Charlie Trotter

If you want the meaning of families and life and religion and philosophy rolled into one package, all you need to read is 'The Brothers Karamazov.' ”

I took the obligatory economics classes in school, but I've long been a fan of the Milton Friedman philosophy and its libertarian bent: One must be free to do what one wants to do, as long as you don't harm another. This is the seminal treatise on free-market economics. ”

My plan is to work on a master's in philosophy. ”

In a time when it is common for chefs to simply reproduce the innovations of others, the few who speak for themselves through their food become the skilled artists of their time. ”

I wasn't using college as a stepping stone to law school or some other career. I just wanted a liberal-arts education. ”

When I graduated I wasn't sure what I wanted to do, but I knew I didn't want a conventional career. ”

I have a goal so lofty it's almost embarrassing to talk about. And that's to be the best restaurant in the world. ”

It's a challenge to demonstrate that you can prepare some really interesting food with humble ingredients. ”

Maybe it's good to be traumatized in your youth, to make you think differently and step outside the box. Anybody can be comfortable, but if you get your world rocked, shaken as it were, then maybe it causes you to really go to a whole other level in a different way. ”

If you go around the kitchen and ask my employees what they want to be doing in three to five years, most of them, if they're being honest, will tell you that they don't want to be working for me. They want to have their own place. And I think that's great. ”