'Kitchen Confidential' wasn't a cautionary or an expose. I wrote it as an entertainment for New York tri-state area line cooks and restaurant lifers, basically; I had no expectation that it would move as far west as Philadelphia.

There's always this assumption that you're going to get everything right immediately. And any professional understands that that's just not so.

My daughter always behaved in restaurants. And if she didn't, she's going out. I mean, one of the parents is going to take her outside. Immediately.

Anyone who doesn't have a great time in San Francisco is pretty much dead to me.

My family is very far from normal.

I don't think people should be encouraged to look like Kate Moss; I think that's unreasonable. I think the normal human body should be glorified. By the same token, if you need a stick to wash yourself, you're not healthy.

I'm away 250 days a year. It's a tough situation.