Symon Says

so so sad

With all the good thats happened this year...there has also been some sadness.  We recently lost Mable our amazing bullmastiff.  She was almost 10 and became really sick shortly after Christmas.  Saying she was a great dog would be a understatement and i really cant  put into words how much I miss her.  Ruby and Ozzy are still doing well albeit a little confused without their big sister around.  

Roast, my new kitchen & other stuff!!

Holy cow have i been busy.....I know...I know,  its been awhile since my last post but what a wild six months its been.

First off, Lizzie gutted our kitchen at home and did a total overhaul.  To say I am happy with the results would be the understatement of the decade.  It totally opened up the room and allows us to cook together in relative harmony...which essentially means she tells what she needs and i do it!!!..lol

Honestly, she never fails to amaze me with her ability to look at a room and make it flow and function so perfectly.  She had incredible custom cabinets built by Todd at Woodwork's Design (4403460102).  They are truly magnificent with all the drawers on glides for easy access to all my goodies..which makes me very happy.

After much testing and looking around i had to make a decision on my appliances.  This is never a easy task for a chef.  I wanted to make sure i had restaurant like performance but also had all the bells and whistles that would make everything easy to use for Lizzie and was simple to clean.  Liz also wanted all the same maker so everything matched up properly.  After months of testing we finally decided on Electrolux.  This stuff truly rocks, my stove top burners are good and powerful and the wall oven is really easy to use and clean..i also really love the smooth-glide racks in the oven which makes it super easy to access the food.  In addition to the stove and ovens we also got their espresso/coffee machine that takes care of my caffeine addiction quite well and Lizzie got her Wine tower which holds 160 bottles at the perfect temp.

The coolest thing about Electrolux though is that they share my passion for giving back.  While we were doing our research we noticed that they have committed to raising a half mill to the ovarian cancer research fund...how great is that. You can check it out on their website at www.electroluxappliances.com

About 5 months ago we just opened our newest venture Roast in Detroit at The Westin Book Cadillac.  It is a restaurant dedicated to all things meat.  Lizzie and Rick Lalli did a great job on the space.  It feels like a really swank supper club. 

The opening went really well.  I have a great chef there in Jeff Rose and our longtime GM Frank Ritz moved out to the D to keep it running smoothly out front.  It really has been a magnificent project all in all.  Starwood and The Ferchill Group rehabbed the historic hotel to the tune of 220 million bucks and no expenses were spared.  To see the excitement of the city to have this historic gem back up and running has been nothing short of mind blowing.

Last week we were named restaurant of the year by the Detroit Free Press...which has actually left me speechless (I know hard to believe).  It was an incredible honor, especially considering how new we are and the steep competition with Wolfgang, Michael Mina and Brian Polcyn...just to name a few.  I couldn't be prouder of my staff and how well they have performed.

Well kids that's about it for now....cookbook is almost done and we are looking forward to it hitting the stands in November

Live to cook, MS

I Love Philly!!

Sorry its been awhile since my last post.  I've been a little crazy these past couple of weeks.

So the last DI was shot in Philly and I must say I am in love with that town.  The people are just a hoot, incredibly passionate about their food and their city.  What more can you ask for in a city.  It has a amazing history, a ton of people living and working downtown and a great food scene.  It is also home to maybe my favorite restaurant of all time Vetri. My only complaint about the place would be their absolute love of cheezewhiz on the cheese steaks!!!  Not even the king of cheese steaks Tony Luke could convince me that "the whiz" is where its at.  I am just not down with cheese in a can!!  Call me old fashion .

On a more discouraging note my Browns are just a wreck.  We are 0-3 and cant buy a win.  I could live with the loss to Dallas but to lose back to back games to Pittsburgh and Baltimore just tears my heart out. The city was so stoked for a great year and although it is far from over it is not looking to promising.

This week on DI we will be cooking at the Crayola Factory.  Tim and Greg will be helping me with this mission and it got pretty interesting.  Cooking by color is not so easy...especially when some of them are purple and blue!!!  Check it out this Wednesday at 10.....Live to cook, MS

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

Hi everybody...

So sorry for the the long break between posts.  The last two months have been very crazy.  Between the restaurants and filming Dinner Impossible and Iron Chef I havent had alot of computer time.

There is alot of new things going on that I am very excited about.  Doing DI has been a total blast. We filmed 10 shows in 5 weeks which will start showing regulary on August 20th.  Ill tell you what this show is no joke it pushed me and my team to the absolute limit everytime and was completely exhausting.  But I loved every minute of it. I hope you enjoy watching them as much as we enjoyed making them.  It will be a little different than the old DI in the sense that were flying around like crazy people but having fun along the way. It is very similiar to the way the restaurant kitchens are.  We all work super hard and still have alot of fun.  Ive never been a believer in a kitchen has to be like a boot camp to put out great food

This was also my first full season of IC.  We did 9 battles against some very stiff competition with some amazing ingredients.  I believe the new season starts in November which Iam very excited about.

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer.....live to cook, ms

Foie back in Chitown..

THANK GOD!!!! Someone has come to their senses. After one of the most ridiculous baans of all time, they have reversed their decision and are once again allowing the sale of foie gras in Chicago. It always boggles my mind how quickly people bash foie gras but in the meantime have no problem with mass produced chicken, pork etc....let me assure that these ducks live a much better life than the "yellow chikens" that seem to be at every grocery store. If some of these politicians had any balls they would be targeting these corporate giants who have made many forget what a real piece of chicken or pork actually tastes like.

How about banning Mcdonalds and some of the other chains that have set this country back decades with all the crap they choose to serve and families that dont know better feed their children. I realize this would never happen because it is much easier to pick on the little guys but the banning of hormone enhanced, overly processed, pesticide ridden and antibiotic full foods would do alot more for everyone than the banning of foie gras ever would.

Big News Times Two!!

As some of you may have read we made the announcement today that I will be taking over as host of Dinner Impossible. I am super stoked to take over this show as it is a proven format and I love a good challenge. To make it even more exciting DI will be going to a one hour format and I will have a bunch of my close friends as sous chefs, which should make the show very entertaining and fun.
We have also announced that we will be opening a restaurant for Starwood Hotels in Detroit at the Historic Book Cadillac which will be called Roast. It will feature all that is meat. Including a wood fired rotisserie with suckling pigs, baby goats and spring lamb. We will also feature a large amount of prime dry aged steaks and a array of house made sausages and cured meats. This is a concept I have been working on for quite awhile and feel it will fit Detroit like a glove.
God I love Mondays...
Live to cook..MS

ozzy the wonderdog

been a little crazy lately..here is a picture of the new puppy ozzy...ill will have a big announcement later this week of some exciting things that are happening..live to cook ms