Chef Extraordinaire Michael Symon
Bringing It All Back Home

Don’t let that “celebrity chef” moniker fool you. Marquee chef and restaurateur Michael Symon really is a great guy. It’s no act. He hasn't gone Hollywood. He’s witty, humble, candid… and very proud of his hometown. Even when he’s asked about his recent New York restaurant venture Parea (translated: “group of friends”) or his nomination for this year’s James Beard Foundation’s awards (“the food Oscars”) or his stints on the Food Network and as a Calphalon spokeschef, he always brings the conversation back home.

Home meaning Cleveland, of course. And Cleveland has certainly offered its hand of providence over Symon's culinary journey since he was an 11th grade wrestler at St. Edward High School with a broken arm. That lucky break started the athletic Symon down the path to cooking. What started as a part-time job at Geppetto’s Pizza & Ribs to pass time on the sidelines became a graduation from the Culinary Institute of America and stints thereafter at local eateries Player’s, Piccolo Mondo and the Caxton Cafe.

By now, most Clevelanders know where the story goes from here: In 1996, Symon partnered with future wife (and longtime co-worker) Liz Shanahan, and Lola in the Tremont neighborhood was born. The restaurant earned Symon a slew of awards, including a nod as “One of Ten Best New Chefs in America” by Food & Wine magazine in 1998. The win pushed Symon and his hometown into the stratosphere. All of which brings us back to the Beard Foundation nomination: Symon was recently named one of five finalists for the category “Best Chef: Great Lakes” this year. We’ll know if he won any minute now.

It seemed like a good a time to debrief with Symon who, along with his partners Liz (now Symon) and Doug Petkovic, re-opened a new Lola in the classic East 4th neighborhood last fall and enjoys healthy traffic at their other hip eatery, Lolita, in the old Tremont location. Symon sat down with Cool Cleveland Managing Editor Peter Chakerian at Lola to talk about everything from awards, his hometown’s finest peers and being a quote-unquote celebrity chef, to the needs of small business owners, his East 4th Street neighbors and who would win in a fight: Symon or bad boy New Jersey chef, Tony Bourdain.

We’ll give you a hint: Symon had No Reservations about answering that one. Read on...

Cool Cleveland: Talk about your early food memories growing up in Cleveland and how they impacted you.

Michael Symon: Most of my influences can be traced back to the memories I have of cooking and meals with my family. My mom is Greek and we all grew up in a house where we had seven home-cooked dinners together a week. And my Dad and grandparents, they’re great cooks, too. We ate a lot of great meals from scratch in our house, nothing processed. I think that’s what taught me the ways around food and the kitchen. I don’t think I even had McDonalds until I was 15-years-old. It was a great environment, and a great food environment, to grow up in.

Outside of being sidelined from wrestling with a broken arm, is there one key event that you see as being critical to your pursuing culinary arts?

That really was the thing, the injury. I couldn’t compete. That’s what got me into it. Then once I started working in restaurants, that’s when I decided that I knew this is what I wanted to do with my life.

What do you bring to the table as a Clevelander – let’s say something that translates into your own culinary works – which other chefs in culinary hotspots across the country lack for geography?

Honestly, I think the greatest advantage to being here in Northeast Ohio is the huge amount of local farms, you know? A chef’s ability to obtain locally grown and raised products here is something that not everyone has the ability to do.

Who else do you see making waves in the Cleveland’s culinary scene, both now and on the horizon?

I think that the people who laid that early groundwork built a tremendous foundation for next generation of chefs here. People like Doug Katz at Fire, he does a wonderful job, and Rocco Whalen does great job at Fahrenheit. You’ve got Jonathan Bennett at Moxie… those are some of the current wave of what’s really going on. I like Eric Williams’ work at Momocho, too. They’re all great because they’re different. This tends to be such a copycat industry, so it’s really nice to see those people taking risks and exploring creativity. And the chefs we have working here and Lolita, I feel, they’re as good as any in the city as well.

