What were your favorite foods growing up?
Tomatoes, herbs, egg dishes, and steak

What is your least favorite food?
Pig bladder

What is your beverage of choice?
Red wine, Macallan single malt scotch

What was the most spectacular meal you have ever had?
It was at Berasategui in San Sebastian, Spain

What do you eat when you are home?
I love a homemade tuna sandwich with celery on lightly toasted bread.

What is your best cooking tip for a home enthusiast?
Keep it simple & have a plan; think out all of the steps before shopping.

Where and when did your career in food begin?
Cooking in my mom's kitchen with my grandma. I took my first job helping an uncle with a catering job when I was 14. I worked at a coffee shop short order restaurant when I was 15, before beginning my career in seafood houses.

When did you decide you wanted to be a chef?
When I was nine years old

If you didn't become a chef, what would you be?
An architect or a drummer

Who/what has shaped your cooking the most over the years?
My mom, Pierre Franey, Christian Delouvrier, Alain Senderens, and my customers.

What influences your cooking style and particularly
the menu?
Fresh and seasonal ingredients

Which foreign country inspires your style most?
Spain, France, Italy, and Japan in that order

What are your favorite culinary weapons in the kitchen?
My Japanese French knife

What is your favorite secret ingredient?
Good olive oil, butter, good salt, great pepper these sound like obvious things, but they are not. Small details can make a huge difference in any dish.

If I'm trying to watch my weight at your restaurant, what should I order to eat?
The heirloom tomato salad, or grilled tuna with late summer bean salad with Kirby cucumbers.

When you are not eating at your own restaurant... you are eating at?
At my home and other restaurants

What are some recent dining and culinary
trends you have been observing?
A preference for simpler, fresher ingredients and multi-course dining with smaller portions.

What was the most challenging meal you prepared? Why?
I cooked for Pierre Franey son's wedding in East Hampton al fresco when I was 25 years old. It was buffet style with about 35 different items. Guests included Sirio Maccioni, Daniel Boulud, Jacques Pepin, Andre Soltner, and Alain Sailhac.

What was your worst restaurant disaster?
Losing power in the middle of a seven-course dinner for 70 guests.

What is the one rule or value you try to instill in all of your staff?
Integrity and hospitality in everything you do - we value serving our guests.