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

Comments

[April & Dave]

Ahhhh...one thing to remember is that in any good party, there's always a sour puss! Oh to be in your shoes though for the delicious dinner created by Mario, Ming, et al. :)

Keep livin' and cookin'!

[Elayne Riggs]

Well, he may have had a point, I think most of the restaurants here in NYC give a choice of around three dishes for their prix fixe menu during Restaurant Week. But there might have been a better way to express this point. :)

[Mark]

Obviously this patron was a moron and you certainly don't need to go out of your way to help your business, but did you have any thoughts of really going above and beyond to prove to this guy that Lola is the best place to eat in Cleveland?

[ntsc]

The resturants in NYC do only offer a few dishes on their prix fixe, but it is a low enough price they may not even be breaking even.

I wouldn't expect more than 1-3 main dishes and don't when we partcipate.

[thomas]

glad restaurant week went so well!

thousands of people eating, drinking and being merry together can change the world.

cook on...

[ms]

mark...we always try to go above and beyond if we feel a customer doesnt love the place...there is nothing i like better than turning around a bitter customer...but this guy was at the point of no return and pretty much just wanted to pick a fight...it would have been a lost battle in this case..but 99% of the time i would definately go above and beyond to make the customer happy..live to cook, ms

elayne, next year we will probablly offer more options..not only for customer choices but for kitchen balance...as it has been steakapalooza this week..lol...we just really didnt know what to expect the first year and wanted to give customers a taste of the restaurant and be able to execute properly...thx, ms

[lux]

I suspect that guy spends most of his time eating the free appetizers at the local Holiday Inn "happy hour" and thinking he's getting a great deal.

[ntsc]

Lux, he strikes me as the type who would 'lunch' on the freebies at Costco.

[Doodad]

Send me his hanger steak, the ingrate. I finally was able to score a couple of cryovacs of hanger having never heard of the cut 2 years ago.

Wow. That is my favorite cut hands down. You can keep filet. I bet yours is killer MS. Recipe?

[rockandroller]

I wonder how all the other restaurants have fared. In some sense I think it's almost a given that Lola has benefitted and has had a full restaurant all week (which is great!), but I know we ate at Wonder Bar the other night, and had a truly fantastic meal with several choices at a real bargain price and there was only one other table in there eating the whole time we were there. With all the snow and the very cold temps and wind, I wonder how everyone else has done.

[jayedee]

*shakin my head* there's always one in every crowd.......just thank goodness you didn't get my ex mother in law! God could have been her waiter and she'd have still bitched! lol

[Mark]

Thanks for the feedback Michael.

[k_d]

Of course you gave that jerk your best, Michael. People like him arrive angry, hostile, and are always prepared to have a rotten time. They're just there for the discount, and will probably never come back until the event recurs. I agree with you - some customers you're just better off without.

[Eric]

Been to your place once and LOVED it. Your last post mentioned some shirts coming soon? What will they look like and where can we get them? Hoping to get down there more when the weather warms up a bit.

[Kristin]

I walked by Lola on Tuesday during the snow storm on my way to a concert at House of Blues and wanted so badly to stop in a try something! One of these days, I'll put on my Sunday best and come have a meal at Lola :D

[jeannene]

There is always a one bad apple, right? If I could, I would eat at Lola's every night of the week!
By the way, thanks for being so cool- I bothered you last night for a photo and you could not have been more gracious! Thanks for putting Cleveland on the culinary map and
BEEF CHEEK PIEROGIS ROCK!

[Julie Ruddy]

Michael,
We had a great evening last night at Lola! The food was fantastic-from start to finish! Never thought I'd eat sweetbreads-"honey, it ain't sweet and it ain't bread but it sure is good!" Thanks for stopping by our table and chatting, it was great to see you. We are so happy for you and all your success! We look forward to our next meal at Lola. Kudos to our waitress Megan, too-she was outstanding!

[Dot]

Good for you Chef, biting the bullet and leaving well enough alone :)
A lot of folks just "Don't get it" .
Some times my husband and I leave hidden Extra dollar bills on the table when eating out with inlaws or our elders...20% of the bill for tip is so easy to do for good service let alone great service
Cheers!.

[Devon]

MS, First i want to tell you how awesome it is that you have gotten the credit your deserve. With all the ink and the loud laugh, you are not the typical chef. You are one that i would love to work for. I just got promoted to a sous chef last fall, what a humbling experience, but I love every day I go into work. Thank you for being an inspiration. My brother-in -law is a co-pilot for Continental airlines and is based in cleveland, I keep telling him to stop by your places. I am from upstate new york and am going to try and visit this summer. Best of luck and God bless. Devon

[Don Murphy]

Mike, I had the hanger steak last night and I COULD eat it every night...especially with a side of asparagus. MMMMmmm

[EB]

Hi Michael-
I just caught Battle Rabbit last night and I have to say that I love that you've managed to carry over your 'use the whole animal' philosophy from your restaurants to kitchen stadium. As an ex-long-time-vegetarian... I appreciate that philosophy and I hope you inspire others to do the same! Congrats on the win.

Erin of www.spicedish.typepad.com

[Lori]

Michael you are terrific. Love everything I have seen you do so far. As for your question about what we like and don't like about cooking shows and cookbooks, I have to say that I can't stand it on a cooking show when the host talks to us like we are ingrates or if they don't stop long enough to take a breath. For cookbooks I have to say I appreciate when the recipes are given some rating for complexity or they highlight unusual ingredients. I live in a rural area and somethings are impossible to locate.

Keep cookin'
Lori

[Catherine]

ms..can i ask you a question..as a successful male chef what do you think about female chefs? is it truly harder for women to prove themselves?

Catherine, 13

[Sandy]

Hi Michael!

I got to confess, you scared me for a moment here.

I took it easy all weekend and even snuck in a little golf at Doral with Michael Schlow and Tom Collichio.

Dear God, NOOOO I thought. Not golf! But, then, all was fine.

It was great to hang with the boys even though I played like shit and Doral is way overated.

I couldn't agree more about luring people downtown. I had to just about pull teeth to get my family to come out from the south side when I visited over Christmas. Restaurant Week is a big hit here in Denver. I hope it does all those wonderful things for Cleveland as well.

As for Mr Happy, we see him every day in our restaurant. He doesn't know how good he has it, man.

Hope the tv show treatment, the book and everything is coming along well.

[TraciQ]

I ate at Lola's in November and I have to attest to Michael's comment about doing all he can to make the customer happy. He (yes Michael) dropped our ticket and our meal was late. We were waiting wondering when Michael came over, explained and apologized. He then helped deliver our food and made sure everything was great (which it was-I still crave your fries!) and then bought us dessert (YUM). We felt taken care and came away with a longing to come back as soon as we were hungry again.