Most people who open restaurants will fail, because they lack the fundamental understanding of restaurant math. Either they think they're superstar cooks or they think they're superstar hosts.

It's one thing to execute dishes on your own time for family and friends, but quite another to perform and be judged in a competition. And that's what cooking in a high profile restaurant is. It's a competition. You're up against every other three-star restaurant in your city, and if you want to stay in business, you'd better deliver.

If you eliminate the junk food, you don't really run the risk of gaining weight if you've got a good workout routine.

Classics can be phenomenal when done right. A simple roast chicken dish could be the best thing you ever eat.

The pressure, the heat, the almost impossibly fast pace at which you need work - this is the reality of working in the culinary industry. This is what professional chefs do night after night.

Being a cook doesn't necessarily mean you are a competitor.

With four-appetizer, four-entree menus, it's like, give me a break. That's not a restaurant, that's a dinner party.