I can teach a chimp how to make linguini and clams. I can't teach a chimp to dream about it and think about how great it is.

Italy itself has 21 different micro-regions. You go within each of those regions, there's even super-micro-regions; and the beauty is that when you go from place to place, although there's a common thread of pasta and joie de vivre - in the way that they approach their meals and the simplicity of cooking, celebrating more the product than the chef - there's still so much variety that as you go, it's always an exciting moment.

Reading is a key feature in the life of every single successful person I have ever met.

Recipes are just descriptions of one person’s take on one moment in time. They’re not rules.

My favorite thing is always a nice, inexpensive draft beer, but if someone wants something a little more complicated than that, then I'd like a Michelada, which is where I take beer and a little bit of either a spicy or not-so-spicy Bloody Mary, mix it like six to one [ratio], so it's kind of a red beer.

I'm a big fan of featuring all of the local shellfish and seafood provided.

Michigan is my antidote to Manhattan. This is where I come to relax.