Collecting cookbooks is still my biggest passion! Believe it or not, I actually got the biggest form of inspiration from my kids. My kids do everything online. They would have their tablets in front of them watching hours upon hours of online videos. I came to understand that these videos were actually teaching my kids lots of different forms of information.

A good chef has to be a manager, a businessman and a great cook. To marry all three together is sometimes difficult.

Television in the '80s was very limited. There was no Food Network. When I opened Spago, I had the kitchen in the dining hall. It was probably the first restaurant to do so. The dining scene became more casual. All these cooking shows have transformed our profession one-hundred percent.

A chef is a mixture maybe of artistry and craft. You have to learn the craft really to get there.

When you meet someone, ask about what hobby they have, not what they do. People always ask me about cooking, but I prefer to talk about tennis or boxing.

To me, an airplane is a great place to diet.

There's a lot of processed food in America and I know that can make some tourists who're used to fresh food feel sick.