Farmer Lee Jones has a lot to say. And I can certainly appreciate anyone who has the gift of gab. I asked him a handful of questions and I got a whole lot in return. It’s all good stuff and therefore don’t want to cut anything, so I’m going to share this latest Q&A as a three-part series. I hope you’ll take the time to read. Not only is Farmer Lee a great individual, but he (and his staff) are doing some pretty wonderful things that I am always happy to help spread the word (like Veggie U).

When did you start farming this way and why? It was about 1983 when we lost the farm to excessive interest rates and a hail storm, that we started farming sustainably, and it’s been a continuous evolution ever since. Losing the farm was very devastating.  Nineteen at the time, I stood and watched 25 years of my parents work sold at a sheriff’s auction.

They had 100 percent commitment and complete devotion to farming for 25 years.  They even had some successful years, but they got wrapped up in 21 percent interest rates and a hail storm, and ultimately they could not compete with the massive 5, 10, 20-thousand-acre commercial operations with cheaper labor on the West Coast or in Mexico.  So ultimately, it broke their back.  It also allowed us to re-evaluate what we were doing and where we were going.

Before 1983 we were farming commercially, about 1,200 acres, and we were doing it chemically the way the universities taught.  They gave you a book that showed pictures of let’s say, for example, a healthy cabbage and a diseased cabbage.  If it had this disease, here is the chemical to use to get rid of it.

It is much like our Western culture of medicine today.  When you have a strep throat, you go to the doctor to get your penicillin or amoxicillin; we’re constantly treating the symptom. In the Eastern culture of medicine, the methodology behind it is to get your body in a perfect balance, so you can defend against strep throat or another disease.  That’s really similar to how we try to farm today.

In commercial farming, the emphasis was on the cost of the product rather than the quality of the product.  It became about those growers that could produce food cheaply rather than the best flavor or the integrity of the product.  So, one by one, individually owned grocery stores and small family farms were pushed out of business.

At one point we had over 330, small family vegetable operations in Erie County alone, and all the way up through Avon and Avon Lake was peppered with small growers.  In fact you can still see some of the skeletons of old greenhouses.  Family grocery stores and family farms were pushed out of business because the economy of scale kicked in and large mass farms and mega grocery stores became the standard.  It all became about convenience rather than the quality.

Our area has a micro climate because of Lake Erie. Lake Erie is the shallowest of all the Great Lakes and consequently the warmest.  European settlers recognized this area as a tremendous growing region.  We had the first winery in the United States was right here in our county, so there used to be a ton of family owned grocery stores and small individual, I don’t know if they would have called themselves artisanal farms, but small family farms, and there was a connection between the user and the producer.  As roads and refrigeration got better in the 1950s, chain grocery stores came into play and they put the pressure on small individually owned grocery stores.  It all became about how they could produce food the cheapest, and those were the growers that survived.

So we lost the farm and the farmer’s markets were a place for us to start over because it was instant cash.  There wasn’t even the luxury at first to sell to restaurants because they would all want credit, so selling at farmer’s markets were really one of the few choices we had.  But farmer’s markets in the early ‘80s were really at an all time low.

Our grandparents (or maybe in your case, Michelle, great-grandparents) spent a very huge percentage of their time in the kitchen preparing food.  My mother’s generation said, look we are not going to spend all this time in the kitchen, and it became about convenience with the advent of instant mixes and TV dinners and microwaves.  Now we have the history in place to see 50 years later that cheap food is not the answer.

Really it’s about balancing the soil, selecting the right seeds and properly caring for a plant that supports it against diseases and insects rather than trying to treat them after the fact, and I think this is really critical to sustainability and the future.  We believe there is a direct correlation between the health of our nation, or the lack thereof, with commercial farming practices over the past 50, the way we eat, what we eat and the way what we eat is grown.

It is really wonderful to see your generation reconnect, reclaim control and demand to know where product comes from. It’s just really great to see the producers being embraced and supported.

Who was the first chef you worked with? The very first chef we worked with was Iris Bailin, but I don’t think she is still in the industry.  She was an executive chef for a brokerage firm back in the 80s and she was one of my first customers at the Coit Road Market off of E. 152^nd on the east side of Cleveland.  Drove that route many, many mornings.

I’d leave the farm at 2:30 in the morning to be there by 4:00, if we didn’t have a truck break down.  My dad was at the West Side Market, my brother was at Orange and Woodland, my mother was at Jamie’s Flea Market in Amherst, and my grandmother and aunt were selling out of the back of a Ford Fairmont at the Sandusky Farmer’s Market.

