My dad gave me the gene to enjoy cooking, and to enjoy consuming good food and wine.

Restaurants are like kids. You hope you understand their innate gifts, and then you let them realize their aspirations.

Museums are like sports stadiums, hotels and hospitals: they are in the category of captive-audience dining.

I grew up in a reform Jewish family in St. Louis. Our idea of Judaism was no bar mitzvahs and a Christmas tree that had a skirt at the bottom embroidered with the names of my grandparents.

A great restaurant is one that just makes you feel like you're not sure whether you went out or you came home and confuses you. If it can do both of those things at the same time, you're hooked.

Short of hiring a new staff, consider giving subpar workers a chance to improve. Tell them why they're not measuring up and give them a set amount of time to make specific improvements.

Constant, gentle pressure is my preferred technique for leadership, guidance, and coaching.

It is sad that the more 'successful' a neighborhood becomes, the more it gradually takes on a recognizable, common look, as the same banks, drugstore chains and national brands move in.

Life is a series of waves to be embraced and overcome.

If they finally move, is it because they are warm enough, or is it that they are stiff, or bored?

This love is silent.

After you understand about the sun and the stars and the rotation of the earth, you may still miss the radiance of the sunset.

Every reading is partial, but that does not absolve us from the quest for meaning, which defines us as a species.

I've seen 'karma' slap people in the face. You have to be good to people. It really does come around.

I think it would be an excellent idea.

Metaphors convince at once or not at all.

I am fortunate in that I am motivated to do what I do by just a really goofy desire to do it. Maybe I have demons that are hidden away someplace, and I'll discover mine someday.

In England people actually try to be brilliant at breakfast. That is so dreadful of them! Only dull people are brilliant at breakfast.

The less Hillary Clinton speaks, the less she's seen, the higher her numbers go.