Michael Symon Reveals LeBron James' Favorite Foods - Exclusive

You remember that time that celebrity chef Michael Symon offered LeBron James "Iron Chef"-style meals to stay with the Cleveland Cavaliers, right? Symon actually had a long-standing relationship with LeBron when he did it, although he won't go as far as to claim that it's what could make the basketball legend consider a return to Cleveland. 

"We've done a lot of charity work and stuff like that with LeBron. Over the years, we've worked really tightly with his foundation," the chef told Mashed in an exclusive interview. "Our restaurants and our restaurant groups have done many dinners for him, both for his charities and at his house ... [although] I don't think that's what made him stay or come back."

Some context for the uninformed: Symon is a Cleveland Cavaliers superfan. The Cavs even gave him a championship ring once — in no large part because the chef has restaurants in the arena. And while King James may not be eyeing a move back to the Midwest anytime soon, Symon doesn't hold it against him.

"I have the utmost respect for LeBron and what he does in the community. He's in Los Angeles now, but what he does for the Akron and the Cleveland community with the school and working so hard to get kids that probably didn't have that opportunity to get a great education — he's a special human," Symon explained. "That we're able to be part of that in some sense has been great for us, and cooking for his charity and for his family has been something that we've really enjoyed doing over the years."

Some of LeBron James' favorite dishes are foods that Michael Symon doesn't specialize in. "One of his favorite foods, which I don't make, is he loves sushi and he loves sashimi," the Food Network star dished to Mashed. But when the basketball star did eat at Symon's restaurants, he'd order beef.

"He's been around Cleveland forever. Even when he was in high school, he was always being courted," Symon remembered. "He used to get steaks quite a bit. He used to get them cooked a little bit more than he does now ... He always loved beef." Pork, however, seems to have been on his list of least favorites, according to the chef.

As for when Symon used to pop over to LeBron's digs to make meals? "We used to do a truffle mac and cheese that they always enjoyed at the house quite a bit," the chef told us.

Chef Michael Symon didn't give us his truffle mac and cheese recipe, but he did develop a new recipe for his partnership with Contadina! Check it out by visiting his Instagram.