A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Symon is the chef and owner of a number of restaurants in the Greater Cleveland area, including his flagship Lola, Mabel's BBQ and burger franchise BSpot. He is credited with helping to "save" the restaurant scene in Downtown Cleveland.[3] He also owns Michael Symon's Roast (also known as Roast) in Detroit, Michigan. On May 6, 2017, he opened Angeline (named after his mother Angel) at the Borgata in Atlantic City, New Jersey.[4] Symon describes his cooking as "meat-centric."[5]
Early life
Symon was born in Cleveland, Ohio,[6] and is of Greek, Sicilian, and Eastern European ancestry.[5][7] He was raised in North Olmsted, Ohio, attending St. Richard School in North Olmsted and St. Edward High School in Lakewood, graduating in 1987. He took a part-time job at Geppetto's Pizza and Ribs on Warren Rd. as a cook.[8]
Symon cooked in the Cleveland restaurant scene, working at Player's, a Mediterranean restaurant in Lakewood. In 1993, he moved to Piccolo Mondo as chef, developing a small yet devoted following. He subsequently moved to Caxton Cafe.
Lola's patio on East 4th Street in downtown Cleveland
In February 1997, Michael and his then-fiancée (now wife), Liz Shanahan, opened Lola in Cleveland's trendy Tremont neighborhood. It is named after his aunt. At the time, the neighborhood was just beginning to be rediscovered and develop into the hipster, "go to" neighborhood that it has become. Tremont food scene pioneers Gerry Groh and Lynda Khoury had opened and grown one of the first new restaurants, named Bohemia, in Tremont. After several years of success, the couple was ready to move on to other ventures and the couple sold the space to Symon. Lola garnered rave reviews and was named one of America's Best Restaurants in Gourmet magazine in its October 2000 issue.[9] In 2005, he converted Lola into Lolita,[10] and reopened Lola in downtown Cleveland the next year.
On April 15, 2006, Symon opened a third restaurant, Parea, which in Greek means "a group of friends" or "company," in New York City.[11] The restaurant, which featured upscale Greek food and was located on East 20th Street near Park Avenue, was run by Jonathon Sawyer, who tutored under Symon at Lolita. It was located next door to Gramercy Tavern. Symon partnered with Telly Hatzigeorgiou, George Pantelidis, and Peter J. Pappas.[12] Although New York Times food critic Frank Bruni gave the food a 2-stars rating (very good), he noted that the sound level reached "piercing heights."[13] By many accounts, the food was good, as the restaurant was even listed on "100 Tastes to Try in '07" in Food & Wine magazine.[14] It closed in 2007, and was acquired by Stavros Aktipis who renamed it Kellari's Parea.
Symon opened Roast, a restaurant at the Westin Book Cadillac Hotel in Detroit, Michigan in autumn 2008.[5] Roast was named the 2009 Restaurant of the Year by the Detroit Free Press.[15]
He opened a restaurant on July 1, 2009 called Bar Symon in Avon Lake, Ohio featuring casual concepts on tavern food. Soon after, he opened a hamburger focused restaurant named BSpot in Woodmere, Ohio. The original Avon Lake Bar Symon closed on October 19, 2010. However, the concept still exists in airports.
In October 2009, the Cleveland Cavaliers announced that Symon would contribute menu items to be prepared by foodservice firm Aramark at the Quicken Loans Arena. Two existing restaurants were renamed after Symon's bar-bistros, Bar Symon and BSpot, and some of his signature dishes were made available as suite catering offerings.[16]
On October 19, 2010, Symon announced that he would be closing the Avon Lake location of Bar Symon.[17] He later announced two more BSpot locations, one in Strongsville (opened April 6, 2011) and another in Westlake (late 2011).[18] Another BSpot opened at the Horseshoe Casino Cleveland in May 2012, and a BSpot stand opened on the club level at Cleveland Browns Stadium for the 2012 NFL season. The BSpot in the casino closed in 2017.[19]
On June 25, 2012, Symon opened another Bar Symon in Pittsburgh International Airport-Airmall in partnership with United Concessions Group and The Paradies Shops.
