Life's too short to just breeze on by.

As a child, I didn't see my dad that much because he was always working at the restaurant. He became pretty jaded after working at the restaurant for so long.

Fear is a driving force for most of the things that I do. I don't know if that's healthy.

Chef Thomas Keller was an inspiration to me and many, many young cooks like me. He told us that the role of the new, modern chef is different.

I find that there are a lot of similarities between French and Japanese food. I think they're two countries that have really systemized their cuisine and codified it.

Food, to me, is always about cooking and eating with those you love and care for.

Open your refrigerator, your freezer, your kitchen cupboards, and look at the labels on your food. You'll find 'natural flavor' or 'artificial flavor' in just about every list of ingredients. The similarities between these two broad categories are far more significant than the differences.

To eat well, I always disagree with critics who say that all restaurants should be fine dining. You can get a Michelin star if you serve the best hamburger in the world.

America is a country of abundance, but our food culture is sad - based on huge portions and fast food. Let's stop with the excuses and start creating something better.

Cooking and gardening involve so many disciplines: math, chemistry, reading, history.

I think that the Japanese - and I do love Japanese cuisine and adore Japanese food culture - I think that they're going to plow through the entire world's fishing. They're going to eat everything anyways.

People don't think that bread is part of Asian culture or Asian food culture, but it's quite prevalent in Northern China, and you see it throughout Japan and as you go to Taiwan.

I love to eat sushi, and, you know, those flavors and wasabi and really eating spoonfuls of it... I would just mix it and put it on everything, literally.

I'm not trying to bring New York to Toronto. I want to understand Toronto better.

I wanted to disprove the notion that you couldn't open a great restaurant in a casino.

I doubt I'd ever do television to the extent that, say, Gordon Ramsay has.

If people ask me, 'What do you think could improve in Toronto dining,' I'd say there's nothing to improve on.

I was quite cocky, but having been hailed as this great young golfer, I couldn't even make the high school golf team once I got there. I had a big dose of humble pie then, and ever since, I've always known that there is always someone out there better than you, more talented. Always.

I think the basic thing that home cooks can learn how to do is just season properly... If the home cook realized how little salt they use compared to what's needed, it would make their food taste better.

I look forward to the spring vegetables because the season is so short. Mushrooms, edible foraged herbs, wild leeks, early season asparagus.

New York gives us a wide colour palette to cook from. We have cuisines from around the world, and that lets us pick and choose.

I love chicken. I love chicken products: fried chicken, roasted chicken, chicken nuggets - whatever. And going to Japan, I would see that these chicken were smoked and then grilled and then have this amazing crispy skin.

I want to make simple food new.

One of the benefits to ordering food in New York is that you can get food 24/7.

Everyone tries to compare cooks to rock stars. I see more comparisons to the fashion world.

When I was in Japan, everyone wanted to work for Pierre Gagnaire, and they wouldn't miss a beat.

If you ask what people say what American cuisine is, they cannot really do it. I don't know what it is.

I appreciate people who are happy.

I think being Shaquille O'Neal would be the most amazing thing. There's nothing I would have done differently in his life. Everything he's done I think is pretty spot on, even, like, the bad rap videos, the shoes, the movies, everything.

Just because something's been good in the past doesn't mean it will continue to be good.

I work so hard that I forget to take care of myself.

Before I had my own restaurant, I was never top dog in the kitchen. I've always had a low opinion of myself as a cook.

Any processed chicken from any place - I'll order it in a heartbeat. I'm very picky about my pork, though.

If I have a really bad cook or a bad manager or bad sous-chef, I previously would have fired them or lost my temper. But now I realize that if I'm so right, then I should be able to communicate it so clearly that they get it.

Fine dining teaches you how to cook many different things, and it gives you the basic fundamentals, but these specialty restaurants, they're not teaching you the broad foundation you need to become a well-rounded cook.

People are getting famous now for serving food out of a truck, or for, well, pork buns. I don't know if I'm really pleased to be a part of that. I'm somewhat terrified of what the future holds, especially in America.

I love the intensity of the fine-dining kitchen, but loathe the fine-dining experience.

There are many things to admire about Japan but this is the one thing I love the most and probably the only time I eat breakfast. Fish, eggs, soup, salad, veggies; all in the tiniest bites. It's a full meal, but it's so refreshing.

I'm grasping with how you do something on a large scale with multiple operations and not have quality decrease.

The Momofuku Culinary Lab started as a space where we could focus on creating and innovating. I didn't want us to worry about working on projects in a restaurant; there are just too many distractions in service and running a kitchen to be able to focus on creating your dishes.

'Tampopo's amazing. I think it's an absolutely fantastic movie, but I don't think it captures for me the meaning of food.

I'm a big sports fan.

Growing up, my dad owned a restaurant in Washington, DC, and food was something I was passionate about. But when I finally got into it, I felt like it was so late in the game; that's why I worked seven days a week at Craft and Mercer Kitchen. I wanted to see how far I could take it.

Yes, natural is good and healthy, and whole foods are important. However, experimentation is important, too.

Why can't it be awesome to work for a food company? Why can't we create an environment where people are trying to push each other to do great things, and we're not trying to steal from anybody - we're trying to be good to our farmers and run an honorable business, if there is such a thing anymore?

Shouldn't a three-course meal be 90 minutes? Do you know how hard you have to edit your menu to pull that off? Twenty-seven minutes. That's the average meal at Jiro's in Tokyo.

I think the best restaurants in America should be in California.

I really don't care for the proper chef coat.

I was terrible at desk jobs.

I learned so much more prepping vegetables than I ever did in cooking school.