What were your favorite foods growing up?
My mother created a variety of meals for our family to eat. She used the ingredients that she had and made the best of it. My favorite meal would have to be pasta puttanesca and shrimp.

What is your least favorite food?
As a chef in this industry, you really cannot have a least favorite food. As a chef, you are constantly tasting and preparing food from many cultures.

What is your beverage of choice?
Chambord. I love preparing desserts with this liquor.

What was the most spectacular meal you have ever had?
I love kobe beef!!! That’s the truth. No doubt about it.

What do you eat when you are home?
I enjoy spicy and tasty foods. For example, I eat a lot of Mediterranean and Spanish foods.

What is your best cooking tip for a home enthusiast?
The best tip is to think outside the box, create food for the guest’s taste and always experiment.

When did you decide you wanted to be a chef?
At the age of 15; I was always amazed at the creations that my mother prepared.

If you didn’t become a chef, what would you be?
If I was not a chef, I would probably be a geologist because I was always into science. When I was not watching my mother cook, I was outside in the dirt.

What is more important for a chef- technique or ingredients?
They both play a big part in the kitchen. You have to have the knowledge of how to prepare, whether it is mixing, grilling, boiling or sautéing. In addition, cooking with the best ingredients is a large factor in the final product.

Who/what has shaped your cooking the most over the years?
With my past endeavors and traveling the world, I have had the opportunity to see and taste many dishes. Preparing for the Miss Universe Pageant, working with Wolfgang Puck on the Oscars, and preparing dishes in Sydney, Australia for the Olympics all have shaped my culinary skills.

Which foreign country inspires your style most?
My style is not classified as one or the other. I believe that my culinary skills are new age. It is a mix of everything from American, Cajun, Spanish, Italian and Caribbean.

What are your favorite culinary weapons in the kitchen?
To work smarter, maintain a clean area, and keep a staff that works as a team to prepare excellent dishes.

What are your signature dishes at 40/40 Club?
The 40/40 Club Burger--it is our signature sauce that makes it untouchable.

If I'm trying to watch my weight and I’m eating at 40/40 Club, what am I ordering to eat?
We have a variety of fresh garden salads (Asian chicken, mesclun endive), Thai spring rolls, vegetarian wraps, and grilled chicken meals (grilled chicken skewers, 40/40 grilled chicken sandwich.) All options would be healthy and satisfy your taste buds.

When you are not eating at your own restaurant….you are eating at?
Every week I choose a new restaurant to go to. I try and experience different flavors to spoil my taste buds. This week I will be going to a West Indian restaurant.

What are some recent dining and culinary trends you have been observing?
A lot of chefs that I know are trying to return to a Cajun style of cooking by adding more spices to seafood dishes.

What was the most challenging meal you had to make? Why?
When cooking for special events, it is always a challenge to prepare a satisfying, tasty meal.

What was your worst restaurant disaster?
As a chef, you are faced with many new challenges on a day-to-day basis and I'm often my own worst critic in my work kitchen.

What is the one rule or value you try to instill in all of your staff?
One rule that I value in my staff is to prepare food better than your best dish. I don’t ask for perfection; I ask for top drawer preparation.