Although the skills aren't hard to learn, finding the happiness and finding the satisfaction and finding fulfillment in continuously serving somebody else something good to eat, is what makes a really good restaurant.

Breakfast is the best time for me to figure out what my kids are doing. Right after you wake them up at breakfast, you pepper them with questions. You can get in there because they're not protecting what they thought was cool: "What happened yesterday?" "Oh, Matthew stole my book and ran away and it was really annoying..." That wouldn't happen after lunch, because their defenses are up. In the morning, if you lull them into a comfortable place, you get more honesty, and that's without being a detective.

You know, when you get your first asparagus, or your first acorn squash, or your first really good tomato of the season, those are the moments that define the cook's year. I get more excited by that than anything else.

One of the most important leadership lessons is realizing you're not the most important or the most intelligent person in the room at all times.

Find something you love, because if you love what you do, you'll never spend a day at work.

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.

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