, well, like, this is crazy.
But.
The thought behind it is, you know,like something's changed, something
got messed up or something like it wasjust, you were always on your toes,
(05:52):
like you had to be, you had to bewilling and able to step outside of your
boundaries to try to create something.
Not saying this happened every night, butlike when it did, you needed to be ready.
and when you're at that high level ofcooking food, they expect you to be ready.
And I think that made me like areally just good cook, you know, not.
(06:13):
I wouldn't say necessarily a chef.
I think there's differences inthose terms, but, cooking food.
that is when I was like, wow, this is,This is something I, not every dish needs
to have a protein, starch, vegetable, anda sauce like, you know, cause in culinary
school, that's what you're taught.
Everything is like that.
Very French style.
but modern food is not like that anymore.
(06:34):
It's very like, it could just be protein.
Sauce.
I mean, my goodness.
I mean, I've seen, you know, in a bunchof small things on the side or, you
know, or can have all those things.
It's, it's endless at this point.
That's why I love it because it is vast.
It's, I'm never going to learn everything,
Cliff Duvernois (06:49):
right?
so why did you decide to leaveGeorgia to go to Chicago?
Evan Sumrell (06:54):
Well, I had been visiting Chicago for a number of years.
I had a friend of mine thatwent to DePaul, in Chicago and
a very good friend of mine.
And I would visit and I justfell in love with the city and I
always was a city person anyways.
Like I grew up an hour outside ofAtlanta, like in a dairy farm community.
(07:15):
but it got built up drastically over time.
You know, obviously going up becauseI literally from kindergarten, I
graduated from high school there.
And you see, obviously thetown changed drastically.
But when I got old enough to likego to the city, like that's where
I was, I was always in the city.
I always wanted to go to Atlanta.
so when I went to college, I livedin the city and then my college
(07:36):
was just outside of the perimeter.
There's like a two 85that goes around Atlanta.
They call it the perimeter.
So anything that's inside theperimeter is considered Atlanta.
And then anything outsideis considered Atlanta.
The suburbs, so it was just outside.
It was literally like an exitoutside, but I lived in the city.
Right.
So anyways, I just visitingover the years, I was like,
Chicago's where it's at for food.
That's where I want to be,to learn because if you, I
(07:59):
mean, everyone knows this.
If you want something, you've got to findout where it's happening and go to it.
Cliff Duvernois (08:05):
Right.
Evan Sumrell (08:05):
So, you know, like you want to be this like really great
stand up comedian, you're not going todo it in some small town in Oklahoma.
You're going to want to go to New York or,you know, now Austin or LA or whatever.
So like be around otherreally great comedians.
It doesn't like cooking fooddoesn't happen in a vacuum.
You've got to like broaden yourhorizons and, and travel and taste
(08:27):
different things and cook at differentplaces and see stuff, you know,
it's not a, it's not something thathappens in a, small space, you know?
So that's where I knew Ineeded to go to Chicago.
Cliff Duvernois (08:38):
If you, so let's take a step back here for a second,
because you're, you're coming toChicago, you landed a job at a
restaurant that at that time had onestar, which is not easy, let alone.
Now they've got to stay, they
Evan Sumrell (08:51):
got one star within the first year of being open.
Cliff Duvernois (08:53):
See, that's incredible.
Now you go there, right?
And you apply for a job.
Did you ever feel like you werein some kind of a pressure cooker?
Like if I do not perform,because it's not just
Evan Sumrell (09:04):
every day, every, every day.
So So my so we do what we what we sohaving a getting a job in the kitchen is
a little bit different than a normal likeinterview, you may have an interview for
a kitchen job, but you also are goingto have a stash is what it's called.
So stash is essentially aworking interview where you
will work a shift for free.
(09:25):
And you, that's, that's what it was then.
Right.
if you saw us here at Aster, I pay you.
but that's how we typically do it.
and you work a full shift.
and they see whetheror not you're worth it.
and if you're worth their time.
when there's, When there'sgood cooks a dime a dozen,
you're having stages every day.
