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At home, I never plate. Things go in the middle of the table, and you serve yourself. In the restaurant, every day I plate things, but at home, I want to enjoy my company.

We all have to be dishes on a plate eventually, with the way we are marketed, but I have no intention of being a cheap Chinese all-you-can-eat buffet.

I'm a big buffet dude, or I'm a big cheap-food-and-order-more-when-I-need-it dude.

I take apart restaurant menus everywhere I go. I kind of tick off a lot of chefs in restaurants because I'll say, 'You can keep all of the sauce, keep all of that garbage - just give me that piece of fish. Forget the salad dressing, I don't need all of that extra stuff. Just give it to me straight up, and I'll eat it.'

The wisest advice I ever received regarding the kitchen came from my mother: 'Do the dishes while you're cooking.'

Go vegetable heavy. Reverse the psychology of your plate by making meat the side dish and vegetables the main course.

I can't cook, but I have a nice book of menus... and I can plate and set the table.

Since the pleasure of most foods is in the first few bites, eat one thing on your plate at a time, at least at the start of the meal when you can concentrate and enjoy the full flavors.