On November 21, 2015, Symon opened Symon's Burger Joint in Austin, TX near The University of Texas. This was his first venture outside of the Midwest. It closed in June 2017.[20]
On January 10, 2016, a fire caused the closure of Lolita in Tremont, which was originally the site of Lola.[21][22] On May 1, 2016, Symon claimed a restaurant named Sherla's Chicken & Oysters would open in the former Lolita spot.[23] He posted a concept menu on Facebook.[24] On March 14, 2017, a Symon representative said the restaurant was "currently in the design phase."[25] A Facebook page for the restaurant was last updated on May 1, 2016, and has since been deleted. The URL sherlaschicken.com currently redirects to Symon's page. As late as May 15, 2019, Symon stated the project was in development: "We don't have an ETA, we're still plugging along," he said. "We got through everything with the building. We're hoping to start working on the building, hopefully within the next couple of weeks to a month. We're getting there."[26] However, it was revealed 5 months later that the project would not be coming to fruition with no comment from Symon.[27]
On April 11, 2016, Symon opened Mabel's BBQ on East 4th Street adjacent to Lola. On June 11, 2016, Symon noted there would be only one location of Mabel's BBQ.[28] On December 20, 2018, another Mabel's BBQ restaurant opened at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas. On February 6, 2019, a speakeasy named Sara's opened inside of the Palms Casino Mabel's BBQ location.[29]
On November 20, 2020, it was announced that Symon's flagship restaurant Lola and 2 more locations of BSpot would close due to financial pressures of COVID-19, leaving his only Ohio restaurants to be Mabel's BBQ in the East 4th Street District and BSpot Eton in Woodmere.[36]
In January 2022, Roast in Detroit closed suddenly and unexpectedly.[37][38]
In March 2022, what was the last BSpot location in Woodmere was converted to a Mabel's BBQ.[39]
Media appearances
Symon often appears on behalf of Food Network. During the summer of 2009, he promoted the Food Network's video game Cook Or Be Cooked for Wii, which was released on November 3, 2009.[40][41]
Symon was one of the rotating hosts of Food Network's show Melting Pot. He appeared on Sara's Secrets with Sara Moulton, Ready, Set, Cook, and FoodNation with Bobby Flay. In 2005, he appeared on Iron Chef America, where he lost to Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto in Battle Asparagus.[42]
On April 21, 2008, the Food Network announced that Symon would take over as host of Dinner: Impossible, the network's third most popular show.[45] He hosted the show for ten episodes until host Robert Irvine was reinstated. Although it was not announced publicly, Symon knew it was a temporary gig "from the start."[46]
He appeared along with several other Food Network stars on Dear Food Network: Thanksgiving Disasters, a program dealing with dinner mishaps which first aired November 17, 2008.[47] He appeared in the very first episode of the network's The Best Thing I Ever Ate, which featured his restaurant Lolita.
Cook Like an Iron Chef, a Cooking Channel show starring Symon, debuted in July 2010. He described it as "a show for the people who've watched Food Network forever and are ready to learn something more advanced or more creative."[48]
The show Food Feuds, which featured Symon, premiered October 10, 2010. He travels to various locales and performs a direct comparison competition between local food rivals.
On February 14, 2011, Symon appeared in a skit on the late-night talk show Conan, in which a young couple had won a "romantic" Valentine's Day dinner date on the set. Conan O'Brien announced that Symon would be presenting them with their dinner—which he did, in the form of a Taco Party Pack from Taco Bell.[49]
In September 2011, Symon began co-hosting The Chew on ABC networks, a daily talk show that is centered on food-related and lifestyle topics.
Symon has been the host of the television series Burgers, Brew and 'Que since 2015.[50]
On December 14, 2021, Symon became the new host of Throwdown! on Food Network which previously starred Bobby Flay.
