Olympia was a town crawling with music. I was new to the whole punk scene. The culture shock continued Olympia had bagels! We didn't have bagels in Arkansas. You could order vegetarian food all over town! It was so crazy to me - a place with so many vegetarians the restaurants made special dishes for them?

Cookbooks have all become baroque and very predictable. I'm looking for something different. A lot of chefs' cookbooks are food as it's done in the restaurants but they are dumbed down and I hate it when they dumb them down.

There's nothing like a home-cooked meal - nothing! When people ask me what the best restaurant in L.A. is I say 'Uh my house.' It's more intimate. Food can connect people in a forever sort of way.

Metaphysics is a restaurant where they give you a thirty thousand page menu and no food.

The lunch in a normal American restaurant is very problematic for me. I don't like to have hot food for lunch.

If your mother cooks Italian food why should you go to a restaurant?

I'm working harder than ever now and I'm putting on my pants the same as I always have. I just get up every day and try to do a little better than the day before and that is to run a great restaurant with great food great wine and great service. That's my philosophy.

The disparity between a restaurant's price and food quality rises in direct proportion to the size of the pepper mill.

I love food and I love everything involved with food. I love the fun of it. I love restaurants. I love cooking although I don't cook very much. I love kitchens.

I never eat in a restaurant that's over a hundred feet off the ground and won't stand still.