Danny Meyer Quotes

I'd rather have Daniel Boulud have 20 restaurants than some restauranteur. It's going to make the food in our country better.

To eat well, I always disagree with critics who say that all restaurants should be fine dining. You can get a Michelin star if you serve the best hamburger in the world.

Weddings have become an expression not just of our desires but also our ambitions, and so more and more the food at weddings is like the food everywhere else, with the ingredients parsed for purity and the preparation praised for ingenuity and the sushi chef standing where the carving table used to be.

When I moved to Los Angeles, I was cooking with two guys who became celebrity chefs, if you will. I became their sous chef for awhile. We'd go to all the big names in Hollywood.

I am happy for them all: Angela Hartnett, Jason Atherton, Marcus Wareing, Mark Sargeant.

If I want popularity, I go to a chef's convention.

I have a goal so lofty it's almost embarrassing to talk about. And that's to be the best restaurant in the world.

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.

I think fine dining is dying out everywhere... but I think there will be - and there has to always be - room for at least a small number of really fine, old-school fine-dining restaurants.

For me to go casual is not to go simple. To me, it is to be able to bring back the art of tradition and the soul of French food and my interpretation of that.

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.

Chef Michel Richard is always at the top of his game.

I think the best restaurants in America should be in California.

I don't go to the cool, trendy restaurants. I go to either the holes in the wall or the super-fancy restaurants where there are no cool people.

I enjoy the burger joint the same way I enjoy fancy meals.

I believe what makes cooking in Las Vegas different from cooking in most other cities are the guests that dine with you in Las Vegas.

Give me Caviar Kaspia and give me a hamburger. I love the two extremes.

Las Vegas is a beautiful place. I like it more and more and plan to be here often. It's a great place for chess.

Food is ever-changing and ever moving forward and getting more and more complex.

The food being presented at the most expensive restaurants, by the most sophisticated chefs, was not always recognizable as food to the diner - it required a leap of faith, and I felt curious about that phenomenon.

I am so proud of 'Top Chef' - I think it's got great cred.

I am honored to receive the James Beard award and so incredibly proud of my entire team at Eleven Madison Park.

In San Francisco, the majority of the restaurants are ingredient-driven. In New York, that is true as well, but there's also a greater focus on technique.

I'm into the food in Vegas. I'm willing to go to nice restaurants for sushi and stuff like that.

Way back in the day, I used to cook for Thomas Keller at Rakel in New York City. Keller is a down to earth, kind, supportive person. I wish people could see that.