What were your favorite foods growing up?
I grew up on the New Jersey Shore. I adored my Italian Grandmother's cooking – her pasta, her fresh vegetables from the garden, her cookies and desserts – everything she made. I also loved the seafood form the shore, where I fished with my Dad and brothers we found blue crabs, lobster, steamers, blowfish tails, fluke, blowfish tails, bluefish. My Dad was a hunter and that is why I developed a taste for wild game early on. My favorites were woodcock and venison. My Mom was also a good cook – I loved all the food from my childhood.

Where and when did your career in food begin?
I started my restaurant career in High school at a George's deli in my hometown of Freehold, NJ where I was a dishwasher. After High School I was working as a bartender at a joint called O'Connors at the Shore. I really enjoyed bartending and I was also friends with the chef and used to come in early some days and help out in the kitchen. By the time I was 20, I knew that I wanted to be a chef.

If you didn't become a chef, what would you be?
At one point in my career, I wanted to get out of the kitchen and work in design/architecture — I wanted to design kitchens and restaurants. I actually applied to Cornell University but I wasn't accepted because my SAT scores were too low. 20 years later, after going into the Restaurant Hall of Fame (NRN), I was asked to teach some seminars at Cornell. (I didn't accept.) Anyway, I have been deeply involved in the design of all my restaurants and have had the opportunity to fulfill some of my fantasy of being a designer.

Who/what has shaped your cooking the most over the years?
In the beginning of my career I was strongly influenced by many of the talented chefs that I studied with in culinary school and worked with in restaurants. I was disciplined in classical French cuisine and I admired greatly the skills and techniques I learned from my chefs, Yves Lansac and Alphonse Thomas who I worked with on the West Coast in the late 70s. I also have to mention Luigi Marenzi, who taught me as much about Italian food as my grandmother. As I mastered the skills I was taught and as I became more comfortable with my own identity as an American chef I was drawn back to the food of my childhood — great ingredients, simply prepared. As a mature chef (almost 40 years in the kitchen now) my greatest inspiration comes from the ingredients.

How would you describe your cuisine (e.g. New American with Indian influences)?
I was labeled as one of the original “New American ” Chef's back in the 80s — I guess that still stands, although it hardly seems new anymore. My expertise is seafood — that is what I am most associated with. I don't confine my seafood repertoire to anyone cuisine.

What influences your cooking style and particularly the menu at your restaurant?
Summer Shack was inspired by the clam shacks found along the shore from Nova Scotia to the Caribbean — the commonality of this food is fresh local seafood — often cooked and eaten in its most pure form — in the shell, whole fish and the likes.

What is the one rule or value you try to instill in all of your staff?
We all make errors, especially under pressure — a dish that isn't prepared properly is mishap, once it is served to a customer it becomes a mistake.

What qualities do you look for when hiring cooks for your restaurant?
An honest love for people and for food, good personal hygiene, sense of humor, calmness and humility.

If I'm trying to watch my weight and I'm eating at your restaurant, what should I order to eat?
Raw oysters and clams, chilled crab and lobster, grilled fish and salad.

What was your worst restaurant disaster?
Opening a restaurant at Logan Airport (Boston) in the new Delta Terminal 2 weeks before Delta declared bankruptcy.

What is your least favorite food?
Commercial fast food, especially bad burritos.

When you are not eating at your own restaurant, where are you eating?
Mostly in ethnic restaurants, especially Chinese, Japanese and Vietnamese.

What was the most spectacular meal you have ever had?
It was a lunch served in the garden of the Rothschild estate in Cap Ferrat, celebrating Craig Claiborne's 80th Birthday. It was organized by Alan Ducasse and the food, served buffet style, was a pot luck cooked by 30 of Europe and America's greatest chef's.

What is your best cooking tip for a home enthusiast?
Don't plan the meal and then shop for it. Shop first, ask questions, get the best ingredients, take them home and keep it simple.

What do you eat when you are home?
My girlfriend, Jocelyn Goldsmith, is also a professional chef. She is a fabulous cook — so I eat whatever she makes for me. I especially love the way she incorporates Indian and Asian spices into ordinary dishes like braised short ribs and roast chicken.