Saturday, May 22, 2010

Heart Attack in a Bowl




At the tail end of a two-day stage at The Greenhouse Tavern in Cleveland, OH I was asked to pick any item off the menu for my dinner. Obviously I chose the item that would cause the most arterial damage. Animal Style Fries baby!

Crispy bacon lardons, melted mozzarella curds, golden brown french fries, two fried eggs, and a healthy scoop of whole grain mustard. Oh ya, and what looked to be about a full cup of gravy. Perfect.

Greenhouse tavern is on East Fourth Street, a recently revitalized walking only street in downtown Cleveland, a welcome break from the usual industrial town traffic. Michael Symon's flagship Lola is literally next door to the restaurant, offering a unique contrast between Symon's food and the chef of Greenhouse, Jonathan Sawyer's. Sawyer was Symon's Chef de Cuisine at Parea in NYC and while I never got the chance to work with Sawyer during my time at Lolita, it was interesting to see the difference in styles between the Iron Chef and his protege.

Sawyer has been named one of Food and Wine's Top Ten Best New Chefs for 2010, an award Symon won as well. If there is anything that I have learned through my journey in the restaurant world it's that to be a great chef you have to work for great chefs. It's all about the pedigree.

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