Johnny Iuzzini

I dislike cloyingly sweet desserts - sweet is not a flavor - so I suggest dialing back the sweetness and focusing on what the dessert is about, whether it is a ripe fruit, chocolate, etc.

My mom was a rescue veterinarian, and I grew up helping her nurse injured animals back to health. Any deer hit by a car, fox caught in a trap, whatever it was that got hurt, everyone brought them to my mom.

As kids, my mom would always let us help bake, and if we behaved, we got to lick the beaters clean.

I have been a fan of the Beastie Boys ever since I can remember. I have a ton of their music on my iPod and even still have a t-shirt from a show I saw when I was a kid.

When I was a kid, I would come home from school, and my mom would buy the industrial-size Famous Amos cookies or Chips Ahoy when I was lucky. And I would sit in front of the TV set with a glass of milk... and I would dump cookies in there, smash them with my spoon, and eat cookies and milk with a spoon watching 'The Dukes of Hazzard.'

Cooking is about imbibing different cultures and putting them in a plate on the table.

There are so many restaurants that cook for themselves and think they are different. But it is always about making your guest feel special.

I want to do more TV and more books. I want to have my hand in different projects. I'm way too hyper; I'm just one of those people who has to have a lot going on.

I fell in love with pastry because I felt I could be much more creative. It's precise, and you don't have to kill anything.

I really loved traveling the U.S. and seeing regional differences within the same country and how the same ingredients are used in very different ways. I love how the 'old guard' of cuisine are still pioneering so much of the direction of food today.

I love biscuits. I have a real thing for a biscuits, and if it's not made right, I'm gonna come down hard on somebody.

I drink at least a couple of espressos every day and love the flavor of coffee.