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

My contribution I hope is to get people to eat full-flavored food. If I could come away with that alone, that would be a fantastic accomplishment. I'm also very proud of being a very American chef.

I think New York has the most diverse and best quality representation of so many different cuisines at all levels.

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

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

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.

I prefer lump charcoal over briquettes but I do use both for different reasons and different recipes and sometimes I combine them both when I really want the woodsy aroma from the lump charcoal and long, even heat from the briquettes.