I’m all about making money. It’s the greatest thing, because it means you get money to spend.

I wasnt using college as a stepping stone to law school or some other career. I just wanted a liberal-arts education.

My fantasy is to have a restaurant where there are no written menus, but where you just ask people, What are you in the mood for? Fish? Meat? White wine?

It's a challenge to demonstrate that you can prepare some really interesting food with humble ingredients.

Cuisine is only about making foods taste the way they are supposed to taste.

I love faltering. I love, in a sense, coming up short. Because you learn nothing from success. You learn so much from failing.

I have always looked at it this way: If you strive like crazy for perfection - an all-out assault on total perfection - at the very least you will hit a high level of excellence, and then you might be able to sleep at night. To accomplish something truly significant, excellence has to become a life plan.