What were your favorite foods growing up?
Fried tomatoes, sauerkraut pirogues, pork spare ribs, kielbasa, chicken noodle soup with fresh home made egg noodles, faschtnauts, grilled chestnuts, and peanuts in the shell

When did you decide you wanted to be a chef?
In high school in 1970, but really it was a hankering. My father was a cook in the navy during WWII and was a naturally gifted cook.

Where and when did your career in food begin?
As a summer job after my first year of teaching. The Library in 1978.

If you didn't become a chef, what would you be?
Probably a lawyer or a very wizened English teacher.

Who/what has shaped your cooking the most over the years?
The flavors of my childhood. The family operated a hundred plus-acre farm that grew every sort of vegetable known to man. We ran four farm stands so everything was ripe before picking making the flavors brilliant and crisp. After that, my inspirations and California cuisine of the very early 1980's.

What are your favorite culinary weapons in the kitchen?
A very sharp 10inch chefs knife, stainless steel pots as they heat very rapidly, spice grinder, and a Teflon coated wok.

What influences your cooking style and particularly the menu at your restaurant?
Great ingredients deftly handled/combined where less is more. The sum being greater than the parts.

What is your favorite secret ingredient?
Blackend seasoning

What is the one rule or value you try to instill in all of your staff?
2 actually: 1: Each plate/food item is unique to the customer so that while we might cook 300 cuts of meat on a busy night, the customer is only focused on the one on his plate. 2: A job well done is its own reward.

If I'm trying to watch my weight and I'm eating at your restaurant, what am I ordering to eat?
OUCH! Seared Sea Scallops with Edamame Succotash, no black truffle butter, 10oz. filet, sautéed green beans with garlic, or steamed broccoli or asparagus, for dessert: Fresh fruit and sorbet.

What was the most challenging meal you had to make? Why?
Chili con carne in Paris in 1976. Just hard to find ingredients.especially cumin and coriander. Cilantro had yet to be culinary discovered.

What was your worst restaurant disaster?
The Ansul system firing at mad.61 from too many duck breasts being grilled at once.

What is your least favorite food?
Eggs. Just not a fan

What are some recent dining and culinary trends you have been observing?
Comfort foods, less intricate flavoring, bold over complex...

When you are not eating at your own restaurant, where are you eating?
Ethnic restaurants, Japanese restaurants, street food, tacorias, BBQ joints. Mostly at home grilling in the backyard, as I live in Vegas.

Which foreign country inspires your style most?
Mediterranean, whether it is Italy or France...but really it is people working in the states.

What was the most spectacular meal you have ever had?
Great meals are more often about time, place and circumstance.
Top Five:
1: First time eating duck confit, eaten in a farm restaurant outside of Toulouse.
2: Steamed Mussels, eaten on a mom and pop cliff restaurant on the Amalfi coast
3: Lamb chops, eaten on the road to Masai Mara in Kenya, in a region known for it's lamb.
4: Grilled Wild Salmon, eaten at Hayes Street Grill in SF where I cooked. My father had caught the salmon the day before. Even at 24 hours out of the sea, the flavors were pristine
5: First Cous Cous Royal, at Chez Cous Cous in Paris where I was first introduced to Moroccan cuisine and my favorite, merguez sausage.

What is your best cooking tip for a home enthusiast?
Take time when working with recipes. Use online sources like the culinary website, Behind the Burner. Use their videos to see if there is something similar that can be viewed before starting to make an unknown item and getting mentally comfortable.

What do you eat when you are home?
Blackened chicken Greek salad, home pizza, Korean tuna fish in olive oil, Fresh mozzerella, arugula and olive panini, linguini with red clam sauce, whole roast chicken with mashed potatoes, fresh Dungeness crab.