Wisdom worth sharing, words worth remembering.
In New York I'll walk down the street and someone will say 'Nice show' and that's it. If I'm at a food festival it's open season.
You have to know the classics if you want to cook modern food.
I think steak is the ultimate comfort food and if you're going out for one that isn't the time to scrimp on calories or quality.
I can't deliver lines but I can talk about food all night long.
Hunger is a political issue and there are several things politically that are keeping people hungry – not funding food stamps adequately not funding school lunches adequately. So there is a political solution to the problem of hunger.
You can buy a box of low-fat macaroni and cheese made with powdered nonsense. I'm not worried if I'm using four different cheeses and it's high in fat. It's real food. That's what's more important.
I started cooking in kitchens right out of high school and I was lucky to work with a lot of great people but I had no idea it would turn into this. Of course no one should go into this business because they want to be the next Emeril.
A couple of months ago I was down in Florida for the Food and Wine Festival. And this journalist grabbed me and said 'How does it feel to be a TV guy? You're no longer in the restaurant business.' And I laughed. I asked him 'How long do you think it takes me to do a season?' He said 'Well 200 days.' And I was like '200 days? Try 20!'
You hit a certain age and – especially because of TV – the young cooks coming up say 'You're a sellout because you're doing something other than what you should be doing.' 'Top Chef' is a double-edged sword for me: There's a whole group of people who will not come to the restaurants because they assume I'm not in them anymore all I do is TV.