What were your favorite foods growing up?
Fried eggs, fabada , tortilla de patatas , orange juice, and Cabrales cheese.

When did you decide you wanted to be a chef?
Very young, I always loved to cook, I loved how food has the ability to tell a story about where you come from, where you've been, how food has the ability to take you home when you are homesick or how exotic flavors almost take you to new places; I knew I wanted to be part of that world.

Where and when did your career in food begin?
I enrolled in cooking school at 15, a new school in Barcelona called the Escuela de Restauracio I Hostalatge. From there I was able to work in many wonderful places in Spain including El Bulli where I worked with my friend and mentor Ferran Adria.

If you didn't become a chef, what would you be?
No idea. Cooking is so much who I am. A fireman or a director or an astronaut. Maybe a winemaker.

Who/what has shaped your cooking the most over the years?
Ferran is the most obvious answer to that question. He remains a close friend and is a huge influence and source of inspiration. But really everyone I ever worked with has had some impact on who I am as a cook. Everyone has something to tell you, some knowledge to share.

How would you describe your cuisine?
I don't like labels very much because I think we have a tendency to stop looking, to stop listening, to stop seeing for ourselves once something has a label. Someone tells you it is an apple so you think that is an apple and you don't bother to see that maybe they were wrong or is something entirely new. It is lazy. I can only tell you that I am me and I cook my food, it is a reflection of my story as a person and a cook, nothing more.

What influences your cooking style and particularly the menu at your restaurant?
Ultimately, I cook to please myself. No one else. That is not to say you don't build on the work of others. That you don't learn from other people. I learned from watching my parents, from people I work with but ultimately I cook for me.

What are your favorite culinary weapons in the kitchen?
I cannot cook without Spanish olive oil. I put it in everything. It is not just an oil, it adds flavor, it adds body, it is the finishing touch.

What is your favorite secret ingredient?
If I tell you, it is no longer a secret. Something maybe not so well known in this country would be pimentón , smoked paprika from Spain.

What is the one rule or value you try to instill in all of your staff?
Never stop learning.

What qualities to you look for when hiring cooks for your restaurant? Eager to learn, humble, hardworking, able to work as part of a team, good communication.

If I'm trying to watch my weight and I'm eating at your restaurant, what am I ordering to eat?
I have several restaurants, one in Los Angeles and several others in Washington. At almost all you will find the menu is composed of small plates something that allows you to have a little bit of this, a little bit of that while limiting the size of the meal. A few vegetable focused small plates plus something grilled or seafood and you have a very healthy meal. It is possible to eat something delicious that is still good for you.

What was the most challenging meal you had to make? Why?
In February, I will be cooking for the King and Queen of Spain in Miami. That might be the most challenging meal I make. Up to now, probably for my mother-in-law.

What was your worst restaurant disaster?
When I was 15 or 16 I worked in a restaurant known for canelones, traditional Catalan stuffed pasta. It was nice place with a beautiful dining room and a big fish tank in it. We got an order for canelones, a big one, so I decided to use the biggest baking pan we had. When they were done, I took the canelones out of the oven and proceeded into the dining room. Perhaps the pan was too big for me to handle or perhaps I moved too fast but somehow the pan started to get away from me. I struggled to control it but it was too late. Right into the fish tank.

What is your least favorite food?
I am not a zealot. I generally believe that everything should be eaten in moderation but I am not a big fan of over-processed foods and fast foods, although you have to admire the complex systems behind these products. Think about what kind of organization must exist to make sure every Big Mac or every bag of Cheetos tastes the same, all over the world, every day. From pure organization and management it is amazing.

What is your beverage of choice?
Fresh pressed orange juice; I drink it every day.

What are some recent dining and culinary trends you have been observing?
More focus on vegetables, vegetables given their due, vegetables at center stage.

When you are not eating at your own restaurant, where are you eating?
In Los Angeles, Michael Mina's XIV , Mozza , and Bar Pintxo . In DC, Rocklands , Two Amys, New Big Wong, and Proof. In New York, I like Soto, and Momofuku.

Which foreign country inspires your style most?
For almost twenty years, I have lived my life between two worlds, America and Spain, and neither one is foreign to me. Both influence who I am and what I do in the kitchen.

What was the most spectacular meal you have ever had?
So many, some of them are so simple, some of them very grand. So much of what makes a good meal is beyond the food. It is the people mostly. I remember dining outdoors with a group of friends in the village of Tazones in Asturias. It was cold and there was a fire. Someone brought a pot of gooseneck barnacles and someone else lapas or limpets cooked in tomato and garlic. We cooked a turbot and thick steaks over the wood fire.

What is your best cooking tip for a home enthusiast?
Don't be afraid to try. Allow yourself to make mistakes. Trust me, to become a good cook, you have to mess up many many times. It may be a while before you get anything right.

What do you eat when you are home?
Recipes that I prepare with my children like pancakes, Iberico ham, leftovers, fresh squeezed orange juice.