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To me, there are two types of celebrity: there's good celebrity - people that are attracted to the food and working and trying to create something great - and then there's bad celebrity - those who are working on being a celebrity.
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Waiting tables has never paid my bills, a fact which I prefer to hide from my colleagues with deep sighs about the price of just about everything.
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I work so hard that I forget to take care of myself.
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The process and organization leading up to cooking the egg can tell you a lot about the cook.
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As a child, I didn't see my dad that much because he was always working at the restaurant. He became pretty jaded after working at the restaurant for so long.
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If people think you are this amazing, own it.
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When I was in Japan, everyone wanted to work for Pierre Gagnaire, and they wouldn't miss a beat.
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New York gives us a wide colour palette to cook from. We have cuisines from around the world, and that lets us pick and choose.
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When I first started to cook, I would cook these elaborate meals, but I rarely cook at home now.
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Fine dining teaches you how to cook many different things, and it gives you the basic fundamentals, but these specialty restaurants, they're not teaching you the broad foundation you need to become a well-rounded cook.
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Life's too short to just breeze on by.
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The livelihood of the restaurant is dependent upon getting the word out.
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In New York, we're always confined with spaces. Our restaurants are difficult to navigate as cooks and to operate. We fight against the buildings we run in New York.
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I appreciate people who are happy.
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Fear is a driving force for most of the things that I do. I don't know if that's healthy.
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I find that there are a lot of similarities between French and Japanese food. I think they're two countries that have really systemized their cuisine and codified it.
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Food, to me, is always about cooking and eating with those you love and care for.
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If people ask me, 'What do you think could improve in Toronto dining,' I'd say there's nothing to improve on.
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People are trying to figure out what American food is; it's certainly an amalgamation.
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If I have a really bad cook or a bad manager or bad sous-chef, I previously would have fired them or lost my temper. But now I realize that if I'm so right, then I should be able to communicate it so clearly that they get it.
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Why can't it be awesome to work for a food company? Why can't we create an environment where people are trying to push each other to do great things, and we're not trying to steal from anybody - we're trying to be good to our farmers and run an honorable business, if there is such a thing anymore?
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Don't even get me started. I'm not against all vegetarians. But if you're a vegetarian for ethical reasons, you may be causing more harm.
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I constantly think I'm a fraud - that this success is not warranted or justified.
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I wanted to disprove the notion that you couldn't open a great restaurant in a casino.