59 Quotes by Jean-Georges Vongerichten

Actually, I'd really love to do something in Bali, up in the mountains. A little restaurant with that scenery would be beautiful.

I love cooking, but I love the business, too. It's important because a lot of chefs forget the business side and have to shut down after six months.

There is so much more vegetable use in Thailand, India and China than meat. Yes, when you go to the markets or buy street food, you see shrimp or chicken - but mostly vegetables.

At lunchtime, our kitchen was like a mini restaurant: my grandmother and mother had to cook for as many as 25 people - extended family plus 10 employees. We ate a lot of cabbage and a lot of potatoes.

I grew up in Alsace - in Strasbourg, by the canal; the family business was coal handling. It was still in the days when three generations would live under the same roof. There were 15 people for lunch, 20 for dinner.

Cooking at home is easier than cooking in the restaurant because you don't have to write a menu or try to please everybody.

When you do a menu at a restaurant, you have to be the engineer of that menu. It has to be a crowd-pleaser.

I think, as a chef and restaurateur, that you have to take care of your business. Otherwise, you're only as good as your last meal. You have to watch if your food costs are too high, or you could be out of business in no time.

I landed in 1980 in Bangkok, and I stopped to eat ten times between the airport and the hotel. It was all lemongrass and ginger and chilies.