Iris Bailin had trained in Europe and she came back home looking for the quality of ingredients that she had seen there but couldn’t find them.  At that time, nearly all of the family farms had been pushed out of business.  What she was looking for really didn’t exist here.  We were flat broke and desperate for a way to survive in agriculture.  The only trucks we had were trucks that didn’t get a bid when I stood and watched every single thing my folks owned sold at a sheriff’s sale.  These trucks were in rough shape; a lot of them had over a million miles on them before we started using them for farmer’s markets.

Iris Bailin was very persistent in looking for any farmer who would listen to her, because she was looking for specific varieties harvested at particular sizes and grown without chemicals.  She was looking for products grown in a healthy way rather than a commercial way.

We were used to the philosophy of Earl Butts, the secretary of agriculture who said rip out every hedge row – get big or get out.  Then here was this lady from France looking for zucchini blossoms and lettuces that were three inches tall.  It was a hard concept for us to grasp when we were used to selling by the palette.

However, what she was looking for really resonated with my dad because it had existed here at one time: quality ingredients grown for the varietal selections in a healthy way where the crops and land were rotated and nutrients were rebuilt naturally rather than chemically.  It really has only been the last 50, 60 years that we decided we could replace a natural input with chemical or synthetic one. It faked the plants out, but with health care costs continuing to increase at an alarming rate, we now see it didn’t fake our bodies out.

My dad asked how many growers Iris had asked to grow in the way she was recommending, and about 15 to 20 growers had refused. That was really the clincher for my dad.  That none of the others were willing to do it was the signal that we needed to go that direction.

Iris went on to be the food editor at the Cleveland Plain Dealer. She introduced us to Parker Bosley, and Denise and Bill Fugo at Sammy’s in the Flats, chefs who were ahead of their time in Cleveland and I think had European influences as well.  Parker Bosley was one of the first chefs on the farm and early on we met Ken Eddy who was at the French Connection at the time.  Paul Minnillo and his brother at the Baricelli Inn were again ahead of their time and sought out quality ingredients.  Mark and Julie Sherry had started Players in Cleveland which was a really hot place.  Of course, Gary Lucarelli runs it now I believe.  Places like Raintree by Fritz Campbell on the East Side; Bob Buehner at, gosh, I can’t remember the name of the place he was at. Then there’s John D’Amico and Matt Mars at Chez Francois, which is right in our backyard.

They were a part of that early group; but ultimately the Cleveland chefs at the time were not fully prepared to embrace what we were doing, and we could not survive on what we could generate from the Cleveland chefs at that time. We sought out like-minded chefs all over the country.  It is satisfying now to see that it is fully embraced in Cleveland and chefs here do fully support a return to pre-commercial agricultural philosophies.  When we opened the Culinary Vegetable Institute we flew Iris Bailin in and recognized her for her contributions to our direction and success.

How did the CVI come to be and what is its mission? The Culinary Vegetable Institute (CVI) was my dad’s vision.  For years we had had chefs come in from around the country: Jean-Luis Palladin from the Watergate Hotel was one of the first French chefs to come into the United States and he, like Iris, was looking for quality, custom ingredients that they had become accustomed to in France but couldn’t find here.  Basically his message to growers was the food was shit and if we wanted to grow for him we had to get it figured out.

He was very instrumental, much like Iris, in guiding the vision.  And once he figured out we were willing to pay attention and do it the right way, he got on the phone and called other chefs and said, “There is a farmer who is willing to listen.”  He introduced us to Daniel Boulud, Alain Ducasse, Thomas Keller, Charlie Trotter, Jean-Georges Vongerichten, Norman VanAken, Ritz Carlton chefs.  They were also instrumental in developing the CVI.

The Culinary Vegetable Institute was conceived as a place for the most forward thinking chefs in the world to be able to come and do R&D and R&R, to be able to work with vegetables they hadn’t been able to work with before.  We have anywhere from 250 to 300 types of vegetables that we found or a chef has found in their home country or in Europe and brought over.  We will experiment with it and chefs can take it into the test kitchen and play with it to decide if it is something worthy of going into full production.

Chefs drive and dictate our business.  The only reason we exist is because there has been that group of chefs that supported us and allowed us to be their gardener.  We really look at ourselves as vessel for their vision.  They guide, direct and edict our business.  We are here to take care of the chefs.

