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There are certain things that make restaurants work and a certain kind of DNA that people who excel in restaurants need. But it's a lot like life, in the sense that you get out of it what you put into it.

Life in the restaurant business can provide a start in the working world for young people or a stable living for many Americans and their families.

Working at a restaurant is a tough gig.

The restaurant business is something that you have to treat like a baby. You have to constantly be there. You can't trust it to anybody else, because no one's going to love it like you do.

There's a bond among a kitchen staff, I think. You spend more time with your chef in the kitchen than you do with your own family.

Although the skills aren't hard to learn, finding the happiness and finding the satisfaction and finding fulfillment in continuously serving somebody else something good to eat, is what makes a really good restaurant.

Restaurants are like kids. You hope you understand their innate gifts, and then you let them realize their aspirations.

I've never had to get a job as a waiter or anything. I've always been able to support myself in 'the biz.' Which is great. It's really fantastic to be able to say that, because I know it's hard to do.

In any restaurant of this caliber, the chefs are in the same position, building relationships.

When you look at a kitchen, you tend to see that the people who are doing really well are those who have worked with the same chef or stayed in one restaurant for a significant amount of time.