The better the ingredients, the more farmers I can buy from, the closer I feel to the food I want to make that represents what I care about as a chef.

The hardest thing for me is restraint.

I bent my head over a stove in my early 20s and picked it up in my 30s.

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

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.

If I want my daughter to try something, I eat it in front of her repeatedly without forcing the issue and, with some trial and error, the world is our oyster!

Creative risks will always outweigh technical mistakes.