The CVI’s sole purpose, initially, was for that.  We’ve expanded that into a place for large corporations to do research and development.  We do pharmaceutical dinners, rehearsal dinners, wedding receptions, corporate team building.  It’s a great place for a company that wants privacy to be able to do experimentation and team building, or it can be used if an individual food enthusiast wants to have a private party.  We will bring in a chef to cater to their specific needs and have a party around the specific foods they like.  Obviously we’re embracing Earth to Table, seasonal sensitivity and that whole concept.

To be continued…

1. What five things should be in everyone’s pantry? Kosher salt, rice wine vinegar, white pepper, coriander (either fresh or dried), red pepper flakes. I generally prefer everything to be a little spicy.

2. What is your favorite spice to work with? Coriander because of its versatility.

3. First job? McDonald’s

4. Why did you become a chef? Became I love food and I hate paperwork.

5.  What’s it like working for Zack Bruell? How much liberty do you have with the menu? Zack is great to work for. He trusts me to execute his concept and expand upon it. We see eye to eye in terms of flavor profiles, so it is a very good relationship.

6. Favorite restaurant in Cleveland and which one do you miss? My favorite restaurant in Cleveland would have to be Bar Cento. The combination of the perfect French fry and great pizza is hard to beat. They also have amazing salads and I cannot wait until it is ramp pizza time.

7. Where did you grow up? Favorite meal from your childhood? Akron. Swenson’s hamburgers, creamed chicken.

8. You’re having a dinner party, top five songs on your playlist? I have no top five because I’m not really into set playlists. I prefer something more like Pandora because you never know what will come on. It would be some combination of Wilco, Erykah Badu, My Morning Jacket, Hall and Oates, and Calexico.

9. What book are you currently reading? What show do you never miss? Since my girlfriend, Colleen, is getting ready to have our first child any day, there has been a lot of baby books. Other than that, I read a lot of cookbooks, currently it’s Momofuku and Real Cajun by Donald Link. Right now we are watching Rescue Me and Nip/Tuck on Netflix.

10. If you could be any other person for a day, who would it be? Somebody with a boat, someplace warm and doesn’t have to work.

11. If you had 2 minutes with LeBron, what would you tell him? Remember that you are just a basketball player – a great basketball player, but just a basketball player nonetheless.

12 What’s your favorite thing about Cleveland and what drives you nuts? I love the selection of ethnic restaurants and markets. What drives me nuts is the lack of quality fried chicken and barbeque.

13. What is one dish at L’Albatros everyone needs to try? Escargot for an appetizer and the 1/2 roasted chicken for an entree. Both are classic brasserie dishes.   We use the same snails that they do at Charlie Trotters, Daniel, and Le Bernardin, so you could say that they are good quality.  For the chicken, we use a red wine and tarragon brine that makes it incredibly moist with great crispy skin.

14. Favorite cooking trick we could use at home? Making different pickled vegetables is a great trick for home cooks because they are easy and affordable to make, and they add an exciting layer of flavor to dishes.

Each blogger only got a few minutes. The goal was to promote his two new shows: The Next Iron Chef and Food Feuds. But of course, I wanted to talk about Cleveland. And a little bet we made at a Christmas, er Festivus, party last year. Truthfully, I don’t expect or want him to pay up. Knowing I won a bet and know just a little bit more about his beloved Guns N’ Roses than he does, is tastier than any dish he could whip up. Ok, maybe not, but you get where I’m going with this.

Food Feuds, which decides  once and for all which dish defines a city, premiers October 14. Iron Chef  Symon sought out the  most intense, long-standing culinary rivalries across the country – including right here in our backyard. The Next Iron Chef, where Symon will be a first-time judge (watch his thoughts on this experience here), premieres on October 3. And you can also watch him on The Cooking Channel during Cook like an Iron Chef. On a side note, we ordered this channel just for this show. I think it’s my favorite program of his to date and I really like the set up. I’ve also found several new shows on the channel that I regularly set the DVR to so it’s worth ordering it if you don’t already have.

I almost didn’t do this interview. My first thought was not to promote those that leave Cleveland. I generally like to call out those that choose to keep their talents here and all the good happening within our city. Then I realized I was being silly. There are great people from Cleveland doing great things all over the country. Sure, ideally we’d like to retain these people and have them be a permanent part of our make-up and help perpetuate our city. But no city can claim zero turnover. Instead, we should look at it like there are true Cleveland ambassadors spread throughout. And with any luck, those people will return home – which they seem to do more and more these days. As is the case with chefs Ryan Harkins and Matt Chernus, the duo behind Grill ‘Em All. While they are still in LA, it sounds like we are part of their future plans. Until then, you can watch as they take part in The Great Food Truck Race on The Food Network.

