You can't go into the chef's office of any serious kitchen and not see a copy of Larousse. A must-have for professional and home cooks alike.

Contemporary ramen is totally different than what most Americans think ramen should be. Ramen is not one thing; there are many, many different types.

We're hoping to succeed; we're okay with failure. We just don't want to land in between.

Food, to me, is always about cooking and eating with those you love and care for.

Rage or fear... It oscillates. Rage I need to motivate me to try things that I can't ordinarily do - as I'm a lazy man. Fear - to keep pushing harder so we don't lose what we've accomplished.

Lifes too short to just breeze on by.

Cooking and gardening involve so many disciplines: math, chemistry, reading, history.

To eat well, I always disagree with critics who say that all restaurants should be fine dining. You can get a Michelin star if you serve the best hamburger in the world.

I find that there are a lot of similarities between French and Japanese food. I think they're two countries that have really systemized their cuisine and codified it.

I constantly think I'm a fraud, that this success is not warranted or justified.

The livelihood of the restaurant is dependent upon getting the word out. There's so much more competition. You can do an event every week and not cook at all.

So, I must be taken as I have been made. The success is not mine, the failure is not mine, but the two together make me.

Anything worth doing is worth doing to excess.

In the eye of that Supreme Being to whom our whole internal frame is uncovered, dispositions hold the place of actions.

I think women who lead full lives are better mothers.

Death lays his icy hand on kings.

Sleep is sweet to the labouring man.

You are never so alone as when you are ill on stage. The most nightmarish feeling in the world is suddenly to feel like throwing up in front of four thousand people.

It's a great thing for a man to walk on the moon. But it's a greater thing for God to walk on the earth.

Growing up I had a real disconnect with the planet.

I always joke with people that having nephews is the best birth control there is.