I mean, like when I worked there,we would have stages every day.
(09:47):
We had interns.
We had all sorts of stuff happening.
People coming in and out all the time,you know, turnover rate was high.
It's a high pressure environment for sure.
So every day, if you'renot performing, you're out.
It's like, yeah, someone's goingto take your job, you know?
And the idea It's what it makes youthink is whose job am I going to take?
Who's above me?
I want their job.
(10:08):
That's how you had to thinkevery day walking into this.
Wow.
You know, it's a tough, it's,it's tough to like be like
that 16 hours out of the day.
Not saying every shift was 16hours, but There was a lot of
long days, especially on Sunday,because Sunday you deep cleaned.
So we'd break down the kitchencompletely, and we wouldn't leave
until three, four in the morning.
Sweet Moses.
(10:29):
Yeah.
Cliff Duvernois (10:30):
Yeah.
Kitchen's got to be clean.
Yeah.
Kitchen's got to be clean.
Let's talk a little bit now about,so you've gotten your, you've
gotten your feet wet in Chicago.
You're all in on the restaurant scene.
In Dane.
You're in Midland.
Evan Sumrell (10:43):
I'm in Midland.
Yep.
So, COVID happens.
nobody knows what's going on.
I just kind of hiding out here, inMidland because we could actually, my
son could run around and, you know,be a part, be outside like Chicago.
He couldn't even go to the park, youknow, like he shut down everything.
We're stuck inside our apartment,
Cliff Duvernois (11:00):
right?
Evan Sumrell (11:00):
which is great, but when you're with your family
and everything, but it's not wheneventually you want to get outside.
so we'd hide out here for a little bit.
And once the, I had lost my job whereI was working, things were changing.
And, I just so happenedto find this place.
and in your life, sometimes youdon't want to think back five years,
five years from now and go, whatif, so I was like, well, I've been
(11:23):
working in restaurants this long.
I know what I'm doing.
I think it's time to do my own.
So the Aster
Cliff Duvernois (11:29):
happened.
So where did the, well, solet's take a step back here.
So before you open the restaurant, whydon't you talk to us, you know, whether it
was good experiences or bad experiences,but what kind of shaped your philosophy
when it came to opening this place?
Evan Sumrell (11:45):
Well, I mean, I, I love how you said that, like, you know, farm
to table is a thing or like a thing.
I hate how it's not a fad.
I don't think that it should be.
It's a way of like, we should live.
Like you should not eat tomatoesin the middle of winter time.
Like we're doing this podcastright now and outside it's
snowing and we're in Michigan.
You shouldn't be like, I know that youcan go to the store and go buy tomatoes.
(12:06):
I get it.
But how we should eat, you know,we shouldn't, we should eat what
is available for us right now.
That's just how, but it's true.
It's like, You, I'm able, what's greatabout us is like, I have farmers that
have greenhouses that I'm still able tobuy from during the wintertime and I can
buy cool things, but most of the stuffthat's going to be on the menu right now
(12:27):
is braised meats and root vegetables,you know, potatoes and carrots and
parsnip and squash and things like that.
Cause they can last right now.
and I think that's like super important.
To it's a sustainable practice formother nature, you know, I think we
need to take care of mother nature.
It's very obvious I know thingsgo through changes and earth does
(12:49):
this thing or whatever, but Istill think we should respect it.
We live on it so that was a part ofwhat I thought life was and What i've
turned I tried to be with my life.
So I why not do that with my business?
I mean, that's the You It's a, it's avery equal thing, you know, so eating this
way, to me is how we should cook as well.
(13:09):
if you have tomatoes on your menu inthe middle of wintertime, I hope you
canned them during the summertime.
So you're able to do that.
And we've had, we've been able to like,there's been some summers where I canned.
Things of tomatoes, like our whole,bar up top above it was covered
in canned tomatoes and I could usethe tomatoes during the wintertime.
