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"FacebookPinterest\n\nIf there are any chefs out there that you'd actually want to party with, it's Max and Eli Sussman. Take their last summer house party under consideration, for starters: \"There was no ice luge and no one arrived by helicopter, but it was fun,\" underplays Eli, who cooks at Mile End in Brooklyn. The sunset barbeque began with two grills firing up chickens that were shredded to make a mess of tacos and fajitas. There was booze, beer, wine\u2014the exact drink turned foggy as the evening wore on. As happens at the Sussmans' parties, one of their chef buddies rolled up with some late-night grub\u2014in this case, live lobsters that the guys threw on the grills around midnight to put an exclamation point on their bacchanal. \"We dipped the tails and claws in garlic butter and ate them with our hands under the dark sky,\" remembers Max, the chef at The Cleveland in Soho.\n\nThe brothers, originally from the Detroit suburbs, are also an author duo. This year they published their third book, The Best Cookbook Ever, and by that title they mean best cookbook ever for real-life scenarios, like what to fry up when you're hungover, what to make on the eve of the apocalypse, and what to try when you want a fresh alternative to the holy sandwich trinity of bacon, egg, and cheese.\n\nThose looking to make some kickin' tuna casserole and meatloaf can gear up for the Sussmans' next cookbook, a currently untitled primer that will reimagine the classics. To tide you over until the book's release in October, here are Max and Eli's most memorable meals, including an underground supper club in L.A., the best rice pudding in Paris, and a schmaltz food fight of epic, if unsanitary, proportions.\n\n\n\nMax Sussman \n\n1. Spice of Thai Express\n\n Royal Oak, Michigan\n\n \"This is your typical Thai takeout joint, but I went there about four times a week during high school and probably ate twenty gallons of green curry during that period. For me, eating Thai food was a way to see different flavors from around the world. There is cheesy blue spray paint on the walls, it's in the basement and you'd walk by if you didn't know about it, but I still try to go back whenever I return to Michigan.\"\n\n2. La Shish\n\n Ann Arbor, Michigan\n\n \"They had this thing called the Flaming Tower that had twelve shish kebabs torched over an open flame. For the four years I lived in Ann Arbor, I tried to rally a crew to go there and order it. Finally, I ended up convincing a bunch of friends who were in town visiting to do it. I'm not going to say it was the best meal I ever had, but it was pretty memorable because we got six of these towers with swordfish and lamb kebabs. I don't think you could ever try this in New York because there was a lot of open flame at the table, but in the suburbs of Michigan, it totally works.\"\n\n3. Camp Tavor\n\n Three Rivers, Michigan\n\n\"Eli and I went to camp here and came back to become counselors. That year the chef threw his back out, so we ran the kitchen. It was our first experience cooking together. We did a Friday night dinner in the Jewish Shabbat tradition\u2014chicken soup, challah, roast chicken\u2014and we tried to make these meals special. We stopped ordering frozen vegetables and started cooking everything from scratch. We generated a lot of chicken fat, and one night the rest of the counselors were looking for a prank to pull, so we had theses competitions to see who could hold their hand in a vat of chicken fat the longest. There was no actual prize\u2014it was for bragging rights. One time someone decided to fling some chicken fat at someone else. That very quickly escalated into a full-on schmaltz fight. Within about three minutes, we went from just having cleaned the kitchen to a slick of schmaltz covering the floor. It was probably the most unsanitary thing we could have ever done, but we were 19 years old and at summer camp, so we weren't exactly thinking what would be the smartest thing, but what would be the most fun.\"\n\n4. The John Dory Oyster Bar\n\n New York, NY\n\n \"This place by April Bloomfield in the Ace Hotel emplifies a lot of what I love about eating in New York. There isn't a culinary tradition, except that it's delicious. You order a bunch of small plates, and it's not always what you want to eat, but it's all really good. I ate one of my first excellent meals in New York City here. We got the oyster pan roast, and then I think we got another one it was so good.\"\n\n5. L'Ami Jean\n\n Paris, France\n\n\"The chef is from the Basque region and he cooks a lot of meat\u2014it was the heaviest meal I've ever had. At the end of the meal, they brought out this pot of cold rice pudding made with quarts and quarts of cream. I didn't know how I was going to eat it, but, after the first bite, everyone at the table literally fell silent. It was the simplest and, probably the single best, bite I had in Paris.\"\n\n\n\nEli Sussman \n\n1. Jerusalem Shawarma stands\n\n Jerusalem, Israel\n\n\"When I was 13, my parents and I went to Israel, and one day I went with my dad to the Jewish Quarter in the Old City. It was lunchtime, and we got my favorite food, shawarma. The place was a little hole in the wall. It was so good that we ended up eating shawarma twice more that day, which is kind of gross, but I've never had any shawarma as delicious. We were in possibly the most famous city in the world with so much history, and I just remember thinking about shawarma. It was a great moment to share with my dad.\"\n\n2. National Coney Island\n\n Royal Oak, Michigan\n\n\"This Greek-inspired diner has burgers and fries, but also saganaki and gyros. It was the place where everyone in high school went late night when they didn't want to go home. The cool thing was that it transcended all social groups. For $8 you could get their famous dish: chicken fingers in a pita with American cheese and Ranch dressing. It is the greatest thing that can ever happen to you at two in the morning when you're drunk.\"\n\n3. Soya\n\n Kyoto, Japan\n\n \"For my mom's 50th birthday, our dad took us to Japan. One night we showed up at a nondescript office building that looked like it was closed and took the elevator down to the basement courtyard restaurant. We had to take off our shoes, the dining rooms were divided by sliding partitions, and we sat at a table built into the ground. Based on my recollection, we had 20-30 courses\u2014so many that I lost track about a half hour in. We didn't ask for explanations; we just went for it. It was the first time in my life where I had no idea what the vast majority of what I was eating was: raw and cooked preparations, gelatinous things, seafood manipulated into a lot of tiny pieces\u2014everything was unique.\"\n\n4. [Animal\n\n](http://animalrestaurant.com)Los Angeles, California\n\n \"The first time I went here, I wasn't working in a restaurant, and this place inspired me to jump back into cooking in restaurants. The things they do with meat are exceptional, like the Loco Moco [a dish no longer available due to the foie gras ban, but once made with hamburger, spam, a quail egg, and foie gras over rice]. I remember once walking past the kitchen, and I saw a bunch of guys having a great time, doing wild shit and seeing what they could get away with. I loved that.\"\n\n5. Wolvesmouth\n\n Los Angeles, California\n\n \"Although now people might say that everyone is doing supper clubs, Craig Thornton's is the best. I would encourage anyone who loves food to try and snag a spot at his table. He waits until a couple of hours before dinner and then texts you an address. I went five years ago to his apartment in downtown L.A. When I arrived I found a collection of strangers\u2014you can only make a reservation for one or two people. He had this amazing kitchen and, with the help of another chef and a server, prepared fourteen courses. He does a dish called 'Wolves in the Snow,' which is torn bits of meat that looks like a meat carcass and blood, and I know I made it sound disgusting, but it's so beautiful. His plating is like paintings\u2014he splattered squid ink across one, and it looked both chaotic and controlled. Throughout the meal, I continuously thought: I have no idea how he came up with that, cooked that, or plated it. I was wowed.\""^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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