Quotes from Jean-Georges Vongerichten

Food is important for me, but as a restaurant group, to expand, you know, we have to look where the best market are - where the best markets are.

I have 20 restaurants. And if one doesn't work, it doesn't work.

Food is a part of life. People are foodies and love to shop for food.

I arrived in Bangkok in 1980: I was 23 years old, and it changed my life.

This is what I grew up on in Alsace. It's choucroute. I'd wake up every morning with the smell of cabbage and potatoes and pork.

I love Sunday lunches with the family that start at 1 P.M. and finish at 5 P.M.

I eat everything. I still like to go to Peter Luger once in a while.

I am a huge supporter of the Waxman foundation.

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.

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.

Cooking at home is easier than cooking in the restaurant because you don't have to write a menu or try to please everybody.

A chef and a restaurateur are different jobs: One is about pleasing people with what's on the plate; the other is about understanding the market. I'm a chef, but I think I'm a savvy businessperson, too.

Pound Ridge is about five miles from our country house. When you go every weekend for the last ten years without fail, well, that starts to feel like a home.

At lunchtime, our kitchen was like a mini restaurant: my grandmother and mother had to cook for as many as 25 people - extended family plus 10 employees. We ate a lot of cabbage and a lot of potatoes.

I'm cooking 42 years, and I didn't know bananas are good for my brain.

The house is always full, and we're always cooking - outside, inside, for six, eight, a dozen, 20 people.

If we put a vinaigrette together, every part of it is weighed. For the burger, we do a bit of arugula, olive oil - everything is weighed. To the gram.

I want every dish to be a ten.

My presence in California will bring a new, inspiring culinary environment to life, and I'm delighted to share my creative techniques and evolving fresh ideas with the Beverly Hills community.

For people in London, Asian flavors are always part of the culture, more than in New York.

I think food is getting lighter and healthier because people eat out so often. It's about quality ingredients because that is the root of good food.

I cook every day for six hours. It's my therapy. My love.

I grew up in Alsace - in Strasbourg, by the canal; the family business was coal handling. It was still in the days when three generations would live under the same roof. There were 15 people for lunch, 20 for dinner.

My father was in the coal and heating business, and he wanted me to take over his business, and I resented every moment of it. So I would never force my kids to do what I do.