Books
Symon was featured in fellow Clevelander Michael Ruhlman's 2001 book The Soul of a Chef: The Journey Toward Perfection. The second part of the three-part book focuses on Symon's quest for culinary perfection.
In 2009, Symon collaborated with Ruhlman to write his first cookbook Michael Symon's Live to Cook: Recipes and Techniques to Rock Your Kitchen. ( ISBN978-0307453655) The foreword is written by fellow Iron Chef Bobby Flay. It was published by Clarkson Potter and was released on November 3, 2009.
On September 25, 2012, another cookbook was released named The Chew: Food. Life. Fun. ( ISBN978-1401311063), co-authored by Symon along with fellow Iron Chef Mario Batali, long-time Food Network producer Gordon Elliott, Carla Hall, Clinton Kelly, and Daphne Oz. Three weeks later, Symon and Cleveland food writer Douglas Trattner collaborated to release his second offering, "Michael Symon's Carnivore: 120 Recipes for Meat Lovers" ( ISBN978-0307951786).
Beginning in September 2012, the Chew crew began releasing seasonal e-book cookbooks with The Chew: Fall Flavors: More than 20 Seasonal Recipes from The Chew Kitchen, published by Hyperion Books, which is a unit of ABC parent The Walt Disney Company. It was followed up with The Chew: Winter Flavors in December 2012, while The Chew: Spring Flavors and The Chew: Summer Flavors were both released on April 23, 2013.
The Chew: What's for Dinner ( ISBN978-1-4013-1281-7), was released on September 24, 2013, by Hyperion Books, and is the second book based on the hot ABC television show. The cookbook features 100 easy recipes for every night of the week provided by Symon along with his co-hosts. In this cookbook, Symon provides quick and easy recipes for chicken marsala, angel hair caprese, and many others. He also shares tips on how to cook scallops restaurant-style.
Other cookbooks include 5 in 5: 5 Fresh Ingredients + 5 Minutes = 120 Fantastic Dinners (2013), 5 in 5: 5 for Every Season (2015), Michael Symon's Playing with Fire (2018), and Fix It with Food (2019). These were all co-authored by Douglas Trattner.
Product line and endorsements
In 2008, Symon began working as a "spokeschef," representing cookware companies Vitamix and Calphalon, appearing at housewares shows and other demonstration events.[51]
In 2011, Symon partnered with kitchenware company Weston Products on his official specialty kitchen product line, the Michael Symon Live to Cook Collection by Weston.[52]
In 2012, and again in 2013, Symon was paired with actress Eva Longoria for a promotion for PepsiCo's Lay's potato chip called "Do Us A Flavor." The promotion encourages consumers to submit new flavor ideas and fans vote for their favorite on Facebook. The person who creates the winning flavor is awarded $1 million or one percent of chip flavor's net sales.[53]
Awards and honors
Culinary
1995 - named Cleveland's Hottest Chef by The Plain Dealer Sunday Magazine[3]
Symon married Liz Shanahan on November 1, 1998, who has since been a collaborator on many of his restaurants.[56] Symon has an adult stepson[57] named Kyle, who was eleven years old when Michael and Liz married.[58] It was mentioned in episode 9 of season 20 of Beat Bobby Flay, Symon was becoming a grandfather in 2019.
In his 20s, Symon was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and discoid lupus, which later inspired the writing of his cookbooks to use food to help in the healing process.[59][60][61]
Bibliography
Ruhlman, Michael (2001). The Soul of a Chef: The Journey Toward Perfection. Michael Symon (contribution). Penguin. ISBN9781101525319.
Symon, Michael; Ruhlman, Michael (2010). Michael Symon's Live to Cook: Recipes and Techniques to Rock Your Kitchen. Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed. ISBN9780307885524.
Symon, Michael; Trattner, Douglas (2012). Michael Symon's Carnivore: 120 Recipes for Meat Lovers: A Cookbook. Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed. ISBN9780307951786.
