Jean Georges Quotes & Sayings

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

A fine picture is but the image of nature; a finished ballet is nature herself. — Jean-Georges Noverre

In order that our art may arrive at the degree of the sublime which I demand and hope for, it is imperative for dancers to divide their time and studies between the mind and the body, and that both become the object of their application; but, unfortunately, all is given to the latter and nothing to the former. The legs are rarely guided by the brain, and, since intelligence and taste do not reside in the feet, one often goes astray. — Jean-Georges Noverre

I think we're always going to be based in New York. So I would say 50 percent New York and the other 50 percent around the world. — Jean-Georges Vongerichten

When I went to London, they told me I spoke with a funny accent - English with a Chinese accent. — Jean-Georges Vongerichten

My grandmother taught me how to make the basic pate brise pastry crust when I was young. The one thing I learned simply by eating her endless variations on delicious tarts for dinner every night is that this dough can be used for just about anything - sweet or savory. — Jean-Georges Vongerichten

Our clients wanted the restaurant experience, not their mother's buffet dinner - so we reached out to that world and hired a series of restaurant chefs: Robb Garceau from Jean Georges, Cornelius Gallagher from Oceana. Cornelius completely revolutionized our menu; he did a stint at El Bulli, and one of the techniques he brought back was sous-vide cooking. Our current chef, Patrick Phelan, continues to grow the vision. — David Castle

No matter the style, the farther one goes the more obstacles increase, and the more distant appears the object it is desired to attain. Again, the most strenuous labor affords the greatest artists but a disquieting gleam which only reveals their inadequacy, while the self-satisfied ignoramus surrounded by the deepest gloom flatters himself that he has nothing more to learn. — Jean-Georges Noverre

Applause lavished at a whim and without discernment, often proves the ruin of young people training for a stage career. — Jean-Georges Noverre

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

I know that applause is food for the arts, but it ceases to be wholesome if administered indiscriminately; and the nutrition is so rich that, far from strengthening the constitution, it disturbs and enfeebles it. Stage beginners are similar to those children totally spoiled by the blind affection of their parents. — Jean-Georges Noverre

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 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

If our ballets be feeble, monotonous and dull, if they be devoid of ideas, meaning, expression and character, it is less the fault of the art than that of the artist. — Jean-Georges Noverre

The Hamptons remind me of my childhood vacations. I love the beach, restaurants, and produce found on the East End. — Jean-Georges Vongerichten

I'm cooking 42 years, and I didn't know bananas are good for my brain. — Jean-Georges Vongerichten

Pound Ridge is about five miles from our country house. When you go every weekend for the last ten years without fail, well, that starts to feel like a home. — Jean-Georges Vongerichten

Food for me has to pop, and at Spice Market, the food really pops. — Jean-Georges Vongerichten

My two essential ingredients are chilies, any kind, dried or fresh; and acid, whether it's citrus - lemon, lime, yuzu - or vinegars. Food has to pop. — Jean-Georges Vongerichten

The dish that changed my life was tom yum kum. You start with a pot of water, add lemongrass, lime leaves, lime juice, coriander, mushrooms, and shrimp; ten minutes later, you have the most incredible, intense soup. — Jean-Georges Vongerichten

Food is a part of life. People are foodies and love to shop for food. — Jean-Georges Vongerichten

I was sick of immigrants not getting the credit they deserved. I was sick of the Jean-Georges of the world making a killing on our ingredients and flavors because we were too stupid to package it the right way. I was sick of seeing other Asian kids like myself walking to school with their heads down. I was sick of seeing them picking snow peas in the dining room after school and I was sick of not having a voice in America...My main objective with Baohus was to become a voice for Asian Americans. (264) — Eddie Huang

I cook every day for six hours. It's my therapy. My love. — 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 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

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

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

The house is always full, and we're always cooking - outside, inside, for six, eight, a dozen, 20 people. — Jean-Georges Vongerichten

All the great chefs I know - Thomas Keller, Jean-Georges Vongerichten - they are technicians first. — Jacques Pepin

In the morning, we sliced all the vegetables and layered everything up in a pot with a glass of Riesling. On the way to church, we dropped it off with the baker, who sealed the lid with a strip of dough and put it in his oven for a couple of hours. We picked it up at 12 o'clock and took it home to eat with mustard and salad. — Jean-Georges Vongerichten

I want every dish to be a ten. — Jean-Georges Vongerichten

I love Sunday lunches with the family that start at 1 P.M. and finish at 5 P.M. — Jean-Georges Vongerichten

You don't do a business for pleasure: You have to make money. — Jean-Georges Vongerichten

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

For people in London, Asian flavors are always part of the culture, more than in New York. — Jean-Georges Vongerichten

It is shameful that dancing should renounce the empire it might assert over the mind and only endeavor to please the sight. — Jean-Georges Noverre

The defects born of habit are innumerable. I see every child occupied in some way in disarranging and disfiguring his physique; some displace the ankles through the habit they have contracted of standing on one leg only and playing, as it were, with the other; placing it in a position which though disagreeable and strained, does not fatigue them, because the softness of their tendons and muscles lend themselves to all kinds of movement. — Jean-Georges Noverre

