Bar Symon

Bar Symon

32858 Walker Road

Avon Lake, Ohio

440-933-5652

http://www.barsymon.com/


I finally made it to one of Michael Symon’s Restaurants. Who is Michael Symon, you might ask? If you watch the Food Network or are familiar with the local Cleveland food circuit, then you probably know. If not, let me tell you a little bit about him. Michael Symon was born and raised on the west side of Cleveland. He owns 5 restaurants, four of which are in Cleveland. They are Lola Bistro (Downtown), Lolita (Tremont), Bar Symon (Avon Lake) and B Spot Burgers (Woodmere). Lola and Lolita are more upscale and Bar Symon and B Spot have a more laid back atmosphere. The fifth restaurant is in Detroit called Roast.

Michael made a name for himself on the Food Network in 2007 when he won the first ever ‘Next Iron Chef’ competition. He now competes regularly on the Iron Chef. He also starred in the fifth season of ‘Dinner Impossible’ where he met various food challenges across the country for different events. The menu chosen had to be prepared in a certain amount of time. He was named the ‘Best Chef in the Great Lakes Region’ for 2009. You can also catch him at the Cleveland Fabulous Food Show at the I-X Center each November giving food demonstrations.

Now that you know a little bit about Michael Symon, let’s get on to my experience at Bar Symon. This is one of his newer establishments. Even though I’ve never been to any of his other restaurants, I do know that this one encompasses a more casual dining experience than Lola or Lolita. You can feel free to dine in jeans if you like and it is family friendly. There were a number of families with children. You will also enjoy rock n’ roll music piping from the speakers. I heard AC/DC and Led Zeppelin, to name a few.

The restaurant is located at the end of a plaza, which is great for the patio you will be able to enjoy when the weather gets nice. The inside is one big room with a bar to your right and the dining area in front of you. There will also be a private dining room available for parties of 30-150. The bar includes an eclectic selection of beer from all over the world and 38 of them are on tap! Most of them I’ve never heard of, but they did have my friend Guiness, which was fine with me.

The décor was a combination of hand-carved woodwork, pigs, butcher’s diagrams on mirrors, metal ceiling tiles, Ruffoni (hammered copper) Italian cookware and more. The wait staff was very friendly and service was great! There were 7 people in my party and one of the girls wasn’t crazy about her steak so they took it off her bill stating ‘we aren’t going to make you pay for something you didn’t like’. Everyone else enjoyed their meals immensely.

The food menu is like no other you’ve ever seen! There’s a ‘Sausage Board’ that includes a selection of kielbasa, veal bratwurst, spicy lamb, pork & fennel and morcilla (Spanish blood sausage). There’s a variety of ‘Symwiches’ including a BBBLT with fresh bacon, smoked bacon and bacon mayo; Beef Tongue (don’t know if I’ll ever be adventurous enough to want to try that!), The Quack (duck confit) and the Zorba, which is his version of a gyro with lamb sausage.

The entrees include twists on old favorites like Duck Paprikash and Mac & Cheese with rigatoni, chicken and goat cheese. The burger menu has three unforgettable burgers: the ‘Lola’ with a fried egg on top, the ‘Shroomage’ with portabello and blue cheese and the ‘Fat Doug’ with pastrami, coleslaw, mustard and swiss. I got the Lola and it was delicious. It was served with rosemary french fries and their housemade ketchup.

You will also want to check out their ‘Happy Hour’ and Sunday Brunch. Happy Hour is M-F from 5-6:30 and Sunday from 2-4. You’ll enjoy happy hour prices as well as a special ‘Happy Snacks’ menu. Sunday Brunch is from 10-2 and has an entirely different menu including a Pork Pastrami Hash, Brunch Burrito with scrambled eggs, duck confit and jack cheese, Stuffed French Toast with mascarpone cheese, almonds and strawberries and Chicken and Waffles. I definitely want to go back for the brunch!

If you’ve tried Bar Symon or any of his other restaurants, please share your experience with me.

Cornmeal Blini Bites

I've been trying a lot of new recipes lately. One reason, is because I love to try new recipes (duh!) and the other is because I'm in charge of the food for a Women's Spa Event this Spring at my son's school. Being that the menu should revolve around a Spa theme, I am looking for light bites and some indulgent mini desserts. One of the recipes I came across on the Food Network (of course) was this one for Cornmeal Blini Bites. They didn't really look like much in the photo, but something intrigued me about them and I had to try it. I made these little darlings for a planning meeting we had this week for the event and they were a great hit. So easy to make, not a lot of ingredients, very inexpensive and so, so tasty.

The ingredients include:

1 8.5 ounce box corn muffin mix
1/2 cup milk
1 large egg, beaten
Olive oil, or shallow frying (about cup)
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
18 seedless green grapes, halved
Honey, for drizzling

Directions for making:

Whisk the muffin mix, milk and egg together until smooth.
Heat a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add 1/4 inch of oil to the pan and heat until shimmering. Working in batches, drop teaspoons of batter into the oil to make small pancakes, about 1 1/2 inches wide. Cook until bubbles appear on the tops and the bottoms are golden, 1 to 2 minutes. Flip and finish cooking, about 1 more minute.
Top each blini with ricotta and a grape half. Drizzle with honey and serve warm.

Some tips I would like to add based on my experience is:

• As you're cooking, the oil will lessen as it is soaked up by the cornmeal and you will have to add more as you go along.
• When you drop the teaspoons into the oil, try to shape them right away into a circle if they don't look like a circle right away. Just lightly tap on the top of the batter to make it rounder.
• Be sure not to drop too much batter, that will result in a very thick corn cake and the idea is to keep them relatively thin. I would say not much more than 1/4 of an inch.
• Feel free to be creative and use other ingredients for the topping. I think they're perfect the way they are, but not everyone likes ricotta. Maybe try neufchatel with a fruit topping like strawberry or raspberry jam.
• The instructions recommend serving them warm, but they are delicious cold as well.
• You do not want to add the ricotta as soon as you take them out of the oil as it may slide off the blini.

I apologize I don't have a photo to show you of the ones I made, but feel free to check out the recipe on the Food Network website for Cornmeal Blini Bites which is accompanied by a great photo.

I hope you enjoy these little bites. They are perfect for an appetizer or mini dessert because they're so sweet.