When you have the arrogance, the confidence and you can't cook, then you're only going to look stupid.

Bake some bread. Make a focaccia bread or bake a whole mill loaf. Do something creative, and then put the labor of love into it in the beginning. When you take that bread out of the oven and you eat it an hour- and- a- half, two- hours later, you start to appreciate it more and then you eat less because you worked so hard to make it, you appreciate it in a much better way.

I'm not trying to take New York by storm. I just want to sneak in there, keep my head down, batten down the hatches and cook.

There's a bond among a kitchen staff, I think. You spend more time with your chef in the kitchen than you do with your own family.

I won't let people write anything they want to about me.

[Long Island] is buoyant, it's on the outskirts of Manhattan, and so they have access to phenomenal restaurants.

I've had a lot of success; I've had failures, so I learn from the failure.