In '71 or '72 I returned to New Orleans and stayed there. I started cooking Louisiana food. Of all the things I had cooked, it was the best-and it was my heritage.

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!

What I think and what the world thinks is totally different.

You don't need a silver fork to eat good food.

One of the problems of our youth is that the family unit is broken up. When we'd sit down to dinner together as a family, we'd learn about each other. We had something people don't get today.

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

If you have acid in food, you need to sugar it. At a high temperature, the acids are changed to sugar.