(13:30):
Awesome.
Right.
Those are sustainable practicesthat we should know how to do.
Right.
but.
Having a cherry tomato on your raw cherrytomato on your menu in the middle of
wintertime in Michigan is outrageous,
Cliff Duvernois (13:41):
you know, I was thinking of when you were
talking about that right there.
I was thinking of like how many timesI've gone to like the grocery store,
for instance, middle of winter and theirstrawberries, you get everything you want.
And to me, I can't eat strawberries inthe wintertime because they don't taste
Evan Sumrell (13:54):
like anything.
No,
Cliff Duvernois (13:55):
they don't.
But you, you wait until Julytimeframe, whatever it is, when the
strawberries start to become ripe.
All of a sudden, they're good.
They're full of flavor.
They're super juicy.
So yeah, I totally get what you're saying.
Evan Sumrell (14:08):
I, uh, when I was on under the radar, he said it, he said, and I
say, he's like, you're missing things.
You're like, you'regoing to miss tomatoes.
You're going to miss this.
You know, like I, I liked the, I,the idea of, of putting it that way.
I, yes, I want to miss blueberries.
I want to miss strawberriesin the summertime.
You know, I want to miss, You know, ramps.
I like when you have
Cliff Duvernois (14:27):
them.
You appreciate them.
Evan Sumrell (14:28):
Yes, absolutely.
There's a massive appreciation for him.
and I think that's goes very intune of what we are as a restaurant.
Like, you know, the community base behindthat is that we support local farmers.
you know, shout outs a good set farms.
17 miles away from here and we, they'reat the local farmer's market too.
We buy from her.
(14:49):
She's amazing.
another farm out of Traverse City,you know, work farms we buy from them.
Great stuff.
Another farm, utter blissout of Rodney, Michigan.
Awesome.
You know, there's just so many thatI can name that we are able to,
we get lucky enough to work with.
And showcase what they're doing.
It's, that's alone is, enough.
Right.
I mean, I don't know.
(15:10):
It's just, it's, it's like, I wish thatit's like the thought process of like,
you know, obviously it's not, I just, thefarmer's table is cool and that's great.
But that's not all we are.
It's like we're so much more.
The idea to it is more than justbeing, I'm buying from a farmer.
And then, cause you couldsay that for everything.
Of course, those tomatoes that you'rebuying at the supermarket are coming
from a farm or else are they being grown?
(15:32):
So I could say, I'm buying from a farmto, to, you know, anyone can say that
obviously, but like the practice of.
Being, trying to be as local as you can,trying to be as sustainable as well, like
our fryer oil gets turned into biodiesel,you know, and then a byproduct to make
your biodiesel is glycerin when we getthat back to make soap and that's how
(15:53):
you wash your hands in the bathroom, likefun things like that, that maybe not many
people know or care about, but I thinkit's just a, a cool thing that, that we
practice here that we try to continue.
Sure.
Yeah.
Cliff Duvernois (16:06):
For audience, we're going to take a quick
break and thank our sponsors.
When we come back, we're going totalk to Evan Sumrell, owner of Aster
restaurant in Midland, Michigan,about, some of the challenges he
faced getting this place open.
And more importantly, what you canexpect when you come here and try this
food, we'll see you after the break.
Are you enjoying this episode?
Well, I can tell youthere's a lot more to come.
(16:26):
Jump over to TotalMichigan.
com, enter your email address,and get on our mailing list.
You'll get a list of the topfive episodes for the show.
Along with that, you'll getall kinds of behind the scenes
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Just go over to TotalMichigan.
com, enter your email address today.
Hello, everyone.
Welcome back to Total Michigan, wherewe interview ordinary Michiganders
(16:49):
doing some pretty extraordinary things.
I'm your host, Cliff Duvernois.
Today, I'm talking with the owner ofAster located in Midland, Michigan,
and that would be Evan Sumrell.
