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.

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

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.

If you want the meaning of families and life and religion and philosophy rolled into one package, all you need to read is The Brothers Karamazov.

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

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

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