Health and Wellness Body Diet and Nutrition NYCWFF's Meatopia Host Michael Symon Shares His Favorite Kitchen Gadgets By Sydney Mondry Sydney Mondry Sydney Mondry is a former staff writer for InStyle, where she covered diet and nutrition. InStyle's editorial guidelines Updated on October 22, 2015 @ 11:00AM Pin Share Tweet Email Photo: Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images Cleveland native Michael Symon (the super chef credited with saving his hometown’s restaurant scene, establishing popular joints like Lola Bistro and B Spot Burgers) recently hosted New York City Wine and Food Festival’s Meatopia event, a platform for dozens of world-famous chefs who work wonders with, well, meat. Dishes ranged from classic tender brisket cuts and massive caveman-like beef ribs to more daring executions, such as scoops of Chorizo Caramel Swirl ice cream from Brooklyn's OddFellows Ice Cream Co. The beef-centric event was somewhat of a lay-up for Symon, who did, after all, write Michael Symon’s Carnivore: 120 Recipes for Meat Lovers back in 2012 ($23; amazon.com). In between bites of slow-smoked pork belly and porchetta fried rice, we asked Symon a few of our burning culinary questions. Last meal on earth: What would it be?My mother’s lasagna. PHOTOS: Our Favorite Fall Recipes Favorite kitchen gadget?I’m a simple person: a great chef’s knife, a bench scraper, and a microplane are really all you need. Favorite ingredient?I think it’s impossible to pick a favorite ingredient. It depends on the season. For fall, butternut squash or pumpkin are hard to beat. This Coffee-Infused Old Fashioned Is the Ultimate Pick-Me-Up What will you be sipping this fall?Probably an Old Fashioned, with great bourbon.