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

I wish I could play bass like Larry Graham or Bootsy Collins. My God, I'd give up just about everything else for that.

I didn't want food that looked unapproachable or ridiculously beautiful.

Always entertain the possibility that something, no matter how squiggly and scary looking, might just be good.

Everything important I learned, I learned as a dishwasher.

I don't have to agree with you to like you or respect you.

The biggest empty space, the biggest gap in what should be a premier and always vibrant food scene in America is that we don't have hawker centers like they do in Singapore, basically food courts where mom and pop specialists can set up shop in fairly hygienic little stalls all up to health code making one dish they've been doing forever and ever.