Ruhlman's "The Soul of a Chef," a.k.a. "Michael Symon Rocks"

I discovered Michael Ruhlman's delicious culinary chronicles stacked next to a shit ton of Harvey Pekar comics at the Coventry Library. It was the first time I remember venturing out of the chick lit and sci-fi sections, which were my default stops, still timidly exploring my neighborhood's literary offerings.

I was going for a Pekar anthology when I knocked over Ruhlman's "The Reach of the Chef." (The Universe apparently wanted me to go beyond my microwaved knowledge of the cooking world.) Result: I have yet to cook anything more complicated than scrambled eggs (sorry Mom), but after spending less than a day devouring Ruhlman's descriptions, I was hooked. This heat-filled, insanely competitive world thrilled me to my very toes. FINALLY, my former newsie self exhaulted, a profession that makes broadcast journalists look SANE in comparison.

Ruhlman's journalistic style makes reading about food all the more enjoyable. "The Reach of the Chef" takes on how chefs have become the new rock stars, captivating the public with television-savvy cooking and a barrage of nouveau gourmet products. As my gateway foodie book, I couldn't put "Reach" down. If you haven't read Anthony Bourdain's delightful cooking travelogues or Gael Greene's scandalous memoir yet, start with Ruhlman. He feeds the mind.

So, needing my next foodie-lit fix, I grabbed "The Soul of a Chef," the volume preceding "Reach." (I seem to be tackling Ruhlman's culinary trilogy BACKWARDS - eventually I'll get to "The Making of a Chef," his first-person immersion into the gruelling life of a student at the Culinary Institute of America.) The book starts off running, straight into a certification trial that had some of the country's best cooks in tears over a test filled with rigorous classical cooking, mystery baskets and some of cuisine's most discerning judges. Yeah, that's definitely an immediate page-turner right there - especially the parts when a major airline's head chef has a major meltdown. Of course, the REAL draw for "Soul" in MY book is a certain soul patched chef from round these parts...

It's hard not to have a foodie crush* on Cleveland (Iron) chef Michael Symon, the bald dude with the distinctive giggle delighting Kitchen Stadium fans on the Food Network. (For those who have yet to visit our fair city by the lake, Chef Symon and his wife Liz are the dynamic duo behind Lola and Lolita, two restaurants with definite "must eat there!!!" status for anyone wanting to claim they've experienced the best of Cleveland cuisine.) Apparently, Ruhlman likes him a lot too - for both his down-to-earth charm and his sky high cooking talent, devoting one of his three essays on the life of the professional chef to Symon and his quirky Lola crew. I got totally geeked with the local flavors seeping through the pages, from pieroghi-making to mentions of familiar street corners. And I definitley chuckled over his account of a local television crew's live coverage of the restaurant, how the reporter made Symon send out a plate over and over...until he protested the food was getting cold.

For Symon, the food is paramount, but his personality locks it all in. From what I've seen of Ruhlman on television, he doesn't seem like the sort to gush like a schoolgirl over just anything. And even in this book, it's not a hand-clasping sort of admiration. What seeps through this well-written observation is a deep respect - going beyond a shared city or profession. It's a deep respect of a person. This dude has soul. The accounts of the chef's self-deprecating jokes and generosity toward his kitchen staff makes me want to save up a good sum to really enjoy his menu and the ambiance of his restaurant.

It might be all stuff we here in Cleveland already know - how his crew adore him, how his prices aren't scary, and yes, yes, yes - how the food is insanely awesome...and somewhat comforting in its integration of familiar flavors, Mediterranean and Midwest styles with fresh local ingredients. (If I had the culinary know-how, no doubt I could go on and on about the food...but it might be a litany of "yummy! yummy! yummy!" after a while.) "Soul," however, brings us inside the kitchens where his staff prep hundreds of ingredients, dodge gas burns, and pull through some really crazy nights serving Lola's bounty to a packed house. It's exciting not just because of the frenetic pace of Symon's work day, but also for the level of talent bubbling over behind those swinging doors. While Ruhlman's book moves on to the hallowed halls and habits of Thomas Keller, the Lola chapter is worth checking out for one big giggly reason why Clevelanders are rocking foodie circles throughout the nation.

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* And apparently, non-culinary appeal as well: "Yeah, he's got that Chris Daughtry thing going," typed fellow NBLB poster Mei during a "who's yummy on Food Network" discussion via Skype.