One must cook a piece of meat a thousand times before one begins to truly understand it.

I always say this to the young chefs and mean it: The customer is excited, he says you are an artist, but we are not, just craftspeople with a little talent. If the chef is an artist, he doesn’t succeed. Why? Because he is inspired today but not tomorrow. We cannot do that.

I think the future for young chefs is much brighter than it was 40 years ago. Because people have become so much more interested in food. That will not stop. We cannot go back now. We cannot go back to frozen.

When you find a waiter who is a waiter and not an actor, writer, musician or poet, you've found a jewel.