Symon, Michael; Trattner, Douglas (2013). Michael Symon's 5 in 5: 5 Fresh Ingredients + 5 Minutes = 120 Fantastic Dinners: A Cookbook. Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed. ISBN9780770434335.
Symon, Michael; Trattner, Douglas (2015). Michael Symon's 5 in 5 for Every Season: 165 Quick Dinners, Sides, Holiday Dishes, and More: A Cookbook. Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed. ISBN9780804186575.
Symon, Michael; Trattner, Douglas (2018). Michael Symon's Playing with Fire: BBQ and More from the Grill, Smoker, and Fireplace: A Cookbook. Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed. ISBN9780804186599.
Symon, Michael; Trattner, Douglas (2019). Fix It with Food: More Than 125 Recipes to Address Autoimmune Issues and Inflammation: A Cookbook. Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed. ISBN9781984825544.
Symon, Michael (2021). Fix It with Food: Every Meal Easy: Simple and Delicious Recipes for Anyone with Autoimmune Issues and Inflammation: A Cookbook. Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed. ISBN9780593233108.
Related Research Articles
Ina Rosenberg Garten is an American television cook and author. She is host of the Food Network program Barefoot Contessa, and was a former staff member of the Office of Management and Budget. Among her dishes are Perfect Roast Chicken, Weeknight Bolognese, French Apple Tart, and a simplified version of beef bourguignon. Her culinary career began with her gourmet food store, Barefoot Contessa; Garten then expanded her activities to many best-selling cookbooks, magazine columns, and a popular Food Network television show.
Robert William Flay is an American celebrity chef, food writer, restaurateur, and television personality. Flay is the owner and executive chef of several restaurants and franchises, including Bobby's Burger Palace, Bobby's Burgers, and Amalfi. He has worked with Food Network since 1995, which won him four Daytime Emmy Awards and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Michael Carl Ruhlman is an American author, home cook and entrepreneur.
Robert Paul Irvine is an English celebrity chef and talk show host who has appeared on and hosted a variety of Food Network programs including Dinner: Impossible, Worst Cooks in America, Restaurant: Impossible, A Hero's Welcome, Operation Restaurant, All-Star Academy, Guy's Grocery Games, Chopped: Impossible, and Restaurant Express. Irvine currently operates one restaurant, Fresh Kitchen by Robert Irvine, located within The Pentagon. He also operated Robert Irvine's Public House at the Tropicana resort in Las Vegas, Nevada, from 2017 until the closure of the Tropicana in 2024. Irvine launched The Robert Irvine Show, a daytime talk show which aired weekdays on The CW between 12 September 2016 and 25 May 2018.
Wayne Harley Brachman is an American pastry chef, cookbook author and television host. He is most known to audiences as one of the rotating co-hosts on the Food Network show Melting Pot, which aired in the early 2000s and featured two chefs per episode cooking foods unique to their cultural and ethnic backgrounds. Brachman's segments were co-hosted with Michael Symon. Brachman drew upon his Jewish heritage and Symon cooked family recipes from his Romanian grandfather during their segments which were classified as Eastern European according to the show's categories. Brachman also frequently appeared as a guest co-host on Sweet Dreams, a Food Network dessert show hosted by Gale Gand. He also worked as a spokesman for Hass Avocados from Mexico in the mid-to-late 2000s.
Chris Cosentino is an American celebrity chef and reality television personality known as the winner of Top Chef Masters, a competitor on The Next Iron Chef and for his appearances on Iron Chef America. He is known for his haute cuisine offal dishes, and was chef-partner at Incanto in San Francisco. Forbes Traveler called Incanto "perhaps America's most adventurous nose-to-tail restaurant … On offer are lamb's necks, pig trotters and a five-course nose-to-tail tasting menu perhaps including venison kidneys and chocolate-blood panna cotta." Incanto closed on March 24, 2014. In December 2014, he opened Cockscomb, a restaurant centered around his updated interpretations of classic San Francisco dishes.
