I was a journeyman chef of middling abilities. Whatever authority I have as a commenter on this world comes from the sheer weight of 28 years in the business. I kicked around for 28 years and came out the other end alive and able to form a sentence.

I'm really good at sleeping on planes. I mean, I smell jet fuel and I'm out; I'm asleep for takeoff.

Cooking breakfast and brunch professionally really kind of ruined breakfast service for me for a long time.

For me, the cooking life has been a long love affair, with moments both sublime and ridiculous.

There is no other place on earth even remotely like New Orleans. Don't even try to compare it to anywhere else.

When you're shooting that fast end to end, you wake up in a hotel and you don't know where you are. You're dreaming of Singapore, you wake up in Hong Kong. Or you just lose track. It's one of the reasons I'm staying in hotels that I know I've stayed in before, and they don't look like other hotels.

I don't snack. I don't generally eat sweets or drink soda. I never eat between meals or even before big ones.