And, Evan, before the break, wewere talking about, the journey
to come up here to Midland andto start getting, Aster open.
What I would like to do is Iwould like to talk about how, you
(17:11):
know, you found the spot You'relike, this is where we want to go.
This is where we want to, where we wantto plant, plant the flag, so to speak.
Why don't you plant theflower, plant the flower?
That's right.
Cause Astro's a flower.
why don't you talk to us about like,maybe like one of the two, like one
of the two really like key challengesthat you had getting this place open.
Evan Sumrell (17:33):
Okay.
There's many challengesof opening a restaurant.
First thing is location,location, location.
So like the location for us,downtown makes perfect sense.
I love it.
Ashman street is awesome.
Okay.
Anyone who's listening Ashman streetin downtown Midland has more stuff
on it than main street itself.
So it's very important that Ilike the fact that we're here.
(17:55):
I love the location.
So that was our biggestchallenge and we got that.
Second one was finding the farmers.
I don't, I know some farmers in Michiganthat I used in Chicago, but I don't know
the ones that are more locally based or
Cliff Duvernois (18:09):
that are in the area.
Yes.
Evan Sumrell (18:10):
So luckily for us when we moved here, it was in summer.
So they had the farmers market going on.
And so I met a lot of the farmersand visited a lot of the farms
that we still use to this day.
And that's the reason why, you know, causeI liked what they were doing as well,
because, you know, a lot of the farmersthat we also use are either organic or
(18:31):
they also do, Sustainable practices, youknow, making compost, doing different
types of things, making their ownfertilizers, all sorts of different stuff.
and I thought that was reallyimportant for us, obviously, for
what, what we were doing too.
Why wouldn't we visit the farmthat we're buying our things from?
You know what I mean?
Right.
Makes a lot of sense.
so that was one of the challenges too.
(18:51):
The other challengewas the liquor license.
That was the best part.
it took, uh, it took foreverto get a liquor license.
Something definitely, I hope changes,in the town, to help that procedure.
Because it is.
not fun to go through.
And don't get me wrong.
I'm not the smartest personand I did it by myself.
filling out all the paperwork.
So a lot of the reasons why Ididn't get it so fast is because
(19:14):
I didn't know what I was doing.
But you keep trying, you keep doing it.
and I think, that was, it wasnot in the budget to get a lawyer
to help me get a liquor license.
Let's just say that.
the budget was me.
So figuring that out was a big,Was a big step, And, and trying to
get it as well is just as tough.
There's a lot of, silly things thatunfortunately make it difficult
(19:35):
here to get a liquor license.
I think those were probably someof our biggest challenges too.
And I think.
One of the biggest challenges thatI think I feel like now is getting
people to know who we are, you know,
Cliff Duvernois (19:48):
yes,
Evan Sumrell (19:49):
You think if you build it, they will come.
Well, it's not the field of dreams.
It's not true.
You have people that pass bythis restaurant all the time.
And I can't tell you how many peoplecame in here and thought that it
was a part of the place next door.
I was like, oh yeah, like how, how we arecompletely, we look completely different.
Why would you think that?
and I don't have a giant sign outsideand I don't have all these things.
(20:13):
We're like this kind of hidden gem.
And I like that.
but I think a big thing that I.
I'm coming to terms with is, you know,like, I can't, you can have the best
food in the world, no matter what you do.
But if you don't get butts in theseats, you don't have a business, right?
and that's for anybody.
You don't sell your product.
You don't have a business.
(20:33):
it could be a great product, but if noone knows about it, it's irrelevant.
So the idea now is this is This is thenew challenge is trying to get, I know
that we've, we've hit what we've wanted.
We're doing really amazing things here.
We're changing the menu,literally this week.
So I think that's like, it'slike, we've got this template
down of what we do with our food.
(20:54):
and we're doing really well with that.
And so I'm like, well,let's go on to the next one.
And now we got to get peopleto sit down and try it.
