Quotes from David Chang

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

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

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

When you meet the farmers and go to the farms, you see that they treat their animals like they're family. It makes a big difference.

We're hoping to succeed; we're okay with failure. We just don't want to land in between.

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.

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

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

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.

In New York, we're always confined with spaces. Our restaurants are difficult to navigate as cooks and to operate. We fight against the buildings we run in New York.

Contemporary ramen is totally different than what most Americans think ramen should be. Ramen is not one thing; there are many, many different types.

To me, there are two types of celebrity: there's good celebrity - people that are attracted to the food and working and trying to create something great - and then there's bad celebrity - those who are working on being a celebrity.

I feel like I'm losing my ability to understand reality; like when someone loses their hearing, they can still speak English, but their speech eventually becomes distorted because they can't hear themselves.

Rage or fear... It oscillates. Rage I need to motivate me to try things that I can't ordinarily do - as I'm a lazy man. Fear - to keep pushing harder so we don't lose what we've accomplished.

'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 lived across the street from Noodle Bar. I could barely stand it, because you're there all the time; you can't get away.

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

I like eggs. My favorite way of cooking eggs is old school French.

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

The process and organization leading up to cooking the egg can tell you a lot about the cook.

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

If you're going to be a vegetarian, limit yourself to food from a place you can go to in two hours and just eat that.

Don't even get me started. I'm not against all vegetarians. But if you're a vegetarian for ethical reasons, you may be causing more harm.

I appreciate people who are happy.