1. What does Heavy Metal have to do with food?

Matt: We, as humans and fire breathing dragon slayers, use food to sustain our life forces. It keeps us focused, healthy and of stable mind. Heavy Metal does these same things. It defines who we are as it powers our inner dragon – slaying guts and stuff.

Ryan: It’s actually quite strange how heavy metal and food go together. I’d like to thank and honor Ronny James Dio for that. Not sure why, I just would like to take any chance I get to honor that man.

2. If you had to listen to one song over and over, every day for the rest of your life, what would it be?

Matt: That is a tough question as I feel equally strong about ‘Angel of Death’ by Slayer and ‘I Wish I Was a Little Bit Taller’ by Skee-Low.

4. Secret to cooking a good burger?

Ryan: Damn dude, you stole it. ‘Angel of Death’ is such a brutal song! Not out of line saying it’s by far the best thrash song ever written. The album though would have to be ‘36 chambers’ by wu-tang!

3. Favorite burger topping(s)?

Matt: Of all the insane Grill ‘Em concoctions, I would have to vote for seared fennel sausage gravy.

Ryan: I gotta say the “Paul Baloff” — dijon, pickles, swiss, 7oz burg, 1/3 lb pastrami and a fried egg. That burger rips!

Matt: Ryan says love, I say hate. Therefore we have what kind of relationship?
Ryan: Skills son! Haha!

5. If you could cook for any band, who would it be and what would you make?

Matt: Let’s, as the world, cook for U2…and poison them.

Ryan: Appetite for Destruction era Guns and Roses. Loads of tacos and pizza. They’d like that…oh Slash.

6. Where did you grow up in Cleveland?

Matt: Rocky River, son. Represent Center Ridge! I’m a full on East Side hater. I’ve, as a smart adult, lived in Lakewood, Cleveland and Tremont. As, a dumb adult, I’ve spent way too much money drinking in all those neighborhoods!

Ryan: The mean, mean streets of Rocky River, beware those Center Ridge crips! I don’t know anything about the east side except the grog shop. I like that place though.

7. What do you think of the culinary scene in Cleveland now? Will Grill ‘Em All make its way here?

Matt: The Cleveland food scene is far better than I ever remember it being when I lived there. That’s in large part due to our good buddy, Iron Chef Michael Symon. There’s so much good food and drink in Clevo…of course we want to be a part of it! Cleveland is where I learned to eat!!!  Oh yeah, and expect us in Cleveland. Seriously.

Ryan: The Cleveland food scene continues to blow my mind on a daily basis. I follow it closely out here and it makes me so jealous. I swear to you, people out here don’t even know what a pierogi is!

Chef Symon brought our dearly missed city to the forefront of the food movement, and god bless him for that! Raddest dude out, for real!

There are so many great up and comers as well, you guys are so lucky. And on top of that, my absolute favorite place in the entire universe, the West Side Market – I’m drooling! Sokolowski’s, Lola, Lolita, Melt, Greenhouse, Leloli, Flying Fig, Hot Sauce Williams, Steve’s, Old Fashioned, oh boy, I could seriously turn this into the longest interview answer ever. Needless to say, we REALLY love Cleveland!

8. Why are gourmet food trucks so popular right now?

Ryan: Because it’s nerdy and awesome! Fact!
Ryan: It changed my appreciation for all the detail and attention it takes to film a TV show. Our business rules and continues to rule even harder! People of Cleveland, take a well-deserved vacation and come to LA, find us, and we will feed you so well. And if you don’t, Matt and I will see you over the holidays at one of our favorite restaurants feeding our faces and growing our bodies and we will say hello….and also tell you that you missed out!

Matt: Because people loved that movie XXX with all the cars and Vin Diesel. And people get hungry thinking of Vin Diesel.

9. How has participating in this experience on the Food Network changed you and/or your business?

Ryan: It changed my appreciation for all the detail and attention it takes to film a TV show. Our business rules and continues to rule even harder! People of Cleveland, take a well deserved vacation and come to LA, find us and we will feed you so well! And if you don’t, Matt and I will see you over the holidays at one of our favorite restaurants feeding our faces and growing our bodies and we will say hello….and also tell you that you missed out!