I will make an average man into an average dancer, provided he be passably well made. I will teach him how to move his arms and legs, to turn his head. I will give him steadiness, brilliancy and speed; but I cannot endow him with that fire and intelligence, those graces and that expression of feeling which is the soul of true pantomime. — Jean-Georges Noverre

I arrived in Bangkok in 1980: I was 23 years old, and it changed my life. — Jean-Georges Vongerichten

At our theaters we only see feeble copies of the copies that have proceeded them, renounce that slavish routine which keeps your art in its infancy; examine everything relative to the development of talents; be original; form a style for yourselves based on your private studies; if you must copy, imitate nature, it is a noble model and never misleads those who follow it. — Jean-Georges Noverre

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

It wasn't the traditional cooking most people do. For me, as a young chef, Thanksgiving meant going to work in the kitchen at places like Gotham, JoJo and Jean-Georges. — Wylie Dufresne

When the music and dance create with accord ... their magic captivates both the heart and the mind. — Jean-Georges Noverre

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 eat everything. I still like to go to Peter Luger once in a while. — Jean-Georges Vongerichten

I grew up near Strasbourg in Alsace, where my family were coal merchants. — 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

Dancing and ballets would undoubtedly take on a new lease on life, if the customs established by a spirit of fear and jealousy did not in some way close the path of glory ... — Jean-Georges Noverre

My presence in California will bring a new, inspiring culinary environment to life, and I'm delighted to share my creative techniques and evolving fresh ideas with the Beverly Hills community. — Jean-Georges Vongerichten

I am a huge supporter of the Waxman foundation. — Jean-Georges Vongerichten

I was a big fan of Jean-Claude Van-Damme growing up, and I always wanted to be a martial artist 'cause of him. — Georges St-Pierre

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

In order to dance well, nothing is so important as the turning outwards of the thigh; and nothing is so natural to men as the contrary position. — Jean-Georges Noverre

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

When you do a menu at a restaurant, you have to be the engineer of that menu. It has to be a crowd-pleaser. — Jean-Georges Vongerichten

It is not a question of skimming the surface of the art, it must be probed to its depths, for to seize upon superficial things only is to degenerate into mediocrity and obscurity. — Jean-Georges Noverre

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

The role of a chef isn't to reinvent dishes but to tweak. — Jean-Georges Vongerichten

The day of the week changes, but one day in the week I eat vegetarian. — Jean-Georges Vongerichten

I love cooking, but I love the business, too. It's important because a lot of chefs forget the business side and have to shut down after six months. — Jean-Georges Vongerichten

For me, the good food starts with good product. — Jean-Georges Vongerichten

For friends, I love to make bruschetta. I grill country bread with Frantoia olive oil and make toppings, like crab, roasted squash, mushrooms, whatever's seasonal. — Jean-Georges Vongerichten

The abuse of the best things is always detrimental. — Jean-Georges Noverre

I have 20 restaurants. And if one doesn't work, it doesn't work. — Jean-Georges Vongerichten

The defect in wisdom and taste which exists among the majority of dancers is due to the bad education which they generally receive. They apply themselves only to the material side of their art, they learn to jump more or less high, they strive mechanically to execute a number of steps, and like children, who utter a great many words devoid of sense and relation, they execute many phrases of steps devoid of taste and grace. — Jean-Georges Noverre

The toughest decision is always whether to open a restaurant. Two or three bad months, and you could be out of business. — Jean-Georges Vongerichten

No one can understand my accent! — Jean-Georges Vongerichten

I love creating new things. It's difficult to be creative once a restaurant's open. People want the same dishes. For me, the creativity is in opening a new place and starting a new menu. — Jean-Georges Vongerichten

I should never conclude were I to speak to you of all the misfortunes which have their origin in the faulty carriage of the body. All these defects, mortifying for those who have contracted them, cannot be remedied except in their early stages. A habit born in childhood is strengthened in youth, becomes deeply rooted in adulthood and is incurable in old age. — Jean-Georges Noverre

Actually, I'd really love to do something in Bali, up in the mountains. A little restaurant with that scenery would be beautiful. — 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

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

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

Food is important for me, but as a restaurant group, to expand, you know, we have to look where the best market are - where the best markets are. — 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

For my 16th birthday, my family took me to L'Auberge de L'Ill, which was family-run but had three Michelin stars. It was a revelation. After that meal, I realised this is what I want to do. — Jean-Georges Vongerichten

I cannot avoid condemning all those who, from self-conceit have the pretension to imitate great artists of the past. If their powers of emotion be weak, their powers of expression will be likewise. — Jean-Georges Noverre

At lunchtime, our kitchen was like a mini restaurant: my grandmother and mother had to cook for as many as 25 people - extended family plus 10 employees. We ate a lot of cabbage and a lot of potatoes. — Jean-Georges Vongerichten

This art, born of genius and good taste, can become beautiful and varied to an infinite degree. — Jean-Georges Noverre

One thing I love most about New York is the variety of amazing foods you can eat. My all-time favorite is the Chicken Parmigianino at Jean Georges. — Melania Trump

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

I drink a lot of juice and eat a lot of vegetables. — Jean-Georges Vongerichten

Spice Market was just a big investment on lots of different levels. — Jean-Georges Vongerichten