Cliff Duvernois (21:02):
You know, when you do this, because you said before
about opening up a restaurantis really tough and yes, it is,
restaurants go under all the time.
My question to you is, is that whenyou're talking about, like, especially
like now getting butts and seats, howdo you handle the pressure, right?
I mean, we got bills to pay.
We got to pay the staff.
We got payroll.
(21:23):
We've got like you weretalking about before.
They got the farmers coming in.
How do you like manage that, that stress?
Evan Sumrell (21:30):
I'm answering a question therapy, lots of it.
I honestly, getting out ofthis restaurant, I also live
like above the restaurant.
I probably shouldn't say that on air.
but I'm in this buildingevery day, all day.
Cliff Duvernois (21:46):
Right.
Evan Sumrell (21:47):
I sleep here.
You know, this is my home.
This is literally, this is my home.
Getting out of this placeis what recharges me.
you know, I do other side, Iplay golf during the summertime.
I just picked up skiing.
so been skiing, just trying to likedo things that are not involved
with actually cooking food.
Cliff Duvernois (22:08):
Right.
Evan Sumrell (22:08):
I still love cooking.
It doesn't mean that I don't love it.
It just, well, having creativity forme, creativity is not a force thing.
It's like a, Weird like I don't know it'sin the ether or whatever don't cry like
it's in it It doesn't it doesn't dishescome to me when I see things and then
I think about stuff or they just caughtthey just end up In my head, I don't
(22:30):
know I don't it's not like somethingthat I it's not if I try to force stuff
to happen It just doesn't work that way.
Right?
My creativity doesn't work that way.
I learned it could be doing somethingthat is completely irrelevant to cooking
food and I We'll just think of a dish.
I don't know.
It's just wild.
It's just a weird, a weirdthing that happens sometimes.
Well, cause you're not thinking about it.
(22:51):
Yeah.
And I think it happenswith a lot of people too.
Like a lot of creative humans, creativitycomes in all shapes and forms and you
don't know when it's going to happen.
It's like, I don't know.
Sometimes you feel it.
Make it.
So there's been some dishes that I feellike it was like a gift, like here,
like you, this, like, here's an idea.
See if it works.
And then you're like, wow, thisis something I'm still doing.
(23:12):
10 years later,
Cliff Duvernois (23:13):
right?
Evan Sumrell (23:14):
This dish was really great.
Cliff Duvernois (23:15):
I know you mentioned before about, uh, skiing and I know
personally, I enjoy skiing justbecause of the aggressive nature of it.
Because when I'm going now, I'mtalking about downhill skiing,
not cross country skiing.
What I'm going like in thedownhill skiing, Man, I am 100
percent locked into that moment.
I'm not thinking about the show.
I'm not thinking about the interviews.
I'm not thinking about anything else.
(23:36):
And I think that's importantto be able to completely shift
your mind out of what you do.
So that way you can go back.
Yeah, because if
Evan Sumrell (23:44):
you are skiing and you're going really fast and
you make a misstep, it hurts.
You are a yard sale onthe side of the hill.
I yard sailed this past weekend,man, and my neck still hurts.
but I'm, you know, I'mgoing to go again on Monday.
I like, I really, and this is, I getMy thing is like, you know, getting
older and learning new things is fun.
(24:06):
It's like, it's a challenge.
And I think that also helps youwith having it being physical is
a good thing, obviously, but alsohelps clear your mind with other
things that are going on in life.
and the creativity of the restauranttoo, because that's one thing that,
why I want people to come here,people are coming here to eat.
Right.
So I want them to bepresent in the moment.
And if we're not.
Thinking about the food and beingcreative with the food, then
(24:30):
we're getting them away from theidea of what Aster is, right?
So that's the whole thought process.
It's got to be a full thoughtwhen we have a dish on the menu.
It's like, the idea is like,okay, what's the main focus?
And then we kind of go from there.
But the main focus iswhat's coming from the farm.
If we can get this, then, theneverything else that goes with it,
(24:51):
what else can we do that's in season?