__________________________

Speaking of food trucks, let’s not forget our favorite local food truck Dim and Den Sum. The Great Food Truck Race has launched a contest for America’s greatest food truck. Cleveland’s own Dim and Den Sum has been nominated in the top fifteen and needs our votes to win. The contest begins on Sunday, August 29th on the Food Network’s website. The winners will receive a cash prize (enough to bring another truck to Cleveland they declare) as well as a spot on the second season of The Great Food Truck Race.

Let’s be sure to rock the vote for these guys and send them to season 2. And if you haven’t tried their food yet, what are you waiting for – follow that truck!

1. How did you get into organic garlic farming? Our friend, Curt VanBlarcum, was growing garlic and would give us a few bulbs off and on. Then he taught me how to plant it and we put our first garlic in a little 8’X5’ area in 1998. Our farm got more sunlight then his land, so we tilled up some land, ordered several varieties of garlic off line and grew garlic together for a couple of years. We got up to around 2,000 plants. My wife Chris’s family is Italian and lives near by and every time they came to visit they would want a large bag of garlic to take home. So every year the size of the garlic field got larger just to meet the needs of the family and friends. Then four years ago Chris read that Hudson was going to start a farmers’ market. We applied and sold out of crop in four weeks. So we tilled up more land and planted more crop. We have been expanding every year. To date we have a little over a ½ acre in garlic. We plant organically because the produce is healthier to consume and it’s better for the earth (soil, water, and organisms in the soil.)

2. How much garlic do you grow each year? How many varieties and what’s your favorite one? Every year we expand a little to try to keep up with demand but maintain the quality of our garlic. This year we have 14,000 in the ground. We will take 12 varieties to market and have a couple others varieties we are still working to increase their numbers so in the future we will be able to take to market.

3. I understand you teach science – do you incorporate farming into your lesson plans? Do the students have any interest in knowing where there food comes from? Both Chris and I teach science. She teaches AP environmental science and ecology at Hudson High School and I teach biology and nature studies at Cleveland Heights High School. We both incorporate farming into our lesson plans. We both show the video Food Inc. and Diet for a New America to our students. Both videos do an excellent job of showing how our food choices affect the earth and the animals. I try to stress that what we eat effects both our external and internal environment (the earth and your body). Some of our students live on farms and understand where their food comes from. Others don’t know what goes on before it gets to the store. After teaching this unit some of the students want to come and visit our farm, others want to taste the garlic and a few of them want to help with the planting and harvesting so they can learn more.

4. Favorite use for garlic – other than cooking? In the winter when I feel a cold or sore throat coming on, I eat raw garlic and also make a garlic tea. I dice up a couple cloves of garlic and put them in a tea cup, sometimes add I bullion cube and pour hot water over it. Then I drink the fluid and eat the garlic. This seems to reduce the symptoms.

5. Favorite way to enjoy garlic? Garlic dip with ciabatta bread with a salad and a good beer or glass of wine.

6. What’s your favorite restaurant in Cleveland? The Greenhouse Tavern. It has great food, neat, friendly staff and an interesting space.

7. What chefs do you work with? John, Kevin and JJ Altomare –  they are the owners and chef of Hudson’s Restaurant on 80 N. Main St. Hudson, Ohio. They buy garlic scapes and make garlic scape pesto pasta. Also Jonathan Sawyer from The Greenhouse Tavern buys scapes and garlic.

8. Where can we buy your garlic? At the Hudson Farmers Market on Saturdays from 9 am-12:30 pm from June until the 2nd of October. Also at the Chagrin Falls Farmers’ Market on Sundays from 10 -1:00pm until the 22^nd of August. Also most Saturdays and Sundays after the market at our farm. Please call 330-283-6137 to make an appointment.

9. Best way to grow garlic at home? You should buy quality seed stock (bulbs to separate into cloves). Garlic is a winter crop. Should be planting in the fall, around the third week of October in good, fertile soil. Shoots will appear through the snow in the spring. Usually harvest in early July and hang to dry.

10. Favorite thing about Cleveland? The new restaurants, micro breweries and entertainment that keep popping up all around town.

11. If you were mayor for a day, what’s the first thing you’d change or what law would you establish? If I were mayor for a day I would have people spend a couple hours outside, so they would get more in touch with the environment that we so depend on as a population.  Thus we would become better stewards of the earth. If Chris was mayor for a day, she would establish a law to get rid of all the fast food places so the kids would be healthier.

12. Biggest challenge or misconception about organic farming? Biggest challenge about organic farming is the time and energy spent hand weeding since no herbicides are used and garlic doesn’t like competition (weeds).

