I didn't want to do just another set of recipes. I think that's useless.

I opened a restaurant that had nothing but California wines.

We had no electricity, no gas. Food was probably our greatest entertainment - the most fun thing that we could do was food.

Creole is New Orleans city food. Communities were created by the people who wanted to stay and not go back to Spain or France.

The bad part about being recognized is that when I walk into a restaurant and sit down, I've got to eat everything on the plate, whether it's good or bad. People would take it as an insult if I did otherwise.

I think the most wonderful thing in the world is another chef. I'm always excited about learning new things about food.

I opened my own restaurant when I was 17. I went broke, then traveled around the country, learning about different kinds of foods, had three other restaurants that went broke. It didn't all start just a few years ago!