GEOFFREY ZAKARIAN

I like tuna when there's a definite streak of deep pink in the middle, medium rare so to speak, and it comes out best when it's not cut too thick.

Determine who you are and what your brand is, and what you're not. The rest of it is just a lot of noise.

I love hotel rooms, so I take pictures of the room and the way out and the lobby, the food and drink.

I've been working in boutique hotels my whole life.

I use the confit principle for chicken thighs. I season them with herbs and garlic, let them marinate, and then cook them in chicken fat.

I begin my day online and end my day online. I like to prepare myself for the next day and have a sense of closure before I go to bed.

I love hospitality, and I love cooking. The kitchen is where I feel most at ease and where I feel most like myself.

Chestnuts are my favorite ingredient to use in the fall, especially for the holidays. I always find that they are meaty, hearty and have a mysterious refinement when cooked or roasted over sea salt.

I still have the 'New York Post' delivered because it's so garrulous and nasty and wonderful when you read it in print. Some things just don't translate online.

Everyone could use instructions on every aspect of cooking: pantry, storage, refrigeration, cooking, what to buy. Everyone that I come into contact with could use help.

Undercook swordfish, and you get rubber. Overcook it, and you lose the fat and succulence.

When I entertain, I want to have fun. But I'm also a control person. I don't go in for those everyone-in-the-kitchen cooking scenes. So if I want to be with my guests, I have to do everything - or nearly everything - in advance.

When you have a chef that wants to be in the spotlight, maybe after one or two appearances on a show, they think they're at a certain level that they haven't reached yet in the kitchen. Shows like 'Top Chef', 'Hell's Kitchen' have helped bring attention to the culinary world.

Cooking a piece of fish and cooking it right. Knowing the fish, knowing the properties of the fish. That's a hard thing to do rather than covering it with a lot of sauces and foams or other cooking methods that might be high wire acts and look good on the outside.

Everybody these days wants to be a star, including myself. Don't get me wrong, I'm a chef but you want to market yourself and your projects.

If we have meetings, I try to schedule the meetings at different restaurants I want to try - so I always suggest the restaurants.

I'm the culinary and creative consultant for The Water Club.

Confit is not something that comes to mind for summer. Usually it means duck confit, made by cooking the legs and thighs in duck fat to preserve them for winter.

It's important to salt the tomatoes before draining them because that helps pull out the water. Fresh herbs, some garlic and pepper will also enhance the flavor.

The Lamb's Club is going to be a luxury bar and grill; we're not doing an overly fancy restaurant. We wanted to make a space that people will come to every day, almost like a very high-end bistro.

I don't usually have time for TV. When I get home at night, I just want to fall asleep.

I'm a freak of neat. The kitchen has to be clean.

Comfort food is really anything you want at that time. That said, I really love Naple-style pizza.

I always request a king-size bed, and if I can't, I try to work that out right after I land. I unpack immediately so the clothes don't get wrinkled. I go the gym. I adjust the temperature; I like the room kind of warm. And then turn on CNBC.

When I step into the kitchen in the morning, I go for the scrambled eggs with pine nuts and minced lamb. When I finish at night, it is hard to resist the burger.