Michael Symon

Michael Symon is an American chef, restaurateur, television personality, and author, recognized for his contributions to the culinary world through his restaurants and numerous media appearances. After opening his flagship restaurant Lola in Cleveland’s Tremont neighborhood in February 1997 with Liz Shanahan, Michael Symon quickly established his culinary influence, earning Lola recognition as one of America’s Best Restaurants by Gourmet magazine in October 2000. This followed his graduation from the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York, in 1990, and formative experience within Cleveland’s restaurant scene. Symon expanded his portfolio in 2005 with Lolita, a Mediterranean-style bistro, and reopened Lola in a new downtown Cleveland location the following year.

That same year, he published his first cookbook, ‘Michael Symon’s Live to Cook: Recipes and Techniques to Rock Your Kitchen,’ and was honored with a James Beard Foundation Award for ‘Best Chef Great Lakes.’ In 2010, he became the first chef to host the annual Farm Aid benefit concert. Beginning in 2011, Symon co-hosted ABC’s ‘The Chew,’ a role for which he earned a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Informative Talk Show Host in 2015. Concurrently, his restaurant empire evolved with the opening of Bar Symon at Pittsburgh International Airport-Airmall in 2012, followed by Symon’s Burger Joint in Austin, TX, in 2015. He further diversified his concepts by launching Mabel’s BBQ in 2016 and Angeline at the Borgata in Atlantic City in 2017.

Symon has also channeled his personal health journey, managing rheumatoid arthritis and discoid lupus, into professional contributions, inspiring cookbooks that focus on using food for healing and managing autoimmune issues, further solidifying his reputation as an influential chef and culinary innovator.