"I timed my previous wife's pregnancy to the moment to have my son born on Bob Dylan's 50th birthday...." — 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.'

A jazz musician can improvise based on his knowledge of music. He understands how things go together. For a chef, once you have that basis, that's when cuisine is truly exciting.

In my case, vertical food was less about standing things up than layering things: more an attempt to gain texture by weaving things together.

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