A young chef has a habit of overworking things and it takes great confidence to believe in your produce and yourself. I have discovered that I didn’t need to put that much effort in. For instance, in the old days I would have put a huge amount of effort into designing a Dover sole dish, but now that I’m out of the kitchen, I know that it should be

And now I finally had the chance to ask Brian Biel in person if there’s some secret formula behind Hillstone’s powerful allure—besides trying to avoid press, of course. Is it the napkins with buttonholes, just in case you need to affix one to your shirt like a spaghetti-eating character in  Goodfellas ? Is it the fact that every location has a

Fish, which is what I did for Robuchon, is more technical, but meat is more sensual. At the time, I was more of an intellectual chef. But it’s important to have both—the instinct and the technique, the elegance and the muscular sensuality—to be a great chef.