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@DanielJ: Walking from the subway to the restaurant. ^_^ Although, if it means anything, I walked for about 30 minutes to get to Sidecar from Cobble Hill. Burned like 2 calories, I'm sure.

I should weigh a lot more than I do right now. THANKS, METABOLISM!!!

His restaurant, Lolita, is a 3 minute walk from where I live. I recall taking my father to Lola (where Lolita stands) and Sergio one year when my father flew in to visit. He was impressed that I took him to two restaurants where the chefs were singled out in some national publication that he read on the plane to CLE as up and coming chefs.

I didn't realize this when I made our reservations a couple weeks prior to his visit, just that these were my boss's friend's places where we would dine...and Lola was just a short walk from my place.

I'll need to look in to procuring "Making of a Chef."

Not that I don't like Symon, but Psilakis is hotter!

On a more serious note, the Ruhlman books are great. Inspired by him, I've since taken a cooking class at the CIA. I always thought it was odd that Ruhlman was one of the judges on The Next Top Chef, given his close relationship with Symon. Oh well, ya gotta love the pork!

He's my favorite chef. Ever. For his food and for his attitude. I agree, to truly appreciate Symon, you've got to read Ruhlman's Making of a Chef. And I'll say it right here, loud and proud, I LOVE Miracle Whip, lolol!

I saw Michael Symon first on "No Reservations". I'm a native Ohioan, so Iron Chef's gain was our loss! I just hope he still has some time to cook in Cleveland, I haven't been to his restaurant yet.

ChefR0bert - thanks for that endorsement of that book. I will definitely read it. I thought the Psilakis comment cause I also previously thought they were the same person.

To truly respect Chef Symon, you should read Ruhlman's "The Making of a Chef" which is mentioned in this article. My favorite part of that book was the section about Michael, his gang, his passion, methods and ideals. He's unconventional, a hard worker deserving of the best, and an all-around cool guy.

I'm Middle-Eastern, and grew up loving tehina but until I got my own kitchen I didn't know there was a difference between the tehina on the shelf in the supermarket and the tehina served on my falafel at the place don the block. I don't think we make a distinction between the two in my culture. Now, tehina has become my #1 condiment. I usually just mix up a few tablespoons of the sesame paste with equal parts water and use it as a dressing, dip, or spread on sandwiches. My favorite is simply tehina and tomato on toasted sprouted heat bread...oh my, my mouth is watering. Gotta go make myself one.

This wasn't a meal; it was a money laundering operation.

2 chunks of parmesan: $28
Not having to tolerate the company of the poor: priceless

Why is everyone mad. He added about $50,000 to the US's economy. Remember that he is from Russia and deals in rubles. Now his rubles have become dollars. Go USA!

@DCLSweetspot: Well, by that logic, why do we do a percentage for different dishes as well? It takes the same effort to bring out a plate that costs $20 as a plate that costs $8. We still do a percentage in those cases. Perhaps we should just give tips of a set fee rather than a variable percentage.

@sheba0915: a little strange that they didn't drink any vodka though.