I was always a kid trying to make a buck. I borrowed a dollar from my dad, went to the penny candy store, bought a dollar's worth of candy, set up my booth, and sold candy for five cents apiece. Ate half my inventory, made $2.50, gave my dad back his dollar.
I'm in a very unique position in that I got to participate in the Food Network by contest. That's long gone, being voted on, but I don't forget where it came from, and I don't forget the people who worked to put me here.
I'm a culinary gangsta with a very spiritual side, so when I was introduced to the 'spiritual gangster' line, I had to have it.
There are races and then there are races. And without a doubt, the Indy 500 is the race that I've always wanted to attend. And now, to be driving the Corvette Pace Car... this is going to be unbelievable.
I would ride my horse to school.
If you're cooking and not making mistakes, you're not playing outside your safety zone. I don't expect it all to be good. I have fat dogs because I scrap that stuff out the back door.
You don't have to eat a whole cheeseburger, just take a piece of the cheeseburger.
I'm a big fan of doing 'Triple D.' But I don't want to do it forever, don't get me wrong! Travel away from my family, are you crazy? But do you know what it does for these mom-and-pop restaurant joints? It changes their lives forever. I mean, their businesses will never be the same.
I'm a stocky 210 pounds.
I wanted to work in corporate restaurants.
I always wish for more time at home or at the restaurants or on the shows.
It's tough, you know: I'm a chef first, and a restaurant owner, way before I was ever on Food Network, and it's a tough business.
The Tom Brady sandwich would be a prosciutto with a nice Buffalo mozzarella, on a crispy baguette with a little fresh basil. Brady is classy; he's a really cool dude. He's got a lot of flavor.
Cooking is all about people. Food is maybe the only universal thing that really has the power to bring everyone together. No matter what culture, everywhere around the world, people get together to eat.
I'm a five-seasons griller! Did you know I added a new season? Living in Cali, I'm cooking in the yard all the time. I don't care what the weather is like. My hair is impervious to any kind of dampness, so I don't have too much to worry about.
Ripe avocados should be soft, not squishy, and you should be able to flick the little stem off easily.
I was raised with hippie parents, so I get down with the positive. I don't pay attention to the negative.
With messy food, or foods with a lot of sauce, you do 'The Hunch.' I learned it in Philly, watching the dudes in suits eat cheesesteaks. You keep your elbows above your hands because if you don't, the grease runs down your sleeve to your elbow.
Some people are just born to cook and talk.
Cooking is like snow skiing: If you don't fall at least 10 times, then you're not skiing hard enough.
I'm gonna open a small restaurant on the beach in Mexico. We're only gonna have a few tables, and we're only gonna cook what's fresh that day. We're gonna get back to the basics... Real food for real people.
If you're feeling adventurous, grill up some marinated octopus. It's so healthy.
There are three people you need in life: an accountant, a fishmonger, and a bail bondsman.
I wake up in the morning thinking about food.
I have three wood-fired ovens... I have one at my house, one at my ranch, one on the trailer that I use for charity events.
Kids love food. It's about putting materials out there that get kids thinking about food - to get kids interacting about food. It's about simple things, like kids thinking about pasta - getting kids to work with food.
I've never been an apron fan; it's all too cumbersome to me.
We are not blessed with junk food - my family and my kids do not eat fast foods.
Why can't we have a concert with food? Your typical cooking demonstration, there's just no enthusiasm. There's no energy behind it. I said, 'What if we take a cooking demonstration and fortify it with a lot of good music? ... Drive it to the next level?'
Growing up in Northern California, I've only seen snow at Christmas maybe twice in my life! I was always jealous of my cousins on the East Coast with their white Christmases.
My spiked hair goes back about 15 years ago. I had long, curly rocker hair then. The woman who cuts my hair thought I needed a new style, so I let her surprise me. I flipped when I first saw it, but I soon realized the look was really me. I've always been a little crazy.
What you see is what you get with me. There's no show.
College students want good eats. They want it to not be super-expensive, but you've got to be eclectic, you've got to have style, and you've got to make real food.
I say to folks all the time, 'Watch what you're eating. You don't have to eat it all. Make conscious choices. It doesn't mean you have to starve yourself and eat carrots all day.' Have an awareness.
It's OK to make mistakes... Try different things.
My parents moved out to California in 1968 from Ohio in a VW station wagon pulling a little trailer. I was 4 months old. They were following the energy out here.
