Top 44 David Chang Quotes

Cooking and gardening involve so many disciplines: math, chemistry, reading, history.

One of the benefits to ordering food in New York is that you can get food 24/7.

I’m not cooking every day anymore, and that’s the biggest withdrawal. Cooking is honest work. Now I don’t know how to measure myself.

I was quite cocky, but having been hailed as this great young golfer, I couldn’t even make the high school golf team once I got there. I had a big dose of humble pie then, and ever since, I’ve always known that there is always someone out there better than you, more talented. Always.

I was terrible at desk jobs.

Everyone tries to compare cooks to rock stars. I see more comparisons to the fashion world.

If you ask what people say what American cuisine is, they cannot really do it. I don’t know what it is.

Life’s too short to just breeze on by.

Be careful what you wish for – getting to be a successful business and maintaining it is so hard. Anyone can be good one night; being good over several years is incredibly difficult.

I think being Shaquille O’Neal would be the most amazing thing. There’s nothing I would have done differently in his life. Everything he’s done I think is pretty spot on, even, like, the bad rap videos, the shoes, the movies, everything.

To me, there are two types of celebrity: there’s good celebrity – people that are attracted to the food and working and trying to create something great – and then there’s bad celebrity – those who are working on being a celebrity.

I learned so much more prepping vegetables than I ever did in cooking school.

As a child, I didn’t see my dad that much because he was always working at the restaurant. He became pretty jaded after working at the restaurant for so long.

Food, to me, is always about cooking and eating with those you love and care for.

Momofuku is not me. It’s everyone. I’m just the facade. We have to exceed expectations and be our harshest critics.

Before I had my own restaurant, I was never top dog in the kitchen. I’ve always had a low opinion of myself as a cook.

I really don’t care for the proper chef coat.

I feel like I’m losing my ability to understand reality; like when someone loses their hearing, they can still speak English, but their speech eventually becomes distorted because they can’t hear themselves.

I’m not trying to bring New York to Toronto. I want to understand Toronto better.

I love chicken. I love chicken products: fried chicken, roasted chicken, chicken nuggets – whatever. And going to Japan, I would see that these chicken were smoked and then grilled and then have this amazing crispy skin.

I’m a big sports fan.

If I have a really bad cook or a bad manager or bad sous-chef, I previously would have fired them or lost my temper. But now I realize that if I’m so right, then I should be able to communicate it so clearly that they get it.

I think that the Japanese – and I do love Japanese cuisine and adore Japanese food culture – I think that they’re going to plow through the entire world’s fishing. They’re going to eat everything anyways.

The process and organization leading up to cooking the egg can tell you a lot about the cook.

Any processed chicken from any place – I’ll order it in a heartbeat. I’m very picky about my pork, though.

I appreciate people who are happy.

America is a country of abundance, but our food culture is sad – based on huge portions and fast food. Let’s stop with the excuses and start creating something better.

I find that there are a lot of similarities between French and Japanese food. I think they’re two countries that have really systemized their cuisine and codified it.

If people ask me, ‘What do you think could improve in Toronto dining,’ I’d say there’s nothing to improve on.

Fear is a driving force for most of the things that I do. I don’t know if that’s healthy.

I doubt I’d ever do television to the extent that, say, Gordon Ramsay has.

Growing up, my dad owned a restaurant in Washington, DC, and food was something I was passionate about. But when I finally got into it, I felt like it was so late in the game; that’s why I worked seven days a week at Craft and Mercer Kitchen. I wanted to see how far I could take it.

If people think you are this amazing, own it.

The livelihood of the restaurant is dependent upon getting the word out.

I’m always criticizing and only see the mistakes.

When you meet the farmers and go to the farms, you see that they treat their animals like they’re family. It makes a big difference.

In New York, we’re always confined with spaces. Our restaurants are difficult to navigate as cooks and to operate. We fight against the buildings we run in New York.

I constantly think I’m a fraud – that this success is not warranted or justified.

I love the intensity of the fine-dining kitchen, but loathe the fine-dining experience.

I want to make simple food new.

My dad was in the restaurant business, but I didn’t really think about following him. Had I done better at school, I don’t know if I would have been a chef.

For everyday diners in Manhattan, cracking the waiting list at Nobu is said to be harder than getting courtside tickets for the Knicks.

People are getting famous now for serving food out of a truck, or for, well, pork buns. I don’t know if I’m really pleased to be a part of that. I’m somewhat terrified of what the future holds, especially in America.

I don’t like eating in restaurants.