There is no value with just one restaurant or with one person. The brand has to be bigger than the person.
I like to be firm. But it is easier to be nice than to be nasty.
A lot of restaurants serve good food, but they don't have very good service.
People are visual and hands on learners.
Don't go and cook Indian food if you never cooked Indian food, you know?
One thing I always say is being a great chef today is not enough - you have to be a great businessman.
It's easier being a judge than a competitor. As a judge, you don't have any risks. That makes it much more enjoyable.
I think I generally try to buy the best quality and keep it simple. I don't try to make too many decorations, too many things with it.
I really love Paris. It's my favorite city.
Young people want to be famous before they know how to cook, before they know how to treat people, before they know what hospitality means. I stayed in France for seven years and Austria for three, so before I was a chef anywhere I was already cooking for 10 years.
I left school when I was 14 to work in kitchens.
I won't quit my day job. I like restaurants. I don't do a lot of television, either, even though people come to me with projects all the time. I have to spend time in the kitchen.
I want to teach people how to do it the right way. And it is from that they can teach their children how to do it properly. It will teach them how to cook better and healthier at home.
The usage of proper salt is really just a small piece of education. However, I want people to really get the proper nutrition from food for them and their family.
I used to write cookbooks. It was passion to try to bring healthy and fun recipes to people's homes. It was a way to bring my home to theirs.
My passion for writing cookbooks really came from my love of collecting cookbooks.
I grew up so poor in Austria that we never took a vacation with my family.
Stay away from iodized table salt. It's just bad and doesn't help food taste good.
Thirty-five years ago, being a cook was the same as being a used-car salesman.
I want to give people a basic education, and to help them think for themselves when it comes to food.
It's an interesting thing, Top Chef. Some of the contestants will make you one great dish, and then make you something on the next show that will make you say, "Is that the same person?"
Omelets are about technique. Now, different people make it different ways, but, if you're a chef in Europe, an omelet has to be cooked on the outside, with just a simmer of color, and the inside has to be soft. It should be cooked like a steak - medium rare.
Collecting cookbooks is still my biggest passion! Believe it or not, I actually got the biggest form of inspiration from my kids. My kids do everything online. They would have their tablets in front of them watching hours upon hours of online videos. I came to understand that these videos were actually teaching my kids lots of different forms of information.
It is going to have healthy food and exercise mixed together. With smaller portions, and more exercise, you live a better life.
I want to help build their basic food terminology.
