Food can be expressive and therefore food can be art.

My personality was always such that I always look straight forward, never behind or to the side.

If I had one piece of advice for people - if they are cooking from the Alinea cookbook, the Betty Crocker cookbook or the back of the box - read through the entire recipe first before reaching for any ingredients, and then read again and execute the directions.

Over the years, Céline Labaune has been constantly seeking to source the highest quality truffles; her diligence and expertise truly set her apart.

In a lot of ways, a lot of smells that aren't necessarily edible smell good, and they remind you of certain aspects of food. So making those associations with what smells good or smells a certain way and pairing that with actual edible ingredients is one avenue that we take creatively.

My father would always tell me that creativity didn't matter at the diner. When I was probably 14 or 15, I would put - I mean, it was a no-nonsense place - but I would try to put a sprig of parsley or orange curl on the omelets, or something like that. He'd be like "Don't do that!"

What makes the food that we do at Alinea so interesting on the outside is that we really don't let ourselves say no to an idea.