The hardest thing about being a full time chef is leaving my work behind when I go home at night. I'll toss and turn about a menu item or forget to order produce and wake up at 4 A.M. in a cold sweat over some artichokes.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
The hardest part of cooking is shopping, and if you organize yourself and shop once a week, you're halfway there.
I like cooking, but I don't think I could be a chef. Everyone from the ground up does terrible hours, whether you've just walked in off the street and you've got no experience, to whether you're the head chef. You can work 14 or 15-hour days. It's really, really intense.
I had turned down other head chef jobs. I didn't want to take over someone else's cuisine. I wanted to start from scratch.
Don't put too many chefs to work. Sometimes they get too involved in the ingredients and are of no help.
I do have a chef, but I still go out. Sometimes I can still blend in, and sometimes I get a little bombarded. It's the best of both worlds.
I get quite lazy about cooking because when I come back from work it is the last thing I want to do, really is spend loads of time cooking.
Organize yourself so you aren't struggling to shop at the last minute. When you have real food, it's very easy to cook.
I think, as a chef and restaurateur, that you have to take care of your business. Otherwise, you're only as good as your last meal. You have to watch if your food costs are too high, or you could be out of business in no time.
I am a chef through and through. Everything I do - whether it is cooking for kids in Harlem or cooking in a fine dining establishment - all my days are consumed by food.
The hardest thing for a chef is to become comfortable with what you do. Not to be too neurotic and worried with what you are doing and how wrong or right you are.