13. If you could be any other person for a day, who would it be? If I could be any one for a day I would like to have been Lewis of Lewis and Clark, so I could have explored the virgin forests.

14. Last meal on Earth? Garlic dip with ciabatta and an IPA beer, my wife’s spaghetti and meatballs with a salad and red wine followed by a piece or two of my mom’s homemade pies (one peach) finished with a nice porter or stout.

15. Best way to store garlic? How long does it keep? Cool, dry place so air can circulate around it. Hard necks will store 6-8 months and soft necks will store up to 9 months.

1. What are the top 5 spices that should be in every home cook’s pantry? You can’t go wrong with the C’s: cumin, coriander, cinnamon, cayenne and any type of chile powder.

2. Favorite dish to make? I love the food we get to cook with my catering company, Please, and I also have a real passion for desserts—but I hate overly sweet desserts. At home, nothing beats some authentic tacos or a whole roasted chicken.

3. Favorite restaurant in Cleveland? It’s hard to just choose one, so I’ll choose many. I have a soft spot for Bar Cento—with the weird hours and travel schedule I keep, I can always count on getting a great meal there, even at one in the morning. Superior Pho is a weekly stop for pho and bahn mi. I like the highly underrated Le Petite Triangle for the steak-and-Boursin tartine and a Stoudt’s Double IPA, and also for their very convenient location at the end of my street. Then there’s Swenson’s for Galley Boys, and Lola never disappoints when I have the ability to splurge.

4. How did you become a chef? What did you want to be growing up? I don’t have a standard culinary background. I had to learn to cook out of necessity while working on my bachelor’s in graphic design—I have a pretty severe case of Crohn’sDisease. In college, I was put on a strict diet (no gluten, sugar, alcohol or dairy) in a last-ditch effort to find something that worked. The diet didn’t really help, but at the time gluten-free products weren’t as widely available as they are now. I had to get creativewhen I got bored with meat and vegetables, so I learned to cook from scratch to control the ingredients in my diet. Ever since then, cooking became my passion, and I gave up graphic design as a profession. My culinary education has just come from reading, studying and working in the field. I don’t think I’d call myself a chef quite yet.

At various parts of my life, I’ve wanted to be a professional baseball player, graphic designer, gallery owner and farmer in Kentucky.

5. Where did you grow up? Favorite meal from your childhood? I grew up about an hour south of Cleveland in a little town called Canal Fulton. Otherwise known as the home of about 10 pizza places at any given point. So let’s just say I loved pepperoni pizza from Don Brand’s in Canal Fulton… and mashed potatoes.

6. I can’t live without ________________________? Netflix, Howard Stern on Sirius and my glasses.

7. What TV show do you never miss? Lost (R.I.P.), True Blood

8. Favorite guilty pleasure? A cold can of Coke. I also have to have  regular interventions with myself regarding my Five Guys/Swenson burger habit.

9. Favorite thing about Cleveland? If you were mayor a day, first thing you’d change? I love that I live within walking and biking distance of the lake, downtown, and nature via the towpath. Also, the fact that I don’t need roommates to cover my rent is pretty nice. I’d love to see the city give low- or no-interest start-up loans to un-established creative entrepreneurs to redevelop the flats. I know it sounds overly idealistic, but Cleveland has a huge chance to attract creatives with all the vacant buildings in the city. What if the flats became a strip for young creative chefs, artists, performers? It was all the rage when I was young, and I’d love to see it flourish again. Cleveland could follow in the footsteps of cities like Portland and Austin by attracting creatives and giving them a place to start their dreams. In cities where they’ve done this, the local economy improves tremendously.

10. What restaurant in another city do you wish was here? Momofuku Ssam Bar, a Jeni’s Ice Cream Shop and any good no-frills dine-in pizza place. Seriously Cleveland, we have no good pizza!

11. If you could be any chef for a day, which one would it be? I’d love to havethe local knowledge and creative thinking of René Redzepi.

12. Last meal on Earth? Superior Pho bahn mi, pizza from Galluch’s in Akron, hanger steak and a peach milkshake.

13. Your approach to food could be summed up as? Sweet and savory.

14. Biggest challenge working in a restaurant? What’s one dish you’d like to see on the menu at Tartine that currently isn’t? Nolan is great about letting us pitch dishes for the menu, and in our monthly wine dinners we really get to play around with different ideas. But there’s a lot we’d both like to see on the menu that’s prohibited by our limited kitchen setup, which is our biggest challenge. With only an oven and a single-induction burner, it takes some interesting planning. If it were up to me, I’d like to skew the menu towards more French-Vietnamese influences during the spring and summer.

