Lemon Semifreddo with Mint Syrup at Asti Credit: Photo By John Anderson

Barbara Chisholm’s Best Things to Put on Top

1) Sisters’ Sesame-Garlic Sass sauce: It was born as a salad dressing, but users quickly learned pasta, potatoes, stir fry, dips, etc., etc., were improved by a douse of the addictive season-everything sauce made right here.

2) Fischer-Wieser Roasted Raspberry Chipotle Sauce: We love it on top for its gorgeous, jewel-like color, and its even more gorgeous sweet, spicy, smoky flavor. Jalapeño jelly fell way back in the pack when this beauty came along.

3) The Wild Mushroom, Sherry, Sharp White Cheddar Cream Gravy, Topped With a Green Apple Puree and a Fig Slaw Atop the Sage-Crusted Pork Tenderloin at Mirabelle: Atop the pork it’s heavenly, but we suspect a dollop would improve just about any meat.

4) Sabor Salsa Hot: It’s just hot enough, it’s just snapping fresh enough (get it in the fridge toots sweet in summer or it’s a goner), it’s just garlicky enough, it’s just about perfect on your chip.

5) Poached Egg on Salade Lyonaisse, Chez Nous: Is the best part piercing the yolk or sampling the vinaigrette now made rich by the infusion of egg?

6) Salpicon at Lambert’s: And you thought sloppy joes were good. This is the beef that tortillas have been longing for.

7) Plugra: There’s butter, and then there’s butter. And then there’s Plugra, the king of fats. If it can transform a slice of pedestrian bread to ambrosia; imagine what it does for a croissant.

8) Tabasco: You’ll appreciate this standard-bearer when you’re facing a plate of mystery meat or a jar of generic pasta sauce as you wander far from home. We pack it with our toothpaste for just such emergencies.

9) Central Market Spicy Dipping Sauce: As one woman sampling the stuff at the Market observed, “You know what this is good on? Shoe leather.” Amen.

10) Baleine Sel de Mer Fin: You know that slightly metallic, tangy taste your ordinary salt has? It’s not a property of all salt. The smooth, pure flavor of this French sea salt elevates everything it tops elegantly.

This article appears in 2003.

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Rachel Feit is an archaeologist by trade who worked her way through college in kitchens in Chicago and Austin before discovering that dishing up words was more satisfying that dishing up meals. She has been writing about food and restaurants for The Austin Chronicle for more than a decade, but still loves to cook.

Mick Vann is a retired Austin chef who is a food writer and restaurant critic, cookbook author, restaurant consultant, and recipe developer. He moonlights as a University of Texas horticulturist with a propensity for ethnic eats and international food, particularly of the Asian persuasion, but he also knows his way around a plate of soul food or barbecue.

Wes Marshall is the author of What's a Wine Lover To Do? (Artisan) and The Wine Roads of Texas (Maverick), as well as the Executive Producer of the PBS television series of the same name. Wes has written for The Austin Chronicle since 1999, covering wine, cocktails, food, and travel.

Mexico City native Claudia Alarcón has made Austin home since 1984. She worked her way through college in the local restaurant industry, graduating from the University of Texas in 1999. She has been a Chronicle contributor for 15 years and presents lectures and workshops on topics related to the foodways of Mexico, both locally and internationally.