Travelers are increasingly making destination choices based on dining. You have two locations in hot areas of the city and really have put Cleveland on the map as a “food destination.” It’s not a stretch to say that Tremont and East 4th are successful areas, in large part, because of your involvement. Is it odd to be in the role of “economic driver” for a community?

Yeah, you know, I have to say that Liz, Doug and I never really think of what we do in that way. We have a lot of faith in the vision in neighborhood and the people here and that’s really where we operate from. We always try to give people what they want; it’s been fortunate that things have worked out that way, but a lot of it really is timing, luck and being first. We were the first place in Tremont of our ilk almost 11 years ago and the time was right: houses were going up, people were renovating and restoring their properties and then other small businesses started popping up. It was great for growth for the neighborhood.

But really, we do what we do because it feels right and we’ve never been afraid to take a risk because we believe in the city. And we’re fortunate that works for us. Every move we’ve made, people have said we were crazy… people said “Why not move Lola to Crocker Park?” That’s not who we are. Some people thought us moving Lola downtown was nuts, too. But the city is who we are, Cleveland is who we are. It’s what we do. For me, it just made perfect sense.

What do you think about the climate for small businesses in Cleveland and in Ohio in general? Some believe that from a policy standpoint – not even to mention taxes – that it can be difficult and inhospitable.

I think the city needs to continue to get behind small businesses and help better the climate in Greater Cleveland for small business investment. There’s a need to work on finding ways to give the indies reasons to do business here. The climate for most places in Ohio is they’d rather see a chain than an indie. There have to be more ways, and they should be finding ways, to help put small business thrive. In some cities, there are hardly any chain restaurants. And Ohio is chain central – between Cleveland and Columbus, it can be hard to find an independent restaurant.

You’re not kidding. So, you’ve been in this space for over six months now. How do you like the neighborhood, the neighbors and the pace here?

Love it. Absolutely love it. Our neighbors are great. We’ve known Nick Kostis at Pickwick & Frolic forever, my brother-in-law Michael Herschman is the chef at Vivo and we’ve been eating Vincenza’s Pizza forever! We were pretty familiar with our neighbors before we came, but it feels more like family now. And we see a lot of people here that we never saw in Tremont – people having meetings, doing business – which didn’t happen just as often in Tremont. We’ve certainly expanded our customer based a little bit! (laughs)

I love this space. Lola holds to the truism that many chefs have about ingredients: work with what’s in season. That is to say, this space wouldn’t be the same anywhere else; it’s a beautiful conversion of vacant city space.

I love it here, but it was all Liz and her design of the space. I think it has a very organic feel, especially after being vacant for 11 years or so. It feels very natural and comfortable, whether you’re in a suit or jeans. We did not want something that was so formal that people would think they had to follow suit.

My wife and I joke all the time that while we work well in life together, we’re just not sure about going into business together. Your wife Liz is not just your partner in life, but your partner in business as well. Is it hard to work together so closely?

We have always worked together; in fact we did even before we dated! (laughs) I think for us it would be just the opposite. (Aside to Liz, sitting at the end of the bar having a business meeting with Doug). We work better together, right honey?

Liz: Definitely. Work. (smiles)

MS: Our roles are all very different (laughs)… I have the food to focus on, Liz on the wine and atmosphere and Doug with employees… we all have very different roles in what we do here. That and building the right team, of course, which we all focus on (motions around the room). But this wouldn’t be possible without Liz and Doug. We always have opinions about each others’ roles, but all are different in the context of each other, which helps us get along very well.

How is the New York gig with Modern Greek cuisine at Parea going?

It’s going really well. I’ve decided that people will try anything in New York. It’s one of the reasons we were excited to do our Greek concept there. We thought it was a nice fit.

What do you do about eating at home? Is it hard to be creative with food when you’re just hanging out?

We cook really simply. Liz is a great cook, too. The two of us cook at home a lot when we’re actually there. (laughs) Right now, for the past year, we’re still all working 7 days a week. Once that gets to back to some sense of normalcy, typically we’ll cook at home on Sundays. Otherwise I’ll be relaxing, on my Harley, or golfing.

