Michael Symon

Lola Bistro

Chef Michael Symon cooks with soul. Growing up in a Greek and Sicilian family, the Cleveland native creates boldly flavored, deeply satisfying dishes at his restaurants in America’s heartland: Lola, Lolita, Roast and B Spot. He also shares his exuberant, approachable cooking style and infectious laugh with viewers as an Iron Chef on the Food Network as well as one of six hosts on ABC’s The Chew.

Since being named a Best New Chef by Food & Wine magazine in 1998, Michael and his restaurants have been awarded numerous honors: in 2000 Gourmet magazine chose Lola as one of “America’s Best Restaurants”. In 2009, Michael earned The James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef Great Lakes and the Detroit Free Press named Roast “Restaurant of the Year”, in 2010, he was the first chef ever to host the annual Farm Aid benefit concert and Bon Appetit magazine included B Spot on their list of “Top 10 Best New Burger Joints”, and 2011 brought B Spot restaurants the first of three consecutive years winning the People’s Choice award for best burger at the SoBe Wine & Food Festival.

His first cookbook was published in 2009, “Michael Symon’s Live to Cook – Recipes and Techniques to Rock Your Kitchen”, sharing home cook-friendly recipes that draw on the flavors of his heritage. Michael’s second cookbook, “Carnivore,” dedicated to meat lovers, was published in October 2012 and has ideas for a third cookbook to look for late summer 2013.

When he’s not working, you can find him riding his motorcycle through, cooking at home, playing golf, thinking about his next tattoo, gardening in the backyard and spending time with his wife, Liz, and their bullmastiff, Ruby, and Old English bulldog, Ozzy.