Joel Robuchon Quotes

Culture and tradition have to change little by little. So 'new' means a little twist, a marriage of Japanese technique with French ingredients. My technique. Indian food, Korean food; I put Italian mozzarella cheese with sashimi. I don't think 'new new new.' I'm not a genius. A little twist.

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.

There are three capitals of entertainment in the world: Las Vegas, New York and London. So far the only one I truly conquered is Vegas. New York and London are still on my checklist.

Las Vegas is the expression, in glitter and concrete, of America's brittle and mutating id.

It's very hard to be an innovator at the highest level in any discipline. For some chefs it's merely about combining ingredients, but that's something you can do with your eyes closed.

At Babbo, each dish grew out of a conversation, trying to put something forth that was new and different. It was a combination of culinary adventurism and the dining-room experience with respect for the classic but with an eye toward innovation. And it was about eating locally, whether produce or fish or meat.

Ferran Adria making hamburgers... some thought it was crazy. But getting them perfect was a challenge. Plus I'm fascinated by all aspects of food.

I would try doing a dish 30 different ways.

As for poker, I've stayed away from that, even though when I was in Vegas for Ocean's Eleven, I would get accosted by these guys begging me to play. They just want to take my money. They see me, think 'actor' and see some easy money.

I've been a little bit Las Vegas and casino-obsessed. So, I love some trashy glamour... and I think nothing's trashier or more glamorous than a bit of a sheer number!

It's like this - because I travel so much, I crave certain foods or certain things, like from certain places that I've been.

I'm surprised by the talent I find all over. There are always new chefs who propose many interesting new ideas, new ways of looking at ingredients.

I'm not a crazy Vegas guy. I'm not a gambler.

I look at Las Vegas, and I see the absolute best of what we are as Americans, and I see the absolute worst, in the same city.

At wd~50, we have carried on, I think, a very honest, legitimate European tradition of messing with foie gras.

If you're cooking and not making mistakes, you're not playing outside your safety zone. I don't expect it all to be good. I have fat dogs because I scrap that stuff out the back door.

I lost $35,000 in less than a week at the Mirage in Las Vegas.

Cooking is like fashion. Always, I like to try to change. If I'm traveling in a different country - to Australia, the Bahamas, Budapest, Moscow - and I see a new ingredient, I like to try it in a new dish.

The faces in New York remind me of people who played a game and lost.

I actually get more conservative when I'm in Vegas.

When I first went to Las Vegas, I thought I would never go to Las Vegas; you can't get anything. But then I realized that they were trucking in almost everything; you could get a lot of your product, and I think that's why a lot of chefs actually went there.

To have a basic ingredient that can be prepared a million different ways is a beautiful thing.

I'm always changing my work, as there are endless ways to think about food.

Any artist who goes to Las Vegas is an idiot as far as I am concerned. Whoever goes to Las Vegas can stay in Las Vegas.

I only ever play Vegas one night at a time. It's a hideous, gaudy place; it may not be the end of the world per se, but you can certainly see it from there.