I hear the words in national venues like Food Network and on local news programs whenever you’re mentioned. Of course, I’m referring to the words, “Michael Symon, celebrity chef.” Surreal? Feel like a rock star?

I don’t know, man. (laughs) To me, it’s just funny. I’m a regular guy and I just do what I do. TV comes pretty naturally to me, and I am pretty fortunate to do it locally now and to have had a show for a couple of years. But that whole celebrity thing is not something I ever put effort towards. To me, it works good and it helps me. But all the “celebrity chefs” I am acquainted with, they’re all just normal people and never had that as a goal. All the ones that I am friends with never pushed to be that way, either. They all spent time in the kitchen, working on great dishes.

It’s a strange thing now with chefs and cooks. People are going to culinary arts schools around the country… and when these kids come out, they want to be on the Food Network! (laughs) The celebrity chefs didn’t get into it for any reason other than being in their kitchens. They didn’t go to school for to be on TV. It just sort of worked out that way.

So, you’ve been nominated for a James Beard Foundation award, which you likened to being nominated for an Academy Award. What does winning an accolade like that mean in layman’s terms? How soon do you find out the results and what does such an accolade do for you in future terms?

Most of it really is like the Oscars; being nominated is as good as winning, because the level of press is the same! (laughs) The Beard nomination is prestigious to people in the business, but I’m not honestly sure what it does for the general public’s sense of awareness. Food & Wine has more of an effect on the general public. I think the Food & Wine Top 10 Chefs nod in 1998 changed [my] career considerably. At that point, I was popular in Cleveland but that gave me a national name.

That’s when the Food Network thing happened, and now this… the Beard award really is the pinnacle for a chef. It’s the greatest honor you can achieve. We’ll know if we won in about a month. No one from Ohio has ever been nominated. It’s very flattering to be first one… it’s good for the city. It puts Cleveland on the map. Usually someone from Chicago or New York is nominated and wins. It’s exciting for us.

OK, guilty food pleasures and favorite junk food?

I don’t eat a whole lot of junk food or “guilt food.” But I have to say salt and vinegar chips with French onion dip? It’s goooood! (laughs)

How did Anthony Bourdain’s recent visit go? I understand you may end up in the Cleveland episode of his No Reservations Travel Channel show coming up?

It was great. You know, I’ve known Tony for a long time. It was fun to have him back. I’ve done a couple of his dinners for his book tours and we had a good time. It’s good to catch up. He’s a super guy… and great for our industry.

Who would win in a fight: you or that Jersey boy Bourdain?

In a physical fight?! Man, I’d kill him!!! (laughs) I don’t think there’s many chefs who could take me in a physical fight… and (pointing to laptop) you can put that right in there. You have my permission! (laughs)

Would Bourdain ask Michael Ruhlman to officiate?

Maybe. And [Ruhlman] would be pretty impartial, I think. He’d actually take a couple shots on Bourdain when he was down, I think. (laughs) Michael wants people to think he’s all wholesome and everything, but deep down I am guessing he’s a good for at least a couple shots on Tony. For sure.

Anything you’d like to say to Cool Cleveland readers?

The biggest thing about your readers is that they have the unique ability to really change things. That’s their strength. They have vision and are the people who support local businesses, restaurants, farmers’ markets… they’re invested in Cleveland. It’s a generation of people who really have the capacity to get back to how life is supposed to be. And that’s something I can really appreciate.

Learn more about the James Beard Foundation and their upcoming awards: http://www.jamesbeard.org/awards/index.php.

Learn the scrappy ways of Michael Ruhlman and Anthony Bourdain in a WCPN conversation: http://www.wcpn.org/an/features/2007/0126food.html.

Visit Symon’s newly redesigned websites for Lola and Lolita, and his new site for Parea in New York: http://www.lolabistro.com. http://www.parea-ny.com.

Interview and Photos by Cool Cleveland Managing Editor Peter Chakerian peter@coolcleveland.com
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