Michael Symon

Michael D. Symon (born September 19, 1969) is an American chef, restaurateur, television personality, and author.

He is of Greek, Sicilian, and Eastern European descent.

He is seen regularly on Food Network on shows such as Iron Chef America, Burgers, Brew and 'Que, Food Feuds, and The Best Thing I Ever Ate, as well as Cook Like an Iron Chef on the Cooking Channel and The Chew on ABC. He has also made numerous contributions to periodicals such as Bon Appétit, Esquire, Food Arts, Gourmet, Saveur and O, The Oprah Magazine.

A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Symon is the chef and owner of a number of restaurants in the Greater Cleveland area, including his flagship Lola, Mabel's BBQ and burger franchise BSpot.

He is credited with helping to "save" the restaurant scene in Downtown Cleveland.

He also owns Michael Symon's Roast (also known as Roast) in Detroit, Michigan.

He was raised in North Olmsted, Ohio, attending St. Richard School in North Olmsted and St. Edward High School in Lakewood, graduating in 1987.

He took a part-time job at Geppetto's Pizza and Ribs on Warren Rd. as a cook.

He graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York in 1990.

Symon cooked in the Cleveland restaurant scene, working at Player's, a Mediterranean restaurant in Lakewood.

In 1993, he moved to Piccolo Mondo as chef, developing a small yet devoted following.

He subsequently moved to Caxton Cafe.

In February 1997, Michael and his then-fiancée (now wife), Liz Shanahan, opened Lola in Cleveland's trendy Tremont neighborhood.

It is named after his aunt.

At the time, the neighborhood was just beginning to be rediscovered and develop into the hipster, "go to" neighborhood that it has become.

Tremont food scene pioneers Gerry Groh and Lynda Khoury had opened and grown one of the first new restaurants, named Bohemia, in Tremont.

After several years of success, the couple was ready to move on to other ventures and the couple sold the space to Symon.

Lola garnered rave reviews and was named one of America's Best Restaurants in Gourmet magazine in its October 2000 issue.

In 2005, he converted Lola into Lolita, and reopened Lola in downtown Cleveland the next year.

On April 15, 2006, Symon opened a third restaurant, Parea, which in Greek means "a group of friends" or "company," in New York City.

The restaurant, which featured upscale Greek food and was located on East 20th Street near Park Avenue, was run by Jonathon Sawyer, who tutored under Symon at Lolita.

It was located next door to Gramercy Tavern.

Symon partnered with Telly Hatzigeorgiou, George Pantelidis, and Peter J. Pappas.

Although New York Times food critic Frank Bruni gave the food a 2-stars rating (very good), he noted that the sound level reached "piercing heights."

By many accounts, the food was good, as the restaurant was even listed on "100 Tastes to Try in '07" in Food & Wine magazine.

It closed in 2007, and was acquired by Stavros Aktipis who renamed it Kellari's Parea.

Symon opened Roast, a restaurant at the Westin Book Cadillac Hotel in Detroit, Michigan in autumn 2008.

Roast was named the 2009 Restaurant of the Year by the Detroit Free Press.

He opened a restaurant on July 1, 2009 called Bar Symon in Avon Lake, Ohio featuring casual concepts on tavern food.

Soon after, he opened a hamburger focused restaurant named BSpot in Woodmere, Ohio.

In October 2009, the Cleveland Cavaliers announced that Symon would contribute menu items to be prepared by foodservice firm Aramark at the Quicken Loans Arena.

Two existing restaurants were renamed after Symon's bar-bistros, Bar Symon and BSpot, and some of his signature dishes were made available as suite catering offerings.

The original Avon Lake Bar Symon closed on October 19, 2010.

However, the concept still exists in airports.

On October 19, 2010, Symon announced that he would be closing the Avon Lake location of Bar Symon.

He later announced two more BSpot locations, one in Strongsville (opened April 6, 2011) and another in Westlake (late 2011).

Another BSpot opened at the Horseshoe Casino Cleveland in May 2012, and a BSpot stand opened on the club level at Cleveland Browns Stadium for the 2012 NFL season.

On May 6, 2017, he opened Angeline (named after his mother Angel) at the Borgata in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Symon describes his cooking as "meat-centric."

Symon was born in Cleveland, Ohio and is of Greek, Italian, and Eastern European ancestry.