Excellence is about fighting and pursuing something diligently, with a strict and determined approach to doing it right. It's okay if there are flaws in the process - it makes it more interesting.

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

My parents couldnt be looser. It was the ultimate laissez faire upbringing.

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.

Well, I kind of think that the opposite is true. The customer is rarely right. And that is why you must seize the control of the circumstance and dominate every last detail: to guarantee that they're going to have a far better time than they ever would have had if they tried to control it themselves.

You have to be critical of what you do every day, to analyze it and be willing to push it further.

Chefs, as a whole, say yes to any project, fundraiser, or tasting because they have such a generous spirit.