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.

For me, thats one of the important things about cooking. What was good enough yesterday may not be good enough today.

When you acknowledge, as you must, that there is no such thing as perfect food, only the idea of it, then the real purpose of striving toward perfection becomes clear: to make people happy, that is what cooking is all about.

In any restaurant of this caliber, the chefs are in the same position, building relationships.

Any job worth doing is worth doing well. But to be able to do that, you have to do it over and over again.

But once in a while you might see me at In and Out Burger; they make the best fast food hamburgers around.

I have no formal culinary training, right.