That's going to come with it too.
Right.
It's kind of the idea.
Cliff Duvernois (24:55):
Now, when you talk about, because I know we talked before
about the seasonality of the dishes andeven your menu is changing this week,
my next question would be is that,because with your menu changing all
the time, do you have actually staples
Evan Sumrell (25:09):
on
Cliff Duvernois (25:09):
the menu?
Evan Sumrell (25:10):
Yeah, we do actually.
so we have our burger.
I'm going to say everyone right now,our burger is the best burger around.
I'll put it up to anybody.
Cliff Duvernois (25:18):
The reviewers love it.
Evan Sumrell (25:19):
I'll tell it.
Bring it on.
Come try the burger.
I promise you're going to like it.
And we do change the burger, butthe burger will never go away.
We'll always have some rendition ofa cool burger on the menu right now.
It is a bacon, jam, aioli, dill, pickles,cheddar cheese sauce, and then you get
two patties that are four ounces each.
(25:39):
So it's an eight ounce burger.
and then we do this funny thingwhere we say, make it a double.
and then, so it's actually three patties.
And it's a joke, becauseIt's not a double to triple.
because it's a joke becausethere I'm going to shout out
to a restaurant in Chicago.
This, to, it's a burger joint.
It's called Osho of all.
if you go to Chicago, they have the bestburger, one of the best burgers in town.
(26:02):
There's another place too.
That's really good.
Right.
but They do, they do that.
If you get a single, it's a double,you get a double, it's a triple, if
it's a triple, it's a quadruple, ifit's quadruple, it's five patties.
So it's like, it's a, it's ajoke and kind of an ode to them.
They're like, you know, they did, we do a,we already give you two patties, but you
make it a double, it's actually a triple.
Cliff Duvernois (26:22):
Right.
Evan Sumrell (26:22):
and then we, we, we kind of, we mess around with
the burger every now and then.
So that's a definitely a bigstaple, big seller to obviously our
hush puppies are a giant staple.
So it's a smoked whitefish, that wefold into a dough called Pâte à Choux.
Um, and Pâte à Choux is like a whatyou would make eclairs from right?
but instead of baking itWe actually deep fry them.
(26:42):
and then we make them savory and then weserve it with cocktail sauce and that's
been a staple on the menu, man, sincewe put them on, be honest with you.
and then the other dish isobviously our, our mushroom risotto.
one of our farmers, uh, utter bliss, whichis out of Rodney, Michigan, shout out.
They, he, I buy mushroomsand eggs from him.
So that dish is literallylike just for him.
(27:04):
So it's just a simple, wemake a mushroom risotto.
The mushroom, the risottois made in a mushroom stock.
Um, and then we have like roasted mytalking mushrooms that go on top of it.
Comes with a poached egg.
we finish it with Parmesan,lemon zest and chives.
and then.
But I'm hungry, so those three are likepretty much will probably never go away.
(27:26):
Right.
I think, like I said, the burger maychange every now and then, but really,
we will always have the burger on
Cliff Duvernois (27:33):
man.
That's beautiful.
Evan Sumrell (27:34):
Yeah.
Cliff Duvernois (27:35):
If somebody is listening to this and they want to
come and check you out or maybe evenfind you online, how can I do that?
Evan Sumrell (27:40):
So we have, Believe it or not, we're, we're on YouTube.
We're on, Instagram, Facebook.
It's Aster, Michigan, at Aster, Michigan.
we're located at one three, fourAshland street, in downtown Midland,
Michigan, four, eight, six, four, zero.
Come see us,
Cliff Duvernois (27:54):
Evan.
Thank you so much for takingtime to chat with us today.
Really appreciate it.
And for audience, you can alwaysroll on over to Total Michigan.
com and click on Evan's interview and getall the links that he mentioned above.
We'll see you next time.
When we talk to another Michiganderdoing some pretty extraordinary
things, we'll see you then.
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