David Chang Quotes
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I lived across the street from Noodle Bar. I could barely stand it, because you're there all the time; you can't get away.
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Cooking and gardening involve so many disciplines: math, chemistry, reading, history.
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I hate to say 'chain restaurant,' but we're sort of a corporation now. How do we defy that concept, where people assume each restaurant can't be good?
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I learned so much more prepping vegetables than I ever did in cooking school.
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There's the common misconception that restaurants make a lot of money. It's not true. If you look at maybe the top chef in the world, or at least monetarily, it's like Wolfgang Puck, but he makes as much money as an average crappy investment banker.
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The one reason why I got into cooking was because I wasn't good at anything else - not that I was good at it, but it was considered honest work.
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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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America is a country of abundance, but our food culture is sad - based on huge portions and fast food. Let's stop with the excuses and start creating something better.
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Be careful what you wish for - getting to be a successful business and maintaining it is so hard. Anyone can be good one night; being good over several years is incredibly difficult.
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I've never bribed my way into a restaurant. I've never slipped a C-note or greased a palm. In truth, I've never even considered it. I've assumed, of course, that people do such things.
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Momofuku is not me. It's everyone. I'm just the facade. We have to exceed expectations and be our harshest critics.
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I constantly think I'm a fraud - that this success is not warranted or justified.
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I'm grasping with how you do something on a large scale with multiple operations and not have quality decrease.
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For everyday diners in Manhattan, cracking the waiting list at Nobu is said to be harder than getting courtside tickets for the Knicks.
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To eat well, I always disagree with critics who say that all restaurants should be fine dining. You can get a Michelin star if you serve the best hamburger in the world.
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One of the benefits to ordering food in New York is that you can get food 24/7.
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Yes, natural is good and healthy, and whole foods are important. However, experimentation is important, too.
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I was terrible at desk jobs.
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I think being Shaquille O'Neal would be the most amazing thing. There's nothing I would have done differently in his life. Everything he's done I think is pretty spot on, even, like, the bad rap videos, the shoes, the movies, everything.
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I'm always criticizing and only see the mistakes.
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I'm a big sports fan.
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I wanted to disprove the notion that you couldn't open a great restaurant in a casino.
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I'm not cooking every day anymore, and that's the biggest withdrawal. Cooking is honest work. Now I don't know how to measure myself.
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Everyone tries to compare cooks to rock stars. I see more comparisons to the fashion world.