You know, from age 17 on, my paycheck was coming from cooking and working in kitchens.

'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.

I'm not looking to freak people out - eating rodents or bugs. I don't do that anymore.

I learned a long time ago that trying to micromanage the perfect vacation is always a disaster. That leads to terrible times.

My mom had Julia Child and 'The Fannie Farmer Cookbook' on top of the refrigerator, and she had a small repertoire of French dishes.

I could eat bloody Elvis - if you put enough vinegar on him.

My wife was easy because she trains [jiu-jitsu] all the time. She's pretty much on a completely different diet. I always just threw meat at her and she's happy on a 100 percent protein diet, so we seldom ate together.