Words matter. These are the best Joe Bastianich Quotes, and they’re great for sharing with your friends.
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.
Finding specialty food items was a bit of a challenge in Asia in the early days of getting the Mozza’s up and running. Everything is built on relationships, and when you start somewhere new, it takes time to develop that. Staffing can also present challenges.
He brought a sensibility and a hard-edged reasonableness to operating restaurants that had a lasting impact on me and still affects how I run all our restaurants today. The passing of ‘Restaurant Man’ – the original gangsta ‘Restaurant Man,’ my father – was the passing of an era. No one can replace him.
There are many things I’m looking forward to in 2013, both personally and professionally. Plans for new restaurants in the U.S., including Eataly Chicago, are underway, and I’m gearing up for the 2013 Ironman world championships in Hawaii – if I’m lucky enough to get a spot!
The pressure, the heat, the almost impossibly fast pace at which you need work – this is the reality of working in the culinary industry. This is what professional chefs do night after night.
I think a lot of people overlook the importance of the menu as a marketing tool and a way of communicating to the customer what the ambition of their restaurant is. Not only the typeface and the design, but what is it printed on? Is it cheap-looking? Is it the right kind of paper for that restaurant?
I come from a family that loves to eat, not exercise. Being fat made even walking hard.
I’m one of three judges on ‘MasterChef’ with Gordon Ramsay, but I don’t want my own show. I’m kind of used to the sidekick gig.
Being a cook doesn’t necessarily mean you are a competitor.
At home, I make a large batch of tomato sauce and freeze it in meal-size portions in freezer bags.
With four-appetizer, four-entree menus, it’s like, give me a break. That’s not a restaurant, that’s a dinner party.
Frankly, Milan kind of sucks as a restaurant city. It’s so fashion-obsessed that people don’t pay that much attention to the food.
Wine pricing is an art – like painting.
Essentially, wines are fermented grape juice, so I’m trying to make the point that the wine world is about scores and marketing and kind of creating a scarce resource where they don’t really exist.
It’s kind of like a midlife crisis kind of thing. When you turn 40, you have to run the marathon, while all the parts still work properly.
Every time I open a new restaurant, I wake up in the middle of the night moaning about bread and water. I dream I am in the middle of the dining room, and I am panicked.
Classics can be phenomenal when done right. A simple roast chicken dish could be the best thing you ever eat.
Being general manager is like being the de facto owner. It’s like wearing the crown of ‘Restaurant Man’ without being ‘Restaurant Man.’ You’re trying to run the business, but you’re running the ranch without riding the big horse.
The best pastas are cut with bronze dies that give them a rough texture and allow the sauce to cling.
Most people who open restaurants will fail, because they lack the fundamental understanding of restaurant math. Either they think they’re superstar cooks or they think they’re superstar hosts.
‘MasterChef’ is the search for America’s culinary amateur talent, so this is a search for the best home cook in America, and it’s our job to figure out who that is.
America has been conditioned to think of pasta as the never-ending pasta bowl and Olive Garden.
Take the time to shop for yourself and cook. All of this is an investment in yourself, and if you’re not going to invest time and money in what you put in your body, then what are you going to spend money on? It’s kind of the most important thing.
I prioritize in life. I like to work, I do TV shows, I do a lot of Iron Man training. I enjoy kicking back on a good night and drinking wine until I go to bed, and having fun with my friends. You just have to make time for it and keep it balanced.
Babbo’s menu is only four pages, but it’s overwhelming – there are 20 different pastas in there, a lot of stuff. There is nothing I hate more than a useless, lazy menu with only three appetizers and four entrees.
Your pantry is your first line of defense against food-borne illness and things like high blood pressure and cholesterol.
No matter what it is you are cooking, buy the best ingredients you can afford. I don’t care if it’s a simple salad or Beef Wellington. A quality product stands alone and won’t need any dressing up.
New York is the best food city in the world.
As a restaurateur, my palate is one of my most important tools.
Carbs – especially pasta – are the fuel my body needs to maintain an athletic lifestyle.
My wife and I battle over home decor. My style goes from Gothic to Baroque. Hers is minimalist.
Maitre d’s are at the financial spigot of the restaurant, meaning they control who gets in and who doesn’t, but aside from that, they don’t do anything. And yet they get paid as much as the highest-paid people in the place.
Working in a restaurant means being part of a family, albeit usually a slightly dysfunctional one. Nothing is accomplished independently.
I was raised in restaurants. My parents opened their first restaurant, Buonavia, in Queens when I was just 3. This business has always been my way of life. As a kid, home was reserved only for sleeping. After school, you could find my sister and I helping out at the family restaurant.
Selling wine is all about sizing people up, and it takes a certain amount of chutzpah. The tableside bottle sell is a very funny thing – you take a look at the guy’s blazer, what kind of shoes he’s wearing, what kind of broad he’s with. Is he trying to be a hero?