The first time I was cooking for my wife, Stephanie, way before she was my wife, I actually put three chickens on the rotisserie and I closed the grill, which is really a bad idea. But I just wasn't thinking very straight that day. And I looked outside and I saw, like, smoke and flames.

Basically, there are two things we know: Everybody has less time, and the general public is demanding better food - better in terms of quality and better in terms of flavor.

'The Food Network' was just starting in New York, and I was getting lots of attention from Mesa Grill. They had no money, so if you couldn't get there by subway, you couldn't be on. It wasn't like TV was something I really wanted to do - but I knew it would be great publicity for my restaurants.

I can't be on the cheeseburger diet all the time.

Cooking is a subject you can never know enough about. There is always something new to discover.

An instant-read thermometer is your best bet for making sure that meat and fish are cooked to the proper temperature.

I don't like to dump the dressing on top of the greens. Instead, I pour it against the side of the bowl - using only enough to glaze the leaves - then toss.