Wolfgang Puck

In L.A. you live in a big city, but you feel like you're in the countryside. For example, I can be at home in the swimming pool and be five minutes from everything.

For me, cooking is an expression of the land where you are and the culture of that place.

I like to be firm. But it is easier to be nice than to be nasty.

Restaurants are like having children: it's fun to make them, maybe, but then you have them for good and bad. You are going to have to raise them and if something goes wrong when they are 30 years old, they will still be your little boy.

For me, I don't expect to have a really amazing meal each time I dine out. Having a good meal with your loved ones - that's what makes the experience.

I grew up so poor in Austria that we never took a vacation with my family.

A lot of chefs are traditional and do it very well. But the ones who are the most successful are the ones who change things. That is why someone like Heston Blumenthal is a genius.

When I do a cooking class now, I tell people that the most important part is to read the recipe many times so you know what you're doing. What I don't tell them, though, is that sometimes I do parties where I'm rushing so much I don't have time to follow my own advice.

If you're cooking for a woman, make a good risotto and a salad. If you don't have time to make desert you can go and buy some macaroons to have afterwards.

I think the time of the formal dinners is over.

I left school when I was 14 to work in kitchens.

I learned more from the one restaurant that didn't work than from all the ones that were successes.