Michael Symon

Sunday Real Estate Round-Up, 11/07/10

Filed under: Estates, Celebrity Shopping

From the Wall Street Journal:
--Hedge-fund pioneer Paul Tudor Jones is asking $30 million for his 6,250-acre hunting retreat on Maryland's eastern shore. It is our estate of the day on Monday.
--A 44-acre Aspen, Colorado estate sold for $31.5 million, for what brokers say is a record price for the area this year. The seller of the property was Bob Zangrillo, founder of private-equity firm Z Capital.
--After nearly four years on the market at $33 million, a roughly 6,500-acre Carmel Valley, California ranch, shown above, has seen its asking price cut 35 percent to $21.5 million. The listing is here.

From the NY Times:
--Renee Zellweger has listed a pair of apartments on New York's Upper East side. 82nd Street, The apartments take up the entire second floor of a co-op on 82nd Street at Madison Avenue. She paid $8.2 million for all three units. One, a three-bedroom unit is $6.975 million. The listing is here.

From Newsday:
--A three-acre estate in Sagaponack that includes land once owned by businessman Ronald Lauder as well as a planned 11,600-square-foot, 10-room traditional home designed by architect Francis Fleetwood has has a price cut to $14.995 million down from $17.75 million. The listing is here.
--An Old Westbury estate that once belonged to the family of the late commercial shipping magnate Michael P. Grace had had a price cut. The five-bedroom Colonial was listed at $4.498 million but is now listed at $3.968 million. The listing is here.

Gallery: Wheatley Road

From the LA Times:
--"CSI: Miami" star Rex Linn has bought a Sherman Oaks home for $1.415 million.
--Iron Chef Michael Symon has picked up a two-story loft in the Dogtown Station mixed-use development in Venice. The two-bedroom, two-bathroom unit was listed at $1.1 million.
--Judd Apatow and his wife, Leslie Mann, have sold their Pacific Palisades home for $5.26 million.

From Housing Watch:
--Actress Jessica Alba is trying to lease out her 3,035-square-foot Beverly Hills home for $8,950 a month. The listing is here.

Gallery: Rent Jessica Alba's Beverly Hills Home

Tags: Amanda Seyfried, celebrity real estate, chris noth, doutzen kroes, frank sinatra, gerard butler, jessica alba, judd apatow, leslie mann, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, michael symon, renee zellweger, rex linn, tom thibodeau

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Iron Chef Michael Symon Closes One Of His Restaurants

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining

If you've watched any Food Network shows lately you've probably seen Iron Chef star Michael Symon. One place you won't see him is his Bar Symon in Avon Lake, Ohio. The Midwestern chef will be closing the restaurant as of October 30. Local news reports quote Symon as saying that the concept didn't work in this location. He has four other restaurants, Lola Bistro and Lolita in Cleveland, the B-Spot Burgers in Woodmere and Roast in at the Westin Book Cadillac Hotel in Detroit. Some of Symon's signature dishes are also on the menu at the Quicken Loans Arena where the Cleveland Cavaliers play.

He plans to open another B-Spot Burgers in Strongsville in January and hopes to be able to move some of his Bar Symon employees to this location. This is the first time that Symon has had to close a restaurant. Symon opened his first restaurant, Lola, in 1997 and has been credited with reviving Cleveland's restaurant scene. Last year he published a cookbook Michael Symon's Live to Cook: Recipes and Techniques to Rock Your Kitchen.

Tags: food network, iron chef america, michael symon, restaurant closings, restaurant closures

More New York Temptations Promised For LeBron James

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining, Sports

Last week I wrote about a couple of chefs (Michael Symon from Cleveland and Jean-Georges Vongerichten from New York City) trying to influence LeBron James with free meals. Since then the deals have only gotten sweeter, at least on the New York side. Fans who want the basketball phenom, shown at right accepting the Spike TV Guy's Choice Award for "Unstoppable Jock," to come to New York and play for the Knicks just keep ladling out the promises. The NY Daily News rounds up a few more which include enough food offers to make sure that James never pays for a meal again. Bo Dietl offered a regular seat at Rao's, the chief cook of Smoke in Da Eye offered LeBron unlimited barbecue and Bob Bertrand of The Original SoupMan pledged free soup for life. That's not all, Bliss Spa has offered him treatments and the Palm Tribeca seeks to tempt him with hickory-smoked ribeye steak with jumbo Nova Scotia lobster for two.

