I wasn't passionate about food until I'd been cooking for a while. I started long before food became part of the mainstream media. I just wanted to cook, period.

Grilling takes the formality out of entertaining. Everyone wants to get involved.

I dropped out of high school. I really had no interest in doing any school work whatsoever.

One thing you don't want to do as a host is be running around all evening. Do as much as you can ahead of time, so all you have to do is grill the main ingredients.

Grilling outside with my parents at the Jersey shore. We would grill lobster and corn in the summer.

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

I seem to respond most to places that are more cosmopolitan because of my Manhattan upbringing. Some of the major international cities I've visited, like Madrid, Rome and London, have a lot of similarities and "New York" elements while ... having their own flavor.