I Try To Teach My Son About

It's Okay To Play With Your Food.

I Was On The Board Of Andre Agassi's Foundation, And Seeing The Way It Operated Blew My Mind. In 2002, I Told My Wife, I Want To Start A Foundation To Give Back, I Want It To Be For Kids In Hard Circumstances, And I Want It To Be Culinary-driven, Because That's Who I Am.

Life Just Doesn't Hand You Things. You Have To Get Out There And Make Things Happen. That's The Exciting Part.

I Respected It. I Submerged Myself Into It. So On A Lot Of Days Off I Would Go And Fish With The Fishermen And The Families That Ran The Boats. I Would Go Work The Fields With Farmers. I Would Go And Talk With Farmers About Growing Particular Products For Me.

When I First Decided To Open A Restaurant, I Was Turned Down By Several Banks. It Was The Late 80's And Many Restaurants Were Failing. I Refused To Give Up Because I Knew I Had A Good Concept.