One thing you don't know about me is that I'm terribly shy. My husband, who runs our dining room, often has to take me by the hand to visit tables.
I'm most proud of Michy's. We opened it thinking of it as a little “for- the-moment restaurant,” but it has garnered so many amazing awards and recognitions for food, service and wine. It's a place I can truly call home and everyone who works with us as family.
My most more memorable meal was at Arzak in San Sebastian, Spain; unbelievable, so inventive, creative, yet simply yummy.
If there was no passion for life, love, laughter, eating and learning, I'd have no reason to live.
My advice to a kid getting into this business is to keep your ego small, your head down, your mouth shut and your mind open.
I'm a geek and I don't really drink much, so my go-to drink is lemonad. Sorry, I know I am a lame chef.
If I were on death row, I would start my last meal with sea urchin on French bread and butter. Then I would have caviar alone, and follow that with fried chicken, gravy and biscuits with honey. I would finish with my mother's chocolate upside down cake oozing with sticky pears and more chocolate.
What I hate most about this business is what it does to some people. It's amazing how many Jekyll and Hyde types I've met through the years. It's so hard to know whom to trust.
The biggest misconception customers have about restaurants is how much money we make or, should I say, how little?
If I could do it all over again I would have listened to Jean Louis Palladin, who told me to work in Spain.