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The Great Gatsby
Hamlet
Of Mice and Men
Frankenstein

Jean-Georges Vongerichten Quotes

I think, as a chef and restaurateur, that you have to take care of your business. Otherwise, you’re only as good as your last meal. You have to watch if your food costs are too high, or you could be out of business in no time.

– Jean-Georges Vongerichten

I landed in 1980 in Bangkok, and I stopped to eat ten times between the airport and the hotel. It was all lemongrass and ginger and chilies.

– Jean-Georges Vongerichten

A chef and a restaurateur are different jobs: One is about pleasing people with what’s on the plate; the other is about understanding the market. I’m a chef, but I think I’m a savvy businessperson, too.

– Jean-Georges Vongerichten

This is what I grew up on in Alsace. It’s choucroute. I’d wake up every morning with the smell of cabbage and potatoes and pork.

– Jean-Georges Vongerichten

Our best hits are real-estate stories, going back to our first, JoJo in 1991.

– Jean-Georges Vongerichten

A steak is a steak, so I tried to experiment with different side dishes, such as truffle croquettes, and unusual condiments, but I learned that people don’t want you to change the steakhouse.

– Jean-Georges Vongerichten

My father was in the coal and heating business, and he wanted me to take over his business, and I resented every moment of it. So I would never force my kids to do what I do.

– Jean-Georges Vongerichten

For people in London, Asian flavors are always part of the culture, more than in New York.

– Jean-Georges Vongerichten

Spice Market was just a big investment on lots of different levels.

– Jean-Georges Vongerichten

I arrived in New York in 1986, when I was 28. The market here was nothing. In the Union Square farmers’ market, it was a couple of potatoes, everything from California. So the only place I was comfortable shopping was in Chinatown, because it all came from Hong Kong.

– Jean-Georges Vongerichten

At ABC Cocina and Kitchen, 90 percent of our produce and vegetables come from Union Square, and that’s all from upstate New York farmers. We are simply committed to this idea of local, organic food.

– Jean-Georges Vongerichten

If we put a vinaigrette together, every part of it is weighed. For the burger, we do a bit of arugula, olive oil – everything is weighed. To the gram.

– Jean-Georges Vongerichten

My mother worked in a chocolate factory, so when I came home from school, I had a piece of baguette with dark chocolate in it. I remember her smelling like chocolate.

– Jean-Georges Vongerichten

I grew up in Alsace – in Strasbourg, by the canal; the family business was coal handling. It was still in the days when three generations would live under the same roof. There were 15 people for lunch, 20 for dinner.

– Jean-Georges Vongerichten

Cooking at home is easier than cooking in the restaurant because you don’t have to write a menu or try to please everybody.

– Jean-Georges Vongerichten

At home, I never plate. Things go in the middle of the table, and you serve yourself. In the restaurant, every day I plate things, but at home, I want to enjoy my company.

– Jean-Georges Vongerichten

I think, when I was younger, I was cooking to impress. Sometimes the dish would have 15 things on the plate. That’s cooking only for yourself. As you get more mature, you take all the superfluous things away, and you get the essential flavor. Now I cook for people, not for myself.

– Jean-Georges Vongerichten

My kitchen in New York City is in the Richard Meier building on Perry Street, so it’s ultra-modern: white, glass and transparent. It’s 180 square feet, with an induction stove. Everything’s hidden, so you don’t see the microwave or the fridge.

– Jean-Georges Vongerichten

I think food is getting lighter and healthier because people eat out so often. It’s about quality ingredients because that is the root of good food.

– Jean-Georges Vongerichten

Food for me has to pop, and at Spice Market, the food really pops.

– Jean-Georges Vongerichten

I spent seven years in France. Then, I went to Asia for five years. I came to London in 1984 and then America in 1985. In 1991, I opened my first restaurant in New York City.

– Jean-Georges Vongerichten

You don’t do a business for pleasure: You have to make money.

– Jean-Georges Vongerichten

I have 20 restaurants. And if one doesn’t work, it doesn’t work.

– Jean-Georges Vongerichten

The house is always full, and we’re always cooking – outside, inside, for six, eight, a dozen, 20 people.

– Jean-Georges Vongerichten

I drink a lot of juice and eat a lot of vegetables.

– Jean-Georges Vongerichten

The day of the week changes, but one day in the week I eat vegetarian.

– Jean-Georges Vongerichten

No one can understand my accent!

– Jean-Georges Vongerichten

When I arrived in New York, I was at the Drake hotel for five years; so, yeah, I really miss hotels. It’s like having friends stay at your home. Every day you get to treat them, not only to dinner, but for breakfast, and everything throughout the day.

– Jean-Georges Vongerichten

There is so much more vegetable use in Thailand, India and China than meat. Yes, when you go to the markets or buy street food, you see shrimp or chicken – but mostly vegetables.

– Jean-Georges Vongerichten

You’ve got to be in your kitchens, or it all falls apart.

– Jean-Georges Vongerichten

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