I was studying international business and instead of doing what I should have been doing which was studying for exams and figuring out what type of business I really wanted to do I was cooking for all of my friends and reading cookbooks and really inspired by the idea of travel and types of foods around the world and I wanted to cook them.

There is an objective reality out there, but we view it through the spectacles of our beliefs, attitudes, and values.

My travels and everything that I do where travel has inspired and influenced not only the cooking that I do but also the restaurants that I create.

Satisfaction isn't so much getting what you want as wanting what you have.

I was studying international business and instead of doing what I should have been doing which was studying for exams and figuring out what type of business I really wanted to do I was cooking for all of my friends and reading cookbooks and really inspired by the idea of travel and types of foods around the world and I wanted to cook them.

Group interaction tends to amplify people's initial inclinations

My number one goal was to always have to opportunity to have an international business of some sort, opening in Paris, opening in Tokyo, opening in Singapore for example, that was always my dream, and so it came about.