People like to think the creative process is romantic. The artist drifts to sleep at night, to be awakened by the subliminal echoes of his or her next brilliant idea. The truth, for me at least, is that creativity is primarily the result of hard work and study.

It is critical to have a sound understanding of traditional culinary principles before attempting to push boundaries in cuisine. Larousse Gastronomique helps me execute the progressive cooking we do at Alinea.

I hate stuff in my pockets, can't stand it. I'll carry stuff in my hands rather than put it in my pockets.

Part of becoming a little bit older and having the opportunities that I have, you want to start giving back to people who have been influential and helped you along the way.

We all eat two to six times a day. Why? Because we are supposed to, we are programmed to, we want to.

It's not really the life of cooking that's hard - it's what you make of it and what level you push yourself to.

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.