I've paid my price, a high price, I watched my mother die. I look at everything I've been given now as a form of compensation. A person who has regrets is a person who casts anchors.

I wasn't manufactured. I was cut from the cloth of the very old world of gastronomy. There was no such thing as celebrity chefs, chefs were trained and I like to think that I still represent those old values from that world and the opportunities that I am offered I often say no to.

Once you grow up and discover yourself as a human being you look at things for what they are.

People who can give themselves every day. They're the people that I admire, they're real people.

Mother Nature is the true artist and our job as cooks is to allow her to shine.

People do peculiar things in life and they do for whatever reason but I think one of the greatest crimes in life is when you lie.

I cannot teach anybody how to cook. All I can do is show them, share methods with them.