15. Care to share an easy recipe? This is one of the easiest, but yet most asked about dishes we’ve made.  It can pretty much be adapted to any flavors you want, here I’ll share the recipes for the two seasonal flavors, chamomile & thyme, as well as cucumber.

Chamomile & Thyme Butter

Combine all in a pot over low heat. Slowly bring up to a simmer. Once it reaches a simmer, turn off heat, cover, steep 20 minutes. Strain cream and salt to taste. Refrigerate until cold. (I also suggest refrigerating your food processor blade if its detachable.) Add cold blade and cream to food processor and run on high. Pay attention as the cream thickens and reaches a whip stage and then breaks; watch carefully as it happens quickly. It should thicken to a soft butter like consistency with some loose water.  At this point drain the liquid (reserve it) and process solids until smooth.  If it doesn’t smooth completely, add some reserved liquid. At this point you have a soft butter, and you can eat/spread it on whatever you like.

If you’d like to form it, I use square ice cube molds, but you can use any mold you like really and refrigerate until solid.

Cucumber Butter

Follow instructions above. Get creative! Flavor your cream with anything you’d like and enjoy homemade flavored butters.

On a related note, if you’re interested in attending, but more importantly, hosting, a Dinner with Strangers, we’re always looking for new venues to have them in. Kitchen isn’t necessary, just the ability to hold 25 people.  Email: please@pleasetoeatyou.com

16. Why did you decide to start your own company and what can you offer that others may not? I started Please to push myself creatively with food and to continue to teach myself to become a better cook. I also felt the food we wanted to do with Please was unique for the area, and that all of us coming from non-traditional backgrounds in terms of cooking gives us a unique and fresh perspective  to cooking. The difference between Please and other catering outfits is that we specialize in catering smaller, more intimate events for anywhere from 5 to 50 people. Multi-course dinner parties, hors d’ oeuvres, craft cocktails, catered picnics, beer pairings, and anything and everything else in between.

East siders, get ready to loosen your pants. The Cleveland Heights Melt is officially set to open May 21. Is it too early to call dibs on a table?

