Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
Remember, it is never the knife's fault.
I like to go hear jazz late-night up in Harlem.
To me, there's no great chef without a great team.
Boning is a pain, but it makes such a majestic chicken.
I love to drive, especially on tracks, where I go a lot faster.
Kitchens should be designed around what's truly important-fun, food, and life.
I am very concerned about nutrition and always try to be careful about what I eat.
A lot of young chefs today get carried away by trends, by influences, by movements.
From Japan to Thailand, I keep discovering amazing talent, cuisine and food markets.
I appreciate the constant evolution in refining food, but not in making food gimmicky.
No one knows restaurants like a New Yorker - they're incredibly discerning and restaurant savvy.
I learned from my grandmother, because we were cooking a lot for the farm. Breakfast, lunch, dinner.
I have no pretension that I belong in D.C. I mean, I have to be cautious on how we do our restaurant.
The problem is that there is many great chefs and many great cookbooks, but none of them work at home.
After six years at Le Cirque, I decided to start my own business. I opened Daniel at 76th Street in May 93.
I want to make sure the fine-dining restaurant has a clientele who is local as much as tourists and foodies.
After six years at Le Cirque, I decided to start my own business. I opened Daniel at 76th Street in May '93.
Sauce is certainly ancestral to French cooking. The technique is very tricky, but it's also very fundamental.
I've discovered the burger is a crazy thing in Vegas, but I was one of the early chefs to do a lot of burgers.
For me, the food I like to make is the food I can enjoy all the time anytime. Its not too calculated or technical.
For me, the food I like to make is the food I can enjoy all the time anytime. It's not too calculated or technical.
I have real admiration for chefs who can maintain an edge and find new inspiration in their cooking after many years.
I think at Le Cirque I learned how to make real food, which is what people crave, not just gimmicky things on a plate.
That's what's interesting about the Lower East Side: It's New York, but it's also edgy. It's not as stuffy as Tribeca or Soho.
I try to come to Asia twice a year. I also go to Europe - to London as well as to France to see my family - four or five times a year.
I think fine dining should be part of the community where it is, more than just for the people who are going to make a special occasion.
I've always loved it in Las Vegas, and it is the only city in the world that brings so many different talented people from so many places.
I love Italian food; it's soulful like French food. Italian food is original and homey; it's market-driven, but also can be locally sourced.
I usually try to eat in my restaurants before I fly, as I'd rather sleep on the plane and just order a salad with cheese, maybe some ice cream.
I think there are a lot of chefs in D.C. who have made D.C. what it is today. I am very respectful to them. I'm very admiring of what they've done.
As a child growing up, it's going to be what you're going to remember most. What you liked or not liked then is going to define who you are at the table!
I can't conceive of cooking in a sunny place like Florida because my motivation comes from the changing seasons. That's why I decided to live in New York.
I love to create, and to me, the ultimate freedom of expression is a blank canvas or a block of clay to capture whatever emotions your imagination gives it.
For me to go casual is not to go simple. To me, it is to be able to bring back the art of tradition and the soul of French food and my interpretation of that.
The hardest thing for a chef is to become comfortable with what you do. Not to be too neurotic and worried with what you are doing and how wrong or right you are.
If you aren't born here, to be a real New Yorker, you have to bring your talent, be a successful mentor, and support the New Yorkers who made the city by giving back.
When we manage a restaurant, we start making money from the first day. When we own a place, it's often five years before we earn the first penny that is clean of debt.
I was 25 years old when I arrived in D.C. It was just myself and two people who worked and helped me in the kitchen. I was only cooking for three people most of the time.
It's not good to thicken sauce with too much butter because it can cause heaviness. You don't want to avoid butter, but you also don't want to put too much - add it slowly.
I try to pack light with a folding leather suit bag. Anything more than five days, I need to check in my luggage. What takes the most space? Chef jackets, aprons and tools.
For me, 30 days, it's already pretty good for ribeye or sirloin on the bone. I like my meat grass-fed and juicy. The French never age their meat more than two or three weeks.
Balthazar has a great New York vibe with the accent of a Parisian brasserie. I usually have the corned beef hash with a fried egg on top and wash it all down with Krug Champagne.
Young chefs, famous chefs, home cooks, and everyone who loves food and cooking-we all depend on Larousse Gastronomique. It is the only culinary encyclopedia that is always up-to-date.
In the Bronx, you have the southern Italians; in Queens, the Greeks, Koreans and Chinese; in Brooklyn, the Jewish community; and in Harlem, the Hispanics - all with their own markets.
I am very proud of Jim Leiken. He has worked with me for six years and has been patient enough to learn the ropes. He's now matured into a true chef and is working on building his team.
25 years ago, when I started in New York, I had the pleasure to cook for Andy Warhol. At the time, I could have traded art for food - I should have done so, because I could get his work for nothing!
I think D.C. has always been very, very vibrant for food. Like Boston in a way. Boston and D.C. were really the two cities that were the most active with their local chefs and their local food scene.
If you're in a major city, there's a 25-year cycle. In Vegas, it's probably 10 or 15 years, except for those landmark places like Spago or Nobu. In Vegas, you have to reinvent yourself once in a while.
If you're on a budget, Sweetgreen is a new chain of salad bars that are very good but inexpensive. You choose from a menu or customise your own, with some protein, a healthy salad and a great dressing.
When France was the only reference for chefs to learn, you could go everywhere in the world, and they would copy dishes directly because they didn't have much expanded imagination or technique or knowledge.