It was a revolution, but now it is an evolution. People know more ingredients, people know more techniques, and people look for more ingredients they've never looked for before. In the '80s, you couldn't find raw tuna in any restaurant that wasn't Japanese. Now, you can't find any restaurant without it or sashimi.

Italian food is all about ingredients and it's not fussy and it's not fancy.

I think it's really important to keep on staying motivated.

Stay away from iodized table salt. It's just bad and doesn't help food taste good.

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.

I used to write cookbooks. It was passion to try to bring healthy and fun recipes to people's homes. It was a way to bring my home to theirs.

Cooking is like painting or writing a song. Just as there are only so many notes or colors, there are only so many flavors - it's how you combine them that sets you apart.