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Serves 6 to 8

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

¼ cup all-purpose flour

1 large egg

1 cup mashed potatoes

Canola oil, for deep-frying

½ pound lump crab meat

Panko bread crumbs, for breading

Kosher salt

In a small saucepan, combine the butter with ¼ cup water over high heat. When the water comes to a simmer and the butter is melted, add the flour. Reduce the heat to medium and stir until the resulting paste pulls away from the sides of the pan, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from the heat. Allow to cool for 5 minutes. Add the egg to the pan and stir vigorously until the egg is incorporated into the flour mixture. Stir in the mashed potatoes and let cool.

Pour enough oil into a medium pot so that the oil comes 3 inches up the sides. Heat the oil to 350°F.

While the oil heats, gently fold the crab into the potato mixture; the lumpier the batter, the better. Using two soup spoons, shape the mixture into quenelles, or 2-inch footballs. (You should end up with about 35.) Roll in the panko. Deep-fry, working in batches and turning once, until crisp, brown, and heated through, 2 to 3 minutes. Drain on paper towels and season with salt.

LOLA FRIES WITH ROSEMARY

Rosemary on potatoes is so good, and hot crispy fries with rosemary and some sea salt are the best. I think of sea salt the way I do extra virgin-olive oil, as something to finish with. I use Maldon, which has a nice flaky texture.

There’s no better way to ensure crispy fries than to fry them twice: first at 275°F and then later at 350°F. They crisp up even better on their final cook if they’ve been thoroughly chilled in the refrigerator. This means you can do the first fry well in advance of serving and pop them in the fridge. When you’re ready, the fries take about two minutes to finish.

Serves 4

2 pounds russet potatoes

Canola oil, for deep-frying

1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh rosemary

1 teaspoon coarse sea salt

Peel the potatoes and cut them into long fries about ¼ inch thick. As you cut them, put them in a bowl of cold water to cover.

Pour enough oil into a medium pot so that the oil comes 3 inches up the sides. Heat the oil to 275°F.

Drain the fries and pat dry. Working in batches if necessary, cook them in the oil for about 5 minutes; they should be soft and pale. Remove them from the oil using a slotted spoon and rinse under cold water to remove excess oil and starch for a crisper fry later. Reserve the pot of oil.

Cover a rimmed baking sheet with paper towels and lay the fries on top. Chill completely in the refrigerator. The potatoes can be prepared this way up to a day in advance of cooking them.

Heat the oil to 350°F.

Add the fries, in batches, if necessary, to the oil and cook, stirring gently, until the fries are golden brown, about 5 minutes. Remove them from the oil to a large paper-towel-lined bowl and season them with the rosemary and salt, shaking the bowl to distribute the seasonings evenly.

Economy and Creativity

One of the great regrets of my early career was that I never traveled through Europe working in great kitchens in the countries my family comes from, where I might have learned even more deeply the food of my heritage. Of course, I love to travel in those countries and have eaten and explored well. But I didn’t work there as a professional. And I’ve never worked for one of the big boys—one of those iconic chefs who have world-famous restaurants—in this country, either. You always wonder how life would be different.

For better or worse, everything I seem to have needed as a chef has been right here in Cleveland. Including my wife, Lizzie; she was the manager of Players when I got my first job out of culinary school in 1990. Following the Giovanni’s debacle, and the horrible months “consulting,” I landed an executive chef job at a tiny restaurant, the Caxton Café, owned by an architect and his wife who wanted to bring it beyond the small coffee-and-lunch, dinner-on-the-weekends