Fiaba Zakarian Quotes

#1. Everyone could use instructions on every aspect of cooking: pantry, storage, refrigeration, cooking, what to buy. Everyone that I come into contact with could use help. #Quote by Geoffrey Zakarian

#2. Determine who you are and what your brand is, and what you're not. The rest of it is just a lot of noise. #Quote by Geoffrey Zakarian

#3. I was shocked when they told me congratulations, you won, that's the good news. Then the bad news is that you have six battles next week. That was a bit of a shocker. I was exhausted. And I had Chopped shooting that same week. I didn't have a sous chef lined up; I thought that was bad karma to try to think ahead. So I scrambled. I scrambled the jets, took off and we bombed our target. I think it's gone well. #Quote by Geoffrey Zakarian

#4. I'm very active. I've got two small daughters and four restaurants in three cities. I'm busy. #Quote by Geoffrey Zakarian

#5. It's so funny. I honestly thought every one of those people on the show could beat anyone at any time anywhere. You just have to have a slightly off day or moment or two or you missed a touch of acid. It has nothing to do with credentials. Anyone could've chopped anyone at any time. I had to look at myself as the one who could lose this the most. #Quote by Geoffrey Zakarian

#6. Confit is not something that comes to mind for summer. Usually it means duck confit, made by cooking the legs and thighs in duck fat to preserve them for winter. #Quote by Geoffrey Zakarian

#7. My agent called me and said, they watched you do Chopped Champions and they thought you'd be good for this competition. What do you think? And I said, well, what do you think? He said he thought it would be great and I said let's do it. When you decide to do this, you don't really think that you're going to win it. I thought it would be fun, good to test my mettle; games are fun like that. Why not? I'll try it. #Quote by Geoffrey Zakarian

#8. I still have the 'New York Post' delivered because it's so garrulous and nasty and wonderful when you read it in print. Some things just don't translate online. #Quote by Geoffrey Zakarian

#9. There's a point of no return when you're cooking tomatoes. A little too much heat, a little too long in the pot, and you lose that sense of fresh ripeness that makes tomatoes so great. #Quote by Geoffrey Zakarian

#10. It's really an honor to be included in such an incredible lineup of chefs. The team Borgata has assembled is by far one of the best on the East Coast. #Quote by Geoffrey Zakarian

#11. Cooking a piece of fish and cooking it right. Knowing the fish, knowing the properties of the fish. That's a hard thing to do rather than covering it with a lot of sauces and foams or other cooking methods that might be high wire acts and look good on the outside. #Quote by Geoffrey Zakarian

#12. What we've witnessed in the past 25 or 30 years is just incredible. We've birthed 30,000 or 40,000 restaurants. I used to go to Europe every year to get experience [and ideas]. I don't go to Europe anymore. I go to Oregon, I go to Washington, I go to Louisiana, I go to Little Rock, I go to Austin, I travel New York City. I don't go to Europe anymore. #Quote by Geoffrey Zakarian

#13. I'll transform anything as long as it's edible. #Quote by Geoffrey Zakarian

#14. I don't usually have time for TV. When I get home at night, I just want to fall asleep. #Quote by Geoffrey Zakarian

#15. It's important to salt the tomatoes before draining them because that helps pull out the water. Fresh herbs, some garlic and pepper will also enhance the flavor. #Quote by Geoffrey Zakarian

#16. I begin my day online and end my day online. I like to prepare myself for the next day and have a sense of closure before I go to bed. #Quote by Geoffrey Zakarian

#17. I love hospitality, and I love cooking. The kitchen is where I feel most at ease and where I feel most like myself. #Quote by Geoffrey Zakarian

#18. I like old fashioned things. We have these old wine buckets at the restaurant and none of them match. #Quote by Geoffrey Zakarian

#19. 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. #Quote by Geoffrey Zakarian

#20. Chestnuts are my favorite ingredient to use in the fall, especially for the holidays. I always find that they are meaty, hearty and have a mysterious refinement when cooked or roasted over sea salt. #Quote by Geoffrey Zakarian

#21. I got killed against Morimoto. I brought out white plates with food; I thought that was really nice. He brings out sculptures of ice, Noah's ark made of balsa wood that he carved at his restaurant downstairs, smoking trees ... When I saw that, I looked at my sous chef and I'm like, we're toast. #Quote by Geoffrey Zakarian

#22. If we have meetings, I try to schedule the meetings at different restaurants I want to try - so I always suggest the restaurants. #Quote by Geoffrey Zakarian

#23. I've never missed a flight. And I don't see any reason in cutting it close because airports are pleasurable for me: You can go to the restaurant, get a massage, browse books, sit at a bar, check emails. #Quote by Geoffrey Zakarian

#24. I do not believe in eating fish hot. People always insist on hot fish, but that leaves it dried out. #Quote by Geoffrey Zakarian

#25. I love hotel rooms, so I take pictures of the room and the way out and the lobby, the food and drink. #Quote by Geoffrey Zakarian

#26. I always go to the lowest common denominator for that ingredient. So if I think squash, I try to think what it means to me
and if it doesn't mean anything to me, I'm not gonna do well when I cook it. So [squash] means to me: fall, maple syrup, cinnamon, and things just come into your head so you can narrow the vortex and make it a bit smaller and you go with something because there's no time. #Quote by Geoffrey Zakarian

#27. When I step into the kitchen in the morning, I go for the scrambled eggs with pine nuts and minced lamb. When I finish at night, it is hard to resist the burger. #Quote by Geoffrey Zakarian

#28. I wish that restaurateurs would choose simpler and smaller glassware. The tables on restaurants these days are way too crowded, and mostly because the plates are too odd looking and big, and the wine glasses are so gigantic that it takes up the whole surface area and you can't move. I prefer smaller glassware. #Quote by Geoffrey Zakarian

#29. I'm a freak of neat. The kitchen has to be clean. #Quote by Geoffrey Zakarian

#30. The most important things in life happen over conversations while eating. #Quote by Geoffrey Zakarian

#31. I don't enjoy eating humble pie. #Quote by Geoffrey Zakarian

#32. My mother's blueberry pie from scratch was amazing. I still make it today. #Quote by Geoffrey Zakarian

#33. If you give a discount there's a desperation there and I like to substitute desperation with service and real quality. And the desperation goes away. #Quote by Geoffrey Zakarian

#34. I like tuna when there's a definite streak of deep pink in the middle, medium rare so to speak, and it comes out best when it's not cut too thick. #Quote by Geoffrey Zakarian

#35. The worst day is just that I did not enter the culinary world sooner. And the best day was seeing the reaction of my one year old daughter when she tasted her first crisp apple! #Quote by Geoffrey Zakarian