I'm not just a female chef. I'm a woman in a brand new hotel, and that's why I think it's so perfect to be at the Cromwell, in a corner of one of the busiest intersections of the world, with my name in lights. It's different in all those sorts of ways, and I'm hoping I'll be able to carry that through. Because if I can't, it's a step back for women in general. People will say - men will say - "See, that's why it's mostly men".

You just need a little perspective. Warmed chocolate can give you that.

Pretty much every time I try something different or do something in front of a live audience, I truly think they might throw peanuts at me.

I don't eat a lot of anything. A little bit of everything, but not a lot of everything. Small meals all day long.

It's more intimate. Food can connect people in a forever sort of way.

Talking to other people while you're cooking, it doesn't come naturally.

My goal is to make Italian food clean and accessible and beautiful and tasty, with simple ingredients that people can find at a local grocery store, because people don't want to go to a gourmet shop in search of items that will sit in their pantry for years after they use just a teaspoon or pinch of them.