I would say stay the hell away from the party scene. Anything you put in front of your goal and especially something like that whether it's too much gambling too much food too much cold beers on the weekend - anything that you put in front of the prize is going to end up getting in the way and hurting you in the end.

When I do a 30-minute meal for instance on Food Network that's my food you see at the end of the show and it's not perfect. And if sometimes things break or drop or the pasta hits the wall when I'm draining it they never stop tape. They just kind of let me go with it.

It only looks like I get to eat a lot of food on TV. I really just get the one bite and the crew and guests eat everything else.

I love to cook so much. I like to cook everything. I really like to eat my food.

I have encouraged my kids to eat well from day one. I add flavor - herbs and spices - to everything because I don't want them getting used to starchy bland food. I also want them to experiment - they don't have to love everything but they do have to try it.

Basically there are two things we know: Everybody has less time and the general public is demanding better food - better in terms of quality and better in terms of flavor.

Nobody believed the 'Food Network' could last. Even I was short sighted and thought to myself 24 hours of food on TV? They'll run out of things to talk about in four days! But that wasn't true. 'Food Network' continues to get better and evolve.

'The Food Network' was just starting in New York and I was getting lots of attention from Mesa Grill. They had no money so if you couldn't get there by subway you couldn't be on. It wasn't like TV was something I really wanted to do - but I knew it would be great publicity for my restaurants.

I think the biggest thing is clean as you go. Wash all your knives cutting boards dishes when you are done cooking not look at a sink full of dishes after you are done. Cleaning as you go helps keep away cross contamination and you avoid having food borne bacteria.

Cookbooks have all become baroque and very predictable. I'm looking for something different. A lot of chefs' cookbooks are food as it's done in the restaurants but they are dumbed down and I hate it when they dumb them down.

When you cut that eggplant up and you roast it in the oven and you make the tomato sauce and you put it on top your soul is in that food and there's something about that that can never be made by a company that has three million employees.

As far away as you can get from the process of mechanisms and machinery the more likely your food's going to taste good. And that - that is probably the largest thing I can hand to anybody is let your hands touch it. Let them make it.

I used to eat because food tastes so good. I love food it's one of the best things on this planet. But I changed the way I was thinking. I started asking myself 'Hey am I eating because it tastes good? Or because I really need some more? Am I really still hungry?'

The interesting thing is while we die of diseases of affluence from eating all these fatty meats our poor brethren in the developing world die of diseases of poverty because the land is not used now to grow food grain for their families.

Keep it simple in the kitchen. If you use quality ingredients you don't need anything fancy to make food delicious: just a knife a cutting board and some good nonstick cookware and you're set.

You know most of the food that Americans hold so dear - things like hamburgers and hot dogs - were road food but even before they were road food they were peasant food.

You don't want flame to hit your food. Flame is bad. Flame does nasty things to food. It makes soot and it makes deposits of various chemicals that are not too good for us. The last thing you really want to see licking at your food while it's on a grill is an actual flame.

I kept thinking 'Somebody has to make a food show that is actually educational and entertaining at the same time... a show that got down to the 'why things happen.' Plus I hated my job - I didn't think it was very worthwhile.

I'm trying to cut down a little on eating on sodium keep my blood pressure down which is tough. Because I love food! I do but it's unfair how everything that's bad for you tastes so good and all the good stuff veggies and green things doesn't match up.

Never be a food snob. Learn from everyone you meet - the fish guy at your market the lady at the local diner farmers cheese makers. Ask questions try everything and eat up!

I can spend hours in a grocery store. I get so excited when I see food I go crazy. I spend hours arranging my baskets so that everything fits in and nothing gets squashed. I'm really anal about it actually.

There's nothing like a home-cooked meal - nothing! When people ask me what the best restaurant in L.A. is I say 'Uh my house.' It's more intimate. Food can connect people in a forever sort of way.

My grandfather gave me inspiration to cook and love food and flavors. My Aunt Raffie gave me creativity and the inspiration to create new things. My mother inspires me to find simplicity in food.

I like food like any other guy but it is not the main thing in my life. I can do without it.