There's the common misconception that restaurants make a lot of money. It's not true. If you look at maybe the top chef in the world, or at least monetarily, it's like Wolfgang Puck, but he makes as much money as an average crappy investment banker.
I look forward to the spring vegetables because the season is so short. Mushrooms, edible foraged herbs, wild leeks, early season asparagus.
I think being Shaquille O'Neal would be the most amazing thing. There's nothing I would have done differently in his life. Everything he's done I think is pretty spot on, even, like, the bad rap videos, the shoes, the movies, everything.
Life's too short to just breeze on by.
I've never bribed my way into a restaurant. I've never slipped a C-note or greased a palm. In truth, I've never even considered it. I've assumed, of course, that people do such things.
'Tampopo's amazing. I think it's an absolutely fantastic movie, but I don't think it captures for me the meaning of food.
I wanted to disprove the notion that you couldn't open a great restaurant in a casino.
Everyone tries to compare cooks to rock stars. I see more comparisons to the fashion world.
For everyday diners in Manhattan, cracking the waiting list at Nobu is said to be harder than getting courtside tickets for the Knicks.
I'm always criticizing and only see the mistakes.
New York gives us a wide colour palette to cook from. We have cuisines from around the world, and that lets us pick and choose.
I'm grasping with how you do something on a large scale with multiple operations and not have quality decrease.
I was quite cocky, but having been hailed as this great young golfer, I couldn't even make the high school golf team once I got there. I had a big dose of humble pie then, and ever since, I've always known that there is always someone out there better than you, more talented. Always.
Fear is a driving force for most of the things that I do. I don't know if that's healthy.
There are many things to admire about Japan but this is the one thing I love the most and probably the only time I eat breakfast. Fish, eggs, soup, salad, veggies; all in the tiniest bites. It's a full meal, but it's so refreshing.
Momofuku is not me. It's everyone. I'm just the facade. We have to exceed expectations and be our harshest critics.
Yes, natural is good and healthy, and whole foods are important. However, experimentation is important, too.
Open your refrigerator, your freezer, your kitchen cupboards, and look at the labels on your food. You'll find 'natural flavor' or 'artificial flavor' in just about every list of ingredients. The similarities between these two broad categories are far more significant than the differences.
I love chicken. I love chicken products: fried chicken, roasted chicken, chicken nuggets - whatever. And going to Japan, I would see that these chicken were smoked and then grilled and then have this amazing crispy skin.
I doubt I'd ever do television to the extent that, say, Gordon Ramsay has.
