Symon Says

SOBE and Restaurant Week

Had a little break in the action last weekend. Liz and I went to South Beach for the Food and Wine festival. When we left Ctown it was a balmy friggin 9 degrees and upon returning it went up to 20 but we got about 12 inches of f'n snow. It was a nice little break to be in 85 degree weather for 3 days and just what I needed to clear the head a little.

If u love food, wine and a good party, this is the event for u. There are events going on all over the place and chefs galore. I took it easy all weekend and even snuck in a little golf at Doral with Michael Schlow and Tom Collichio. It was great to hang with the boys even though I played like shit and Doral is way overated. Liz and I also snuck in a couple of dinners at Michy and Talula. Some of my favorites were incredible toro wrapped oysters, a great crispy pork belly and some wonderful kimchi beef tartar at Michy and THE most tender octopus I have ever had at Talula. We were also lucky enough to be invited to a dinner cooked by Mario Batali, Ming Tsai, Michael Schlow and Tom Collichio. These are four of my favorite chefs so needless to say the food and company were fabulous.

We got back to Cleveland on Sunday. Just in time for a foot of snow and Restaurant Week. This is downtown Clevelands first shot at this and for the most part it has been a huge success. It has driven thousands of people to downtown Cleveland to eat, drink and be merry and most of them have been very pleasent. We have gotten alot of first time diners and people who have not ventured downtown for ages. Hopefully they will see what they have been missing and get out of the burbs more often and realize what downtown and its independent restaurants have to offer.

As I said earlier, most of the people have been pleasent but it never fails there is always a jackass!!! On Monday the third table to arrive has a very pleasent gentlemen who was obviously forced to come to our fine establishment. The server lets me know that they are doing everything in their power to make him happy but are having very little luck. So I head over to help turn around Mr happy. Here is the conversation that followed

MS..How is everything?

Mr Happy....I thought this was restaurant week?

MS .... It is sir and we are very excited to be part of it.

Mr Happy ..... Your special menu only has one choice for entrees

MS .... Do you not enjoy hanger steak?

Mr Happy ... Its fine but what if I want to eat here every night?

MS ... Well, I think the idea is that you try several different places downtown not just Lola and if you did want to come back there are another 25 items on our regular menu.

Mr Happy ... Why would i ever pay full price to eat here?

At this point I decide to leave well enough alone and head back to the kitchen but not before he lets me know that we should also be offering drink specials since our cocktails are overpriced. What a lucky women this guys wife is!!! He much just be a peach to spend quality time with!!

Enough nonsense I have to get back to work.

Live to cook,
MS

Exciting Week!!!

This has been one of those exciting albeit crazy weeks....We found a new house on the east side in Shaker Heights...I verbally committed to a publisher for the book...and we are in the process of pitching a new show to the Food Network...Oh, where to start!!

First off, the house. Liz has wanted to move east for awhile now to be a little closer to her sister Mare. For me it doesnt really matter where we live..but a happy Liz is a happpy Michael..lol. That being said, alot of my close friends live east so that is a added bonus, as is being closer to some of my favorite restaurants like Fire and Red. The only drawback is the airport is a bit of a hike now and we are not so close to our parents which is a bummer. The real shitty thing about all of this is that we just got got our current house finished and know I am going to have to live through constuction again, which truly sucks ass...for lack of better terms!!! So if anyone is looking for a house with a truly pimped out kitchen, feel free to drop me a line.

Next, I am really excited about the book. The working title is Symon Says "Live to Cook" and it will be made up of recipes and stories from my life in food. Michael Ruhlman will be helping me with the writing and Donna will be doing the photography, which has me very excited. I hope the book comes out on paper as good as it is in my head.

Lastly, I had a great meeting with zero pt zero the other week. They are the production company that does Bourdains show. We are working on a show to pitch the food network. I'm hoping it can be edgy but still educational and can break from the usual format of chef behind counter cooking food. These guys are obviously great at what they do... hell, they even make Bourdain look good, which is no easy feat!!

Couple questions for you guys...What do you love and hate about cooking shows and books

One more thing..the shirts are really close and should be on the site within two weeks..and they are wicked!!

Live to cook, ms

Great Fundraiser

I was in NYC on Monday doing a fundraiser for the 911 memorial museum. What a great event. It was put on by one of my favorite chefs Jonathan Waxman of Barbutto. The other chefs were Aaron Sanchez, Bobby Flay, Joey Companaro and Jimmy Bradley.

We raised over $400,000.00 in doing the dinner. It was $25,000.00 a seat for 22 ppl (only in NYC...lol) and the food was just terriffic. Aaron did a snapper ceviche for the first course, that was garnished with crispy plantains and yucca. The second course was fire roasted oysters with a salsify puree and a truffle sauce by Jimmy Bradley. Joey did the third course which was seared halibut topped with a crab salad over wilted escarole. I was up next and did braised beef cheeks with pickled fennel, chiles, blood oranges and crispy marrow. Next was Bobby with crusted venison, bluberry sauce and a sweet potato tamale and lastly a grapefruit panna cotta by JW. The meal went off without hitch and the people were thrilled to be there. All in all a great event.

I do quite a few fundraiser type dinners a year and they are all great but this one was pretty special. First off, it is a great cause and you really get to see were the money being raised is going. Also the mayor was there for the dinner which was quite cool and very refreshing to meet someone who is so down to earth and has such a great vision for the present and future of NYC. Lastly, these are 5 of my favorite chefs in the country. Not only is there food great but they have absolutely no egos and are just great to work with. The common tie between all us is JW as he has mentored this entire group in one way or the other. Whether it be from working with him or just advice on how to deal with the daily grind of being a chef.

Being around all this great food and great chefs got me to thinking. If you could pick who could cook your final meal who would it be. Mine would probably be Jonathan, because i know it would be drop dead simple and seasonal and it would definately include fries!! Love to hear some of your picks, MS