Fans of the Food Network may recognize Michael Symon as the winner of the Next Iron Chef competition, but you may not know that he’s also one of the hottest chefs in the world.

In 1998, Food and Wine magazine named him as one of the 10 best chefs in America. He’s the head chef and owner of Lola and Lolita in Cleveland and of New York’s Parea. In a time of Asian fusion and California cooking, he has elevated Midwestern cooking to a whole new level. 

He explains to Growing Bolder how chefs has risen to super-star status and how cooking, once the domain of housewives, is now a contact sport.