Charlie Trotter Quotes
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I don't ever want to lose that mind-set where you've got to be able to realize different ideas-slash-fantasies-slash-possibilities in your life.
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If you ever want to get anywhere in life, you're going to have to push it, and somebody's going to push you to get there. End of story.
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Life's too short. You may be on this planet for 80 years at best or who knows, but you can't just pedal around and do the same thing forever.
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I don't want to turn 50 and say, 'Gosh, I wish I'd lived in that part of the world for a time. I wish I'd read that book by Faulkner.' I want time to delve back into Thoreau and Kafka.
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I've always been a little crazy.
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If you know what you're doing, you can make a meal happen with any kitchen knife. But using a top-quality knife versus a low-quality one is the difference between driving a Jaguar and a VW Jetta across the country. They'll both get you there. But the Jaguar will give you a much smoother ride.
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You've got to give away what you love.
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If people give me a year or two of their best effort, then I am their friend for life.
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One must know combinations, one must have a true knowledge of food to be in the moment.
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I got on a Dostoyevsky kick right after college. I started with 'Crime and Punishment,' went on to 'The Possessed' and then 'The Brothers Karamazov' and 'The Idiot.'
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Cooking is exactly like making music.
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My fantasy is to have a restaurant where there are no written menus, but where you just ask people, 'What are you in the mood for? Fish? Meat? White wine?'
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Maybe it's good to be traumatized in your youth, to make you think differently and step outside the box. Anybody can be comfortable, but if you get your world rocked, shaken as it were, then maybe it causes you to really go to a whole other level in a different way.
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It's a lot harder to get people to 'ooh' and 'aah' over beets and carrots than it is to get them to 'ooh' and 'aah' over artichokes or asparagus, and I enjoy being able to take these humble, 'lowbrow' foodstuffs up a few notches and serve them with great exuberance.
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I don't understand people who spend their twenties hanging out in bars and going to football game. That stuff is so boring compared to really applying yourself to what you do.
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For over 20 years, I have been saying that Chicago is by far one of the greatest food cities in the world.
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Students need to learn how to think critically, how to argue opposing ideas. It is important for them to learn how to think. You can always cook.
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I've always liked root vegetables because most of them have a natural sweetness. They have a high fructose content, especially when you cook them and caramelize them in a saute pan. Or you can take a turnip and cook it slowly in the oven until it's browned, and it takes on a kind of sweetness. These vegetables are pretty easy to like.
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If you go around the kitchen and ask my employees what they want to be doing in three to five years, most of them, if they're being honest, will tell you that they don't want to be working for me. They want to have their own place. And I think that's great.
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What I was reading was already part of my psyche, but finally someone else was saying it's okay to walk alone.
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I was always inspired by restaurants like La Tulipe in Manhattan. You'd walk right by and say, 'Oh what a lovely house.' You didn't realize there was a restaurant behind the door.
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I would always be embarrassed to read out loud in class because I would transpose words and letters and things.
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I am actually a very gentle person.
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I love faltering. I love, in a sense, coming up short. Because you learn nothing from success. You learn so much from failing.