I think that you’ve got to make something that pleases you and hope that other people feel the same way.

A kaiseki meal is like that, very small courses over a long period of time.

I drank more wine when I wasn't working as much, to be honest.

I wonder if I love the communal act of eating so much because throughout my childhood, with four older brothers and a mom who worked in the restaurant business, I spent a lot of time fending for myself, eating alone - and recognizing how eating together made all the difference.

I think every young cook wants to write a book.

Respect for food is respect for life, for who we are and what we do.

Cooking is not about convenience and it's not about shortcuts. Our hunger for the twenty-minute gourmet meal, for one-pot ease and prewashed, precut ingredients has severed our lifeline to the satisfactions of cooking. Take your time. Take a long time. Move slowly and deliberately and with great attention.