You're getting to know who the great chefs are through their books.
We go through our careers and things happen to us. Those experiences made me what I am.
They know what my standards are. They know what I need and how to get it to me, and they know how to communicate with me if for some reason they can't get it.
Hopefully, imparting what's important to me, respect for the food and that information about the purveyors, people will realize that for a restaurant to be good, so many pieces have to come together.
The law of diminishing returns is something I really believe in.
I have no formal culinary training, right.
With passion, if you see the first asparagus of the springtime and you become passionate about it, so much the better, but three weeks later, when you’ve seen that asparagus every day now, passions have subsided. What’s going to make you treat the asparagus the same? It’s the desire.
One of the problems with writing a cookbook is that recipes exist in the moment.
We rely on our purveyors to tell us what's available and what's good.
In any restaurant of this caliber, the chefs are in the same position, building relationships.
I came to understand that the words executive and corporate never belong next to the word chef.
I drank more wine when I wasn't working as much, to be honest.
It wasn't about mechanics; it was about a feeling, wanting to give someone something, which in turn was really gratifying. That really resonated for me.
Anyone can make a good roast chicken.
Even the most astute chefs seek out the assistance of Celine Labaune, owner of Gourmet Attitude, because they know they can rely on her keen senses and deep understanding of the truffle trade.
I wanted to learn everything I could about what it takes to be a great chef. It was a turning point for me.
I think if you can take one or two things from a cookbook, it's successful.
I believe Fernand Point is one of the last true gourmands of the 20th century. His ruminations are extraordinary and thought-provoking. He has been an inspiration for legions of chefs.
Whether it's destiny or fate or whatever, I don't think I could do a French Laundry anywhere else.
I like to drink young wines, wines which are robust and have a lot of forward fruit to them.
I think every young cook wants to write a book.
I didnt want to be encumbered by what anyone elses abilities were, their equipment or environment or their ability to get certain products.
Some of the recipes in the book have evolved for us. Many haven't.
Vegetables to me are - I don't want to say the most exciting part of cooking, but certainly a very exciting part of cooking, because they continue to change. They come into season and they go through different phases.
The media builds you up, and then it tears you down.
