All chefs are like Jewish mothers. They want to feed you and feed you and impress you. It's an eagerness to please.

I have great empathy for all the contestants that come on 'Top Chef,' whether they go home right away or they make it to the finish line. It's a very vulnerable position they put themselves in and I feel for them.

Each city has its own culinary landscape.

Flowers die and wine gets consumed. Both are lovely. I appreciate both. Wine and roses. I actually had someone bring me a lobe of foie gras once.

I love seafood. I'm not a vegetarian but I'm probably a pescetarian.

In a way that somebody else converts to Judaism or becomes a Hare Krishna, I belong to the church of fried chicken.

If you like a wine that you drink, now with your phone, it's so easy. Just take a picture of the label. You learn about it. You learn where it comes from and what the soil is like and why you like it. And that'll lead you to another wine.