"My restaurants are never opened on Thanksgiving I want my staff to spend time with their family if they can. My feeling is, if I can't figure out how to make money the rest of the year so that my workers can enjoy the holidays, then I don't deserve to be an owner."

"It's not always possible to sit down and eat at home in this day and age of fast-paced living, but if you are going to eat out, do so as a family and support all the great local places in your areas. I'll still eat at the same diner I did as a kid with my parents."

"Go to the grocery store and buy better things. Buy quality, buy organic, buy natural, go to the farmers market. Immediately that's going to increase the quality of the food you make."

"People come up to me all the time and say, 'Oh, I love to watch Food Network,' and I ask them what they cook, and they say, 'I don't really cook.' They're afraid, they're intimidated, they know all about food from eating out and watching TV, but they don't know where to start in their own kitchen."

"A woman is like a tea bag - you can't tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water."

"Talking about food is like talking about your dreams. Everyone has something to say. We all have to eat, it's just what we eat which differs. Some people eat for fuel and I feel bad for them."

"The food in such places is so tasteless because the members associate spices and garlic with just the sort of people they're trying to keep out."

"I am a filmmaker. That is all I've ever been. You know, Martin Scorsese makes films about the mob. And I make movies about food."