Michael Symon, the latest addition to Food Network's "Iron Chef America," clearly is having fun out there. After giving a lively cooking demonstration to highlight different beer and food pairings, he granted Independent Thinking audience before he headed back to the airport to fly home to Cleveland. Symon has a few reasons to remain upbeat, even as him home base in Northeast Ohio hasn't had things very easy in this recession.
It helps that his five restaurants -- Lola, Lolita, and the upcoming Bar Symon and B Spot in Cleveland, as well as Roast in Detroit -- are diversified across a few industry segments and price points. His loyal guests have stuck with him because they've been treated fairly since he hit the scene with Lola 13 years ago, Symon says. It's also handy that he's been doing beer and food pairings since the beginning, he says, because such options like beer pairings and special beer dinners will only grow in their appeal.
Besides, promoting beer over wine may result in lower average checks, Symon says, but the profit margins on beer are way better, and many guests don't get the sticker shock from beer that they may get from a high-end bottle of wine.
He sat down to talk beer, food and, most importantly, Cleveland Cavaliers basketball.
NRN: So, if you're going to do 100 beers at Bar Symon, does each beer have to be paired with one of your dishes, or does every dish have to have a few beers that can go with it?
Michael Symon: We do it kind of like how we do it with wine. I'll come up with a dish, and Liz [his wife and sommelier] will taste the dish, and she'll think of beers that go with that dish.
NRN: Not wines, but beers?
Michael Symon: Well, and wine. Beverages in general. As we're developing dishes, she and her team of sommeliers are tasting them and they try to only put products on the list, be they beer or wine, that pair with the food. So their goal is to make the beverages pair with the food. Same process with beer as with wine.
NRN: Has this revival of American microbrews helped restaurateurs come up with pairings and new offerings?
Michael Symon: I think so. I think it helps restaurateurs because it makes people more aware. The consumer is more willing to try different things at different price points. I think, 10 years ago if somebody had told me there's a $14 beer, I would have been like 'Go fuck yourself.' [Laughs] [Editor's note: That's the most good-natured dropping of the F-bomb I've ever seen. Man, this guy is easygoing]
But now because it's happening and there's a movement, people are more willing to try different things, and one of the things that excites us about Bar Symon is that, having 50 beers on tap, we can do 1- or 2-ounce pours where somebody could taste it before committing to a higher-end beer.
NRN: So you could do different flights, then, too?
Michael Symon: Yeah.
NRN: Cool. So Bar Symon and B Spot are opening in Cleveland, you've got Roast in Detroit. How's business going in Northeast Ohio right now? You said Lola has pretty much held steady, but what's the operating environment like where you live right now?
Michael Symon: Lolita's actually up 15 percent. Lola is right where it was last year, or minimally up, and Roast is doing higher than projections.
NRN: Does that surprise you?
Michael Symon: I guess it does and it doesn't. Even though some people might perceive Lola or Roast as expensive. Even if they've been considered expensive in terms of a price point, they were always considered fair. We've prided ourselves over these 13 years in business for never gouging people on price, either for food or beverage or anything, even when the economy was ramped up. It's coming back to benefit us now. Even some places that are charging four times for wine when the economy was good, people didn't care, but they remembered.
NRN: My guess is that people would be looking to try more beer pairings if they're a little less willing to spend money on wine.
Michael Symon: I think 100 percent that's true. They're a little more affordable so you get a little more bang for your buck. Because of beers like Pilsner Urquell people are more aware of how well beer pairs with food. I think it's the beautiful thing about Pilsner is that it has opened people's eyes to that.
NRN: Does this require more training for your servers and chefs?
Michael Symon: For us, since we've always done it, it's more about maintaining and continuing to have them learn. Every shift, our servers sit down and taste the food and the beer and wine. Every day that the restaurant's open. It's a continual thing, and we're always trying to educate them and empower them to talk about it in the right way. You can sit and talk about it as much as you want, but until sit down and taste it, that's just worthless.
NRN: If you're running five restaurants in the Midwest, and you're filming "Iron Chef" stuff here in New York, you're probably busier than ever. Where do you get time to think of new culinary ideas? Do you get to spend much time in the kitchen anymore?
Michael Symon: I'm still in the kitchen quite a bit. "Iron Chef" takes two weeks a year to film, and I have some other commitments like this, but I flew in late last night and I'll fly out late tonight. I'm still in the restaurants quite a bit. I'm blessed that every restaurant has a great chef, we talk about food all the time, we develop things together and keep each other inspired. It keeps me inspired, it keeps them inspired.
NRN: So you're not approach having too much going on? Is it more a matter of having your team grow?
Michael Symon: Not yet, but I can't say. The thing that was most advantageous to us was we waited 10 years before we opened our second restaurant, Lolita. And in that 10 years, we essentially turned over nobody in the kitchen or the front-of-the-house. We had this nucleus of 15 key people that wouldn't leave, and I don't mean that in a bad way. I would say to some of them, "Look, I could get you an executive sous chef job or an executive chef job somewhere else," and they'd say "No, chef, we want to stay. We like it here."
As we opened our second and third places, it allowed them to grow and move up. Our GM with Roast has been with us for 14 years. Our chef at Lolita has been with us for 13 years. As we grow, we're empowering people who have been with us for a long time and know how we like to do things. To this point, that's been the success of our growth.
Another thing is that Lola is more upscale, Roast is kind of a steakhouse, Lolita is more casual, and Bar Symon and B Spot will be more casual. I don't want to open up 20 Lolas, because we don't have the manpower to do that. To do food at that level and that tenacity takes a lot of manpower.
NRN: You wouldn't consider opening a Lola or Lolita in a different city, or is it just different concepts that appeal to you?
Michael Symon: I think the B Spot is a little bit replicable, and Bar Symon. At this time I have no desire to open another Lola or Lolita. Roast is a little more replicable, because it's rotisserie and steaks and chops.
NRN: All right, last question, and it's the most important, so take your time. It's the off-season, who do the Cleveland Cavaliers need to pick up in free agency?
Michael Symon: I would like to see them go back after Carlos Boozer.
NRN: You would welcome back Carlos Boozer?
Michael Symon: I would. I would like to see them go after The Matrix. He's a great defensive player and he can play the 3.
NRN: All right, but Shawn Marion is max-contract guy. He's going to be tough to get.
Michael Symon: Yeah, but they've got a lot of wiggle room right now. They're getting rid of a lot of max guys right now. I watched the Orlando series intently, and we didn't have the height to block those lanes against Turkoglu and Lewis. You put Marion and Boozer in there, and you've got two guys that are athletic and big.
NRN: How about Charlie Villanueva? He's 6'11" and shoot.
Michael Symon: Yeah, he'd be a good pick-up, too. There are lots of options out there.
NRN: Yeah, I'm just going to trust Cavs GM Danny Ferry on that one.
Michael Symon: He's a brilliant man.
