Give yourself enough time to really learn how to cook.

The best way to learn to cook is to do some serious eating.

I find myself hoping I can get on a TV show, and then people from Oklahoma will come to my restaurant. Then I'll be able to make enough money to open my own place.

The hardest thing about being a full time chef is leaving my work behind when I go home at night. I'll toss and turn about a menu item or forget to order produce and wake up at 4 A.M. in a cold sweat over some artichokes.

Food is ever-changing and ever moving forward and getting more and more complex.

It's amazing the relationships you forge in a kitchen. When you cooperate in an environment that's hot. Where there's a lot of knives. You're trusting your well-being with someone you've never before met or known.

My father always said, 'If you love what you do, you won't mind slogging through it for several hours a day.