Thomas Keller Quotes (47 Quotes)

Historically in restaurants, the service staff is awarded significantly higher wages than cooks and other staff who prepare the food on which a restaurant's reputation is based. The gap in pay is so great that it is becoming increasingly difficult for you

But the project, from beginning to end, was a little over two years, from the time we wrote the proposal to its publication.

A kaiseki meal is like that, very small courses over a long period of time.

We're always trying to make it better.

Let's face it: if you and I have the same capabilities, the same energy, the same staff, if the only thing that's different between you and me is the products we can get, and I can get a better product than you, I'm going to be a better chef.

I drank more wine when I wasn't working as much, to be honest.

Whether it's destiny or fate or whatever, I don't think I could do a French Laundry anywhere else.

When I go out to eat, it's usually something moderate in style.

I wanted to write about what we were doing at the French Laundry, the recipes and the stories.

It's nice to have the restaurants close by. It makes them easier to control and keep an eye on.

Restaurants like the French Laundry can be very intimidating for a lot of people.

The final menu is printed at four o'clock. Up until that point, we can make changes.

But once in a while you might see me at In and Out Burger; they make the best fast food hamburgers around.

Some of the recipes in the book have evolved for us. Many haven't.

I have no formal culinary training, right.

I wanted to learn everything I could about what it takes to be a great chef. It was a turning point for me.

My childhood wasn't full of wonderful culinary memories.

We rely on our purveyors to tell us what's available and what's good.

No, it's funny, when I eat out it's not typically in the kind of restaurants people might imagine.

It wasn't about mechanics; it was about a feeling, wanting to give someone something, which in turn was really gratifying. That really resonated for me.

I didn't want to be encumbered by what anyone else's abilities were, their equipment or environment or their ability to get certain products.

The lemon tart, for instance I've been doing the same lemon tart for fifteen years. I can't make it any better. To me, it's perfect.

Food should be fun.

I hope the cooks who are working for me now are getting that kind of experience so they can use what they're learning now as a foundation for a great career.

Once you understand the foundations of cooking - whatever kind you like, whether it's French or Italian or Japanese - you really don't need a cookbook anymore.

You think about it in an abstract way, but as a young cook, you're looking at other books for recipes, for inspiration, and for ideas.

For me, that's one of the important things about cooking. What was good enough yesterday may not be good enough today.

In any restaurant of this caliber, the chefs are in the same position, building relationships.

Now the restaurants have begun to catch up with the wine-making; there are numerous great restaurants in Napa Valley, and it's wonderful because the people are there for just that: great food and great wine.

Then, as the day progresses, depending on how the product is coming in - for instance, the fish man will fax us and say black bass is great - throughout the day, we'll also make judgment calls and adapt to what's available.

My god, I'm having a heart attack.

I like to drink young wines, wines which are robust and have a lot of forward fruit to them.

I think every young cook wants to write a book.

The book is there for inspiration and as a foundation, the fundamentals on which to build.

You're getting to know who the great chefs are through their books.

The law of diminishing returns is something I really believe in.

It's one thing you aspire to: someday, you'll be able to write a book.

We make sure we know the kitchen inside and out, where everything is. We get sort of crazy making sure everything goes off without a hitch.

Hopefully, imparting what's important to me, respect for the food and that information about the purveyors, people will realize that for a restaurant to be good, so many pieces have to come together.

People love the idea of the chef coming to them. But it's an extraordinary undertaking to do these parties. To replicate what we do in the restaurants in someone's home - the precision, the perfection - is a huge challenge and extremely time-consuming.

Well, it took me twenty-seven years, as long as I've been cooking.

They know what my standards are. They know what I need and how to get it to me, and they know how to communicate with me if for some reason they can't get it.

We go through our careers and things happen to us. Those experiences made me what I am.

Your idea of that dish has evolved, and if you're a cook, you can start thinking in different ways about it, maybe even a different way than I think about it.

I hope I'm retired by 2012. If force-feeding a duck is cruel, then packing chickens in a cage is cruel, and then the veal and the beef. We are all going to be vegetarians soon if they have their way. We should probably start converting now.

We realized the imbalance of earnings and that a change needed to occur in order to provide everyone in the restaurant an opportunity to pursue their dreams,

My favorite wines are Zinfandels.