As a restaurateur, my job is to basically control the chaos and the drama. There's always going to be chaos in the restaurant business.

You have to stick out the toughness of the business and form relationships with the people in it.

It's a very, very difficult space to operate in, the restaurant business-it requires a lot of human beings to intersect at just the right place to make it all work out.

I came literally to the table with a wealth of knowledge by simply understanding how food should taste.

I wanted to share my life story and honor my roots. I am very proud of my family and mother.

There really is a camaraderie among chefs and a willingness to help out whenever we can.

Flavor Five is a book with recipes using five ingredients to possibly be cooked in just five minutes. It will be very user-friendly for the home cook on the run.

After guest appearances, I got the offer to do the show as the successor of Arthur Schwartz. It's so much fun.

At times, it was an incredible blessing to have all the attention; at times it was a logistical nightmare.

I can now focus on a huge audience through TV, books, cookware and foods.

I was on the show previously as a guest host, so I had a little practice.

I was pleasantly surprised after the book came out. It was like, hey, the home team put down a nice score.

In all my work I like to convey the fact that I like cooks, that it's noble toil and that it is hard.

Mama is slowly getting better. So many people are so fond of her.

Talking up a storm about food is so easy for me, it's second nature.

Be curious, learn and read as much as you can about food. Don't worry about making money. Focus on learning at various venues before you settle down for a steady position.

I definitely think there was some overacting on the part of the customers and the wait staff. The people who came in during the shooting were clearly there to have a moment on television, and that's fine.

It is important to experiment and endlessly seek after creating the best possible flavors when preparing foods. That means not being afraid to experiment with various ingredients.

Just over 800 people were gathered around the cooking stage, all eager to learn about my five-minute flavor cooking. The demonstration had to be done right then and there, in front of everyone.

The 1,000 tasting portions were to be served over a period of six hours, starting at noon, so we would have to prep those another way, to keep them as fresh as possible.