Eric Ripert

It has been stressful to be a French resident in America.

I am a Buddhist, therefore I should not be collecting anything - however, I have a collection of Buddhas. I have a lot of them.

There is great food in Vegas.

For me, I do not wish to build an empire.

Some chefs go crazy with one restaurant, and if I had 20, I would go nuts.

I don't follow the food trends.

As young cook, especially in France, they're very tough in the kitchen. The idea is to make you humble and learn fast.

I don't like it when I go to a restaurant and I'm lectured from the menu.

Obviously California is fantastic in terms of produce, vegetables.

Money is not necessarily, although it helps a lot for happiness, it's not necessarily the best way to be happy, to be rich, you know.

When I am about to have a difficult project, I dream I am climbing a mountain. When everything is going fine, I dream I am going down the mountain.

I am totally anti-technology.

I like very much Louis Vuitton. My wife loves it too.

I barely speak English.

I am convinced that if you serve great value, people will come to you.

Everybody wants to support his own region and economy and farming. If we can preserve the land and if we can preserve the ocean, we all know, deep inside that we're doing the right thing.

Having sharp, great knives will enable you to cook very precisely. Knife skills are essential in cooking.

I don't think I have an obsession, however I do eat chocolate every day.

A lot of people believe that when you are Buddhist, you are the Dalai Lama. I'm certainly not.

It's a very naive idea to think that the chef is cooking everything, and, on top of it, is irreplaceable. That would mean that basically he is the only genius, and there are idiots all around him, which doesn't make sense.

I never pressure myself to do something I don't want to do.

I'm a very bad baker.

I like working in silence.

One thing I don't like is complaints.

The Cheesecake Factory's not that bad.