The Knife Sharpest Credit: Photo By John Anderson

The Knife Sharpest

4703 Burnet Rd., 467-9763

I often find myself cooking in other people’s kitchens, and I learned long ago to always bring along my own knife. Why? Because the condition of most knives in most kitchens is abysmal. And trying to cut anything with a dull knife is tedious, hard work yielding unsatisfactory results, not to mention the fact that you’re much more likely to cut yourself with a dull blade rather than a sharp one.

Keeping knives in peak condition is a skill that few people cultivate anymore, although a sharp, serviceable knife undoubtedly is the most valuable and useful tool in anyone’s batterie de cuisine. Fortunately, there are people who specialize in keeping knives sharp, so how about saving your loved ones’ fingers with the gift of sharpened knives for a holiday present?

Graham Stuckey of the Knife Sharpest has been in the knife-sharpening business for 15 years, and he’ll fix up kitchen knives for $3 apiece ($4 for serrated). He not only offers gift certificates, but he’ll also bring a mobile unit to what he calls “backyard get-togethers,” where a group of friends or neighbors gather for a knife-sharpening party. Sounds like fun, doesn’t it? – MM Pack

This article appears in December 3 • 2004.

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MM Pack is a food writer/historian and private chef who divides her time between Austin and San Francisco. A regular contributor to The Austin Chronicle and Edible Austin, she’s been published in Gastronomica, The San Francisco Chronicle, Oxford Encyclopedia of Food & Drink in America, Nation’s Restaurant News, Scribner's Encyclopedia of Food and Culture, The Dictionary of Culinary Biography, and Southern Foodways Alliance’s Cornbread Nation 1.

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.

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.

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.