My favorite thing is when I go back and my mother cooks for me. Because it just throws me back the same flavor. And I try to modify things: I say, "Why don't you do this and that?" My mother is older, but she cooks a lot, and she doesn't want to change anything. She's a very good cook, and my grandmother was an amazing cook.

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A lot of chefs don't have a natural sense of economy. I was with one guy the other day and I had to show him how to peel a turnip, because the way he was peeling turnips, he was throwing half of it in the garbage. It's not about being cheap. It's about being proper.

A lot of young chefs today get carried away by trends, by influences, by movements.

A beginner cook is going to have to be patient to really learn well. When you start to beat your master, that's when you're really starting to master the thing. But it's going to take a while. After that, you have to define what you want to be, who you want to be, where you want to be.

Receiving the president of the United States in your restaurant is a big thing. Obama came three times. There's a sense of pride when you're one of few who has had a chance to spend an evening with the president of the United States. Despite if he's Republican or Democrat, we accept them all. Also, I remember days when I had Julia Child coming, with close friends. I had a great relationship with Julia. So those moments are more of affection and admiration than of fancy pride.

What I bring - my team and I, because it's not only me - is this sense of elegance and casualness, and no pretension. There's also a sense of loyalty - loyalty to my customers, but also loyalty from my staff. Also, I think a sense of perfection; I'm a bit of an obsessed freak with perfection. I think I bring craziness sometimes, because if there is someone who's going to dare do something crazy, it's me.