Eric Ripert Quotes

One of my great teachers was the late Jean-Claude Vrinat of Taillevent in Paris.

Fifteen years ago, France was the promised land of cooking. So I looked at a map, found five restaurants and faxed them to ask for a job. Within five minutes, I got a reply from the then three- star Le Jardin des Sens in Montpellier.

I cook. I did the Escoffier course in Paris when I was 21 in one of those periods when it was like a pause. I can cook anything Italian, Chinese.

In Paris we have bistros, then we have fine dining. In London, you have a very contemporary scene with mixed influences.

I love good food and I love to eat in nice restaurants. I love Japanese food. I love Gordon Ramsay in London; he is pretty amazing.

I think in France, for example, we can say whatever we want about the French, but going out and dining is more about the intellectual moment to share with the people you dine with than trying to figure out what the chef did with that little piece of salmon or lobster and all that.

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

It's certain that fine women eat A crazy salad with their meat.

All the great chefs I know - Thomas Keller, Jean-Georges Vongerichten - they are technicians first.

I think that in our part of the world, Scandinavia, we are one of the pioneers of showing that gastronomy can be something - high gastronomy can be something very, very present and doesn't have to involve, you know, what is perceived as the normal luxury items that belong in a high gastronomy restaurant.

I'm sure that at no point in my life could I ever have shown the kind of focus and discipline and commitment necessary to work a station at elBulli or Le Bernardin. No. That ain't me.

To be a gourmet you must start early, as you must begin riding early to be a good horseman. You must live in France, your father must have been a gourmet. Nothing in life must interest you but your stomach.

I was a foodie and I continue to be a foodie.

Acting is all I've ever done, and I've nothing else to make comparisons with when anyone asks me whether I've ever wanted anything else out of life. It's given me enough satisfaction so that I haven't wanted or had to look for anything else.

In France, cooking is a serious art form and a national sport.

I still feel that French cooking is the most important in the world, one of the few that has rules. If you follow the rules, you can do pretty well.

I never struggled with trying to figure out what it was I wanted to do or what made the sparks go for me.

Here's the irony in what I do: When I go out to eat, I like classic French food. I like amazing Japanese food that has such a history that it goes back hundreds of years. And I also like really innovative food as well.

In Tokyo, we have more three-star Michelin restaurants than Paris.

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

One of my favorites to order in fancy restaurants is escargot.

There's never been a question of not being a part of this business or not being a part of this industry - I love it - it's in my blood; it's always been in my blood. It's just a part of who I am.

I don't think of careers from a functional perspective or from a subject matter perspective. I think of careers as, how do you like spending the time in your day? What makes you happiest? What are you most passionate about?

A fellowship to Oxford acquainted me with the depths of English cooking. By the twenty-first century, London's best restaurants are as good as Paris's, but not in the 1950s.

I go to the fanciest restaurants in the world and try them out. I like to see these chefs that are wizards do their thing. I like two types of food: cheap fast food - In-N-Out Burger, Taco Bell, stuff like that - or expensive food. Anything in between just bothers me.