Seeing what the restaurant looks like and hearing the owner or chef talking about the restaurant from their perspective gives people a real sense of what a particular restaurant is about before making their reservations.

...anyone who willingly turns their life upside down by becoming a cook is totally insane to begin with. So many chefs that I have met are dyslexic and totally not school people or intellectuals. That could be symbolic of the kind of lifestyle that they choose to live. They all drink a lot, do a lot of drugs, drink a shitload of coffee and espresso. They don’t sleep much, and obviously don’t have much of a life outside the kitchen. A cook’s friend is a cook, there isn’t much time for a non-cook friend or girlfriend. And time really isn’t the issue so much as it’s a lifestyle and a culture that is very hard to understand or identify with unless you are on the inside. Cooks hang out with cooks because there is nobody else awake, hungry and totally wired at 2am on a Tuesday.

It's tough, you know: I'm a chef first, and a restaurant owner, way before I was ever on Food Network, and it's a tough business.

But once in a while you might see me at In and Out Burger; they make the best fast food hamburgers around.

I'm not a TV guy. I'm a restaurant chef and a businessman.

This is not a subject that we ought to be talking about daily in regards to a confirmation hearing. If anything, it ought to be talked about in executive session. But it's not, it's out, and so there you have it.