I like to go hear jazz late-night up in Harlem.

From Japan to Thailand, I keep discovering amazing talent, cuisine and food markets.

Kitchens should be designed around what's truly important-fun, food, and life.

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.

I have real admiration for chefs who can maintain an edge and find new inspiration in their cooking after many years.

I appreciate the constant evolution in refining food, but not in making food gimmicky.

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.