1. What’s your favorite thing about Cleveland and what drives you nuts? There are so many things about Cleveland that I love.  Putting my finger on just one “favorite” thing would be impossible.  One of my favorite aspects of spending my life in Cleveland is the small town feeling in a large metropolis. There are so many “big city” advantages and opportunities
in Cleveland but it still remains relatively small and homey. The culture, the diversity, the music scene and restaurant scene are all on par with any other major city. I love that I can’t really go anywhere in the city and not run into a few people that I know. It is definitely a tight knit group
of people that watch out for each other and defend when necessary.
2. If you could make a grilled cheese for anyone in the world, who would it be? This will probably sound sappy but I wish I could make a grilled cheese sandwich for my mother.  She lost her battle with breast cancer in 2000. She was a major factor and contributor in the formation of my personality and passion.  I owe her so much and I wish she could be here to share my joy and successes.  It would also be cool to make some sandwiches for the
original members of KISS.  They all must be in full make-up and costume while eating them.  Imagine the photo opportunity!
3. How many people have accepted the tattoo discount? As of today (4-9-2010), we have 101 people who have taken the plunge and joined the Melt tattoo family.
4. What sandwich did you try but it just failed? I have been fortunate so far that every new sandwich I have tried has worked and really been a success.  I am toying with a few ideas in my head that just might not be possible though.  I have wanted to offer a taco type sandwich for a while but all the crazy ways I’ve tried to approach it hasn’t worked yet.  I will make it happen someday!
5. Longest anyone has ever waited for a table? The weeks following our Diners, Drive-ins and Dives episode on The Food Network we were on 3-3.5 hour waits on Friday and Saturday nights.  That is definitely the longest people have waited.
6. Favorite restaurant in Cleveland and which one do you miss? I would have to say that Johnny Mango is still my favorite restaurant in Cleveland.  It was my favorite before I had the opportunity to run their kitchen for 5 years and it still remains my favorite.  There are so many
other greats but I still love eating at JM.  The restaurant that I miss the most is Lola.  I know what you are going to say – what are you talking about, Lola still exists… Sure the Lola on E 4th does exist and is darn good but I really miss the original Lola in Tremont.  Years ago myself and a group of kitchen guys that I worked with had a seasonal pilgrimage to Tremont. The menu would change with every season and we would love to see and try the new items.  I have since become a vegetarian so it probably would not be as much fun but I still miss the place.  It had a coolness that has yet to be matched in Cleveland.
7. Favorite guilty pleasure? Chocolate, Chocolate and Chocolate!
8. Conan or Leno (these questions first went out during the midst of the late night drama)? Between the two, I choose Conan but I would still take Letterman over them both!
9. Last song you downloaded? Believe it or not I don’t like downloading music.  I have actually never done it.  I still love going to the record store and leafing through the bins and finding some killer jems.  I like the cover art, the pictures and the liner notes.  I have friends that burn music for me though so it is probably the same thing.  Really into Thin Lizzy records lately and the last
record that I bought was a used copy of the first Baroness record from My Mind’s Eye Records in Lakewood.
10. What TV show do you never miss? I have a standing date with my awesome girlfriend every Thursday night to watch Project Runway on Lifetime.  She sucked me into it and now I am
totally hooked.  I think I am into it more than she is!
11. Where did you grow up and what’s your favorite meal from your childhood? I have lived in northeast Ohio my whole life spending the majority of my formative years in Parma. One of my favorite meals was my mother’s macaroni & cheese.  She made it from scratch and always baked it extra long so the top would get all toasted.  She also made these amazing homemade croutons that covered the entire top.  Damn, I am getting hungry!
12. Worst part about owning a restaurant? That is a tough question because I really love what I do.  But I would say the daily stresses that come along with ownership are the worst part. I love the challenges but sometimes when you have those days when EVERYTHING seems to go wrong it can be a bit overwhelming.
13. Last meal on earth? I am a sucker for really killer authentic Italian food.  The richer, saucier and cheesier the better.  My last meal would be restaurant hopping in Little Italy and literally eating myself to death.
14. What was your first job and what would you be doing if you weren’t in the restaurant business? My first job was delivering the PD as a kid in my neighborhood.  If I was not in the restaurant business I would probably be working with people somehow.  I originally started college with the intention of becoming a grade school teacher.  I think rock star would be a pretty nice profession to possibly get into…
15. Aside from opening a Cleveland Heights location, what’s next for Melt? I want to concentrate on the Cleveland Heights location for 6-12 months and hopefully ensure its success and longevity.  Hire and train the correct people to take it over and continue its (hopeful) success.  I would like to then start to work on Melt #3 and possibly #4 in the greater Cleveland area. If that can prove to be successful then I would like to grow regionally.

1. What are the top 5 spices every home chef should have? Kosher salt, course ground black pepper, red pepper flakes, saffron and bay leaves.
2. What is your favorite and least favorite thing to make? Most favorite is handmade pastas; least favorite is soup.
3. What is your favorite thing about Cleveland and what drives you nuts? Most favorite is the ethnic restaurant scene; least is the reputation of a meat and potato city.
4. If you could cook for one person, alive or passed, who would it be? Jimi Hendrix
5. Favorite restaurant in Cleveland? Chez Francois in Vermillion
6. What restaurant do you miss? The Top of the Town
7. What hidden gem(s) have Clevelanders yet to discover? Michaelangelo’s in Little Italy!
8. What’s your last meal on Earth? Tagliolini alla Bolognese
9. Most unusual food you have every tried? Horse
10. Most famous person you have ever cooked for? Madonna
11. If you weren’t a chef, what would you be doing? Fly fishing guide
12. Favorite TV show? Las Vegas
13. Favorite kitchen gadget? French knife
14. What is the best plate of food you have ever had? Veal Ossobuco
15. What’s your signature dish? Veal Cannelloni
16. Why should someone visit you for dinner? We offer the finest ingredients prepared fresh daily in traditional methods.
17. What’s the inspiration behind your restaurant? Bringing the authentic cuisine of Italy back to Cleveland and serving it in a beautiful and sophisticated atmosphere.

I know these interviews are some of the most popular content on the blog, and one of my favorite things to write/research too. And there are still so many wonderful chefs, farmers, purveyors and foodies in town to learn about.

The links for all current interviews have been fixed and are all neatly compiled right above this post underneath the masthead. For future interviews, I’m going to aim for two a month (look for Liz Symon, Farmer Lee Jones, Matt Fish and Mister Brisket soon). And if you have a suggestion, please share. I try to only include people I’m familiar with and places I’ve tried, so if it’s something I don’t know I’ll be sure to add to my list.