Richard Blais is an American chef, television personality, restaurateur, and author. He appeared on the reality show cooking show Top Chef, and is known for his take on classic American cuisine. Blais was the runner-up for the fourth season of Top Chef and returned several seasons later to win Top Chef: All-Stars.
Alexandra Maria Guarnaschelli is an American chef, cookbook author, and television personality. She currently serves as an executive chef at New York City's Butter restaurant and was executive chef at The Darby restaurant before its closing. Guarnaschelli studied cooking extensively in France.
The fifth season of the American reality television series The Next Food Network Star premiered on Sunday, June 7, 2009. Food Network executives, Bob Tuschman and Susie Fogelson, were joined by Bobby Flay as the Selection Committee for this season, which was filmed early 2009 in New York, New York and Miami, Florida.
The Best Thing I Ever Ate is a television series that originally aired on Food Network, debuting on June 22, 2009.
Gale Gand is a Chicago-based pastry chef, cookbook author, television personality, and winner of the 2001 James Beard Foundation Award for Outstanding Pastry Chef. Gand was the host of the Food Network show Sweet Dreams. She was the Chef-in-Residence at Elawa Farm, in Lake Forest, Illinois. Gand is a partner and was the founding Executive Pastry Chef at Tru, a contemporary fine-dining restaurant affiliated with Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises. Gand and her partners at Tru won the 2007 James Beard Foundation Award for Service. She has blogged for the Huffington Post, was a contestant on Iron Chef America in the 2006–2007 season, and was a judge on Bravo's Top Chef in 2008 for the episode Wedding Wars. Gand was also featured on the Great Chefs television program.
Jehangir Mehta was the executive chef and owner of New York City restaurants Graffiti, Mehtaphor and Graffiti Earth. He is the chef and owner of the private dining experience, Me and You. He is also the author of the 2008 HarperCollins cookbook "Mantra: The Rules of Indulgence," offers a cooking class at his restaurant for children 4-14 called "Candy Camp" designed to build interest in more diverse foods, hosts exclusive in-home dinner parties and runs an event planning company.
Tanya Holland is an American celebrity chef, restaurateur, podcast host, writer, and cookbook author. She is known as an expert of soul food. Holland is an alumna of Bravo TV's Top Chef, where she competed on the 15th season. She was the owner of Brown Sugar Kitchen in Oakland, California, which received national recognition and multiple Michelin Bib Gourmand awards.
Gail Monaghan is a cookbook author and NYC cooking teacher. She writes for the Wall Street Journal Off Duty section as a feature food columnist and is the host of the Wall Street Journal Digital Network’s Cooking Confidential with Gail Monaghan. She has cooked alongside chefs Mario Batali, Michael Symon, and Carla Hall on ABC's The Chew.
Crab Rangoon, sometimes called crab puffs, crab rangoon puffs, cheese wontons, or cream cheese rangoons, are filled crisp dumpling appetizers served primarily in American Chinese restaurants.
Mei Lin is a Chinese-born American chef and television personality, best known as the winner of the twelfth season of the Bravo television network's reality television series, Top Chef. After winning Top Chef in 2014, Lin worked as a personal chef for Oprah Winfrey before going on to open her first restaurant, Nightshade in Los Angeles in 2019. She became engaged to her fiancé Andrew Skala on January 14, 2023. On April 9, 2023, Lin won the fourth season of Food Network's Tournament of Champions.
BBQ USA is an American cooking documentary series that airs on Food Network. It also streams on Discovery+. The show follows Michael Symon as he explores the art of barbecuing around the United States by traveling to BBQ competitions. It premiered on July 11, 2022.
↑ Baetens, Melody. [Michael Symon's Roast in Detroit Suddenly and Permanently Closes its Doors "Michael Symon's Roast closes in downtown Detroit"]. The Detroit News.{{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
