I've traveled all over. I've been to all 50 states. With my dad in the Navy, I lived in the Philippines from nine to 12, and I had dog, monkey, lizard, everything. Then I was in Hawaii, and I'm spear-fishing, catching octopus with my hands.
Any time you can involve fake mustaches, things are just better.
I'm a traditionalist, so for me, black coffee is cool.
I really see food as subjective. It's a creative outlet. It's something that you do for fun. It's a gray area. It's not black and white or right and wrong.
I think that people are getting really excited about different ethnic food, and almost even micro-ethnic food. So it's not just, 'I love Asian,' it's Szechuan or Hunan, this one style from China.
You are defined by your ingredients, by the way you touch them, by the flavors you draw from them.
Gray means being open-minded. I always look at the world that way; I'm able to hear both sides of an argument. I don't listen to opera, but I don't think it's good or bad; it's just its own thing. I can completely appreciate it.
I tried to start my own religion in high school. I was very eccentric. I've always loved attention.
Kosher salt, eggs and flour. These are the building blocks of everything. Kosher salt, above and beyond everything.
I played the guitar and thought that was what I was going to do as a career. I still record music that is played in my restaurants.
Dining should be something that isn't always taken extremely seriously.
I think that for me, growing up, my dad was in the Navy; we went all over the world. I love things the weirder the better. The idea I could eat things like snails or frogs legs or things like that was mind-blowingly cool.
Kids see cooking as a creative outlet now, like soccer and ballet. It gives me hope that things like fast food, childhood obesity and the horrible state of school lunches can be addressed by kids and their parents.
Food to me, in one word, is 'creativity' or 'expression.' It's simply, 'This is who I am at this point in time, and this is what I want to cook for you.'
I think the big things for me are trying to keep running and staying active, but not forcing to do one hour or five miles but really going out and doing it until you feel good.
I'd love to open a restaurant that changes every month. One month it would be a mom and bar spaghetti-and-meatball, Red Sox place, and the next it would be a British pub, and everyone gets in a fight.
I'm in love with 'pure' flavors, things that are natural and delicious, minimally fussed with, that showcase the season.
I have two bookcases that used to be filled with cookbooks, but now it's mostly books about politics and government. I might just give this all up and run for office.
I'm inspired by artists who use a limited palette, like painter Piet Mondrian, and the White Stripes, two musicians who create an incredible sound. Our food is starting to go back to a 'less is more' style.
I only wear red socks in the kitchen. They bring me luck.