Samantha Choi of the Classic Car Club Manhattan offered him an annual membership worth $10,000 and all sorts of New Yorkers filled up a trailer full of gifts outside Madison Square Garden so that they can be delivered to LeBron James in Cleveland. Hotelier Andre Balasz has offered LeBron a loft suite at the Mercer Hotel in SoHo and Alexandre Petrossian will send over a snack of Royal Ossetra caviar sandwiches. Sean Combs posted his appeal on Twitter promising LeBron James free Sean John clothing and Ciroc vodka for life. On the Cmon LeBron website, Iron Chef Mario Batali appears in video (after the jump) in a Cmon LeBron T-shirt upping Michael Symon's promise of an Iron Chef meal a month to an Iron Chef meal every two weeks in New York City.

What's next, will Los Angeles weigh in? Some rumors have David Geffen buying a share in the Clippers and bringing LeBron James to Los Angeles to enliven the much-maligned franchise. Could Chicago be far behind with promises of a lifetime of free deep dish. For LeBron, whose is facing a July 1 deadline, the culinary possibilities seem nearly endless.

Tags: bliss spa, ciroc, expire-images:2010-7-11, lebron james, mario batali, mercer hotel, michael symon, nbc, New York Knicks, Petrossian, sean john

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Chefs Offer Amazing Meals To Tempt LeBron James

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining, Sports

They say the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. Certainly some culinary-minded sports fans are hoping that is the case. While money and the possibility of an NBA title are probably paramount in LeBron James' mind as he considers where to play next, chefs are adding some incentives to sweeten the deal. Cleveland restaurateur and Food Network Iron Chef Michael Symon has said he will go to James' house once a month and cook a meal for his family and friends if James will stay in Cleveland with the Cavaliers. Sounds like a good offer but New York also wants him and among the luminaries tempting LeBron with incentives is chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten who promised free dinners as long as he wants if he moves to the Knicks. In NY Magazine he said "I'll feed him whatever he likes-double chickens." Double chickens? Sounds like LeBron James has some serious thinking to do.

Tags: Cleveland Cavaliers, Jean-Georges Vongerichten, lebron james, Michael Symon, New York Knicks

Celebrity Chefs To Convene In Aspen For The Food & Wine Classic

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining, Events

If David Kiley's comprehensive look at pig dinners got your mouth watering, you need to book tickets for the 28th annual FOOD & WINE Classic in Aspen on June 18-20, 2010. The event will feature demonstrations and seminars with chefs such as Jacques Pepin, David Chang, Giada DeLaurentiis, Michael Symon, and Thomas Keller. Top Chef judges Tom Colicchio and Gail Simmons will cook delicious meals, as well as hosting a Classic Quickfire with Top Chef season 6 winner Michael Voltaggio competing against Top Chef Masters season 1 winner Rick Bayless.

New to the festival are chefs Tim Love and Art Smith and wine expert Paul Greico. The American Express Trade program will host trade-only power lunches with David Chang, Morimoto, among other greats. And for pig lovers there is The Grand Cochon event, featuring ten chefs who will create their best pork dishes at the Hotel Jerome. Tickets for the FOOD & WINE Classic in Aspen are $1,185. FOOD & WINE will donate 2% of the proceeds from every Classic ticket to Grow for Good ,FOOD & WINE's national initiative dedicated to supporting local farms and encouraging sustainable agriculture.

To do even more for Grow for Good you can opt for a Grow for Good pass at $3,100 per pass. Along with all the regular pass benefits, each Grow for Good Pass will include a $1,000 donation to the Grow for Good Campaign out of each pass price, an invitation to the Classic Welcome Reception held Thursday, June 17th, a ticket to FOOD & WINE's Best New Chefs dinner held Saturday, June 19th, a one-time pass to the Classic Green Room, the VIP Gifting Suite, having your name listed on the Green donors page in Tasting Notes, the Classic event program and VIP access to seminars and Grand Tastings.

Tags: david chang, food and wine, GiadaDeLaurentiis, jacques pepin, mario batali, michael symon, rick bayless, thomas keller, Tom Colicchio