Symon Says

Devilish Mission

Last night on DI we had to feed 300 people a Southern feast based on The Devil went Down to Georgia song. The food had to be based on the song and pass a taste test by Charlie Daniels himself. One of the real treats of the show was getting to met and spend some time with James Otto. He is super talented and a great guy.

We had a lot of fun doing this mission but also ran into our fair share of problems. The first being that the only food reference in the song is chicken. As I looked through the coolers the only chicken I could find was boneless skinless breasts. Now I know a lot of people are fans of boneless skinless chicken but dont count me in that bunch. Even if you love the stuff you have to admit that chicken tastes a hell of a lot better roasted whole on the bones with the skin on... and if you have to have it BS you can do it after it is cooked and has benefited from the flavor that the bones and skin provide.

The next big issue was the freaking equipment...some of this stuff was possessed..going on and off for no reason. As much as I like to do braises this was creating some major problems with time and I was really concerned that the shanks would not be ready on time.

Lastly, just as we thought we were going to make it on time all of the guests showed up an hour early and were hungry and ready to eat. We were really scrambling at the end but managed to get all the food out. Its no different than the restaurants. You try to control everything but sometimes shit happens that you cant control. We could have just made them wait but it has to always be all about the guests.

Im really enjoying doing DI. We try to push ourselves as hard as we can and take as few shortcuts as possible to finish. Often you also have the opportunity to use some of the places staff to get you through the mission but we try to take on as much of it as we can by ourselves so we can really control the quality of the product. It is not always the easiest way of doing things but I know its the best and hopefully it is appreciated by those watching.

Tell me what you think so far.....live to cook, MS

The Rock is Coming

24 Hours till the premiere of Dinner Impossible. I am totally psyched up to see it. It was a brutal mission that took close to 24 hours of filming time from set up until breakdown. Now Im as used to a long day as much as the next guy but 24 hours straight really takes the starch out of you. Make sure to tune in at 10 EST and let me know what you think. Live to cook...MS

The women that rocked Cleveland

photos by Donna Turner Ruhlman

Here are some photos from our Share Our Strength dinner at Lola.  SOS is a organization the fights to put a end child hunger.  We do a annual dinner at the restaurant to help raise funds for this great cause.  This year we brought in over $74,000.00, which tops our old mark by over $20,000.00!!

The theme of this years dinner was Women of Food and Wine.  Our lineup was absolutely amazing as we had 8 of the top chefs in the country come help us out.  Each one of the dishes was fabulous and showed of the absolute aspiring talent that these 8 women have.

first course: tomato and feta salad; April Bloomfield, Spotted Pig, NYC

second course: french horn & fennel crudo with crispy pig ears; Koren Grieveson, Avec, Chicago

third course: roasted bone marrow with long beans, eel and apple butter; Michelle Bernstein, Michy's, Miami

fourth course: speck roasted halibut with pickled eggplant & tapenade; Karen Small, Flying Fig, Cleveland

fifth course: slow roasted salmon with heirloom tomatoes, Celina Tio, Julia(n), Charlotte

sixth course: wolf ranch quail with sweet corn and duck gizzard confit, Traci Des Jardins, Jardiniere, San Francisco

seventh course: stuffed spareribs with kohlrabi and peanut sauce, Anita Lo, Bar Q, NYC

eight course: peach tatin with peach granita & buttermilk panna cotta, Karen Demasco, Craft, NYC

We started them out with some great hors douevres from my team headed by Derek Clayton including foie gras tourchon with pickled cherries, lamb terrine with pepper relish and crispy pork belly with watermelon and our pastry chef Cory Barrett sent them home with some killer cookies and jellies.

I couldn't be more proud of how great our team at Lola performed and how wonderful all the chefs were to work with.  Its is events like this that reinforce my absolute love for this business and everything that its about.

Also this week Bar Cento was named best new restaurant by Northern Ohio Live..much love and congrats to Jon and Amelia...I feel like a proud papa....check out www.chefswidow.com for pics of Northern Ohio Live article on Bar Cento and some SOS latenight party pics.

Live to cook, MS