Great Cooking Favors The Prepared Hands.

I Have An Immigrant Story. Most People Come Here For Economic Reasons, Or Religious Reasons, Or Racial Reasons, Or Gender Reasons, Or One Of Those Things. I Had A Good Job In Paris, But America Was, And Still Is, The Golden Fleece. And I've Done Very Well!

When You'd Get A Note From Someone, The Government, It Meant Something Was Wrong. This Was The Way It Was. Just Goes To Show You The Way That Being A Chef Has Changed, You Know - Being On The Bottom Of The Social Scale And Now Being What We Are, It's Incredible, It's Terrific.

Basically, I Go To The Local Farmer's Market And Decide To What To Cook Then, Depending On What I Find. Either My Wife Or I Cook, And We Usually Finish A Bottle Or Two Of Wine By The Time We Are Done Cooking And Eating.

Just Because I Am A Chef Doesn't Mean I Don't Rely On Fast Recipes. Indeed, We All Have Moments When, Pressed For Time, We'll Use A Can Of Tuna And A Tomato For A First Course. It's A Question Of Choosing The Right Recipes For The Rest Of The Menu.

The Idea Of Old Was To Conform Yourself To A Style Of Cooking, It Was Not To Create A Style Of Cooking. Now The Chef Is So Much Into 'i Want To Sign That Dish And Say I Am The One Who Made That Dish.