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" Every season we try to do something new. And not for gimmicks. We feel the show has to evolve and keep changing. "
Tom Colicchio
Changing
Season
Show
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" Recipes tell you nothing. Learning techniques is the key. "
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Learning
Nothing
You
" Men with shaved heads are always better. Just ask my wife. "
Tom Colicchio
Better
Wife
Always
" A steak needs fat to taste great. "
Tom Colicchio
Great
Steak
Taste
" You want to be the baddest guy in the kitchen and you want the person next to you to know it. "
Tom Colicchio
Guy
Kitchen
Person
" A couple of months ago, I was down in Florida for the Food and Wine Festival. And this journalist grabbed me and said, 'How does it feel to be a TV guy? You're no longer in the restaurant business.' And I laughed. I asked him, 'How long do you think it takes me to do a season?' He said, 'Well, 200 days.' And I was like, '200 days? Try 20!' "
Tom Colicchio
Think
Long
Food
" I have very good knife skills. I learned to butcher on my second job - I was 18 years old. Every other day we would break down six legs of veal. "
Tom Colicchio
Good
Down
Day
" Asian food is very easy to like because it hits your mouth very differently than European food does. In European food, there may be two things to hit - maybe sweet and salty, maybe salty-savory, but Asian kind of works around, plus you have that distinct flavor that's usually working in Asian food. "
Tom Colicchio
Mouth
Kind
You
" I can't deal with a lot of spice but I have to eat it. I pay the price - I'm on medication for heartburn, so that's how I deal with it. "
Tom Colicchio
Pay
Spice
Deal
" It's my belief that cooking is a craft. I think that you can push it into the realm of art, but it starts with craft. It starts with an understanding of materials. It starts with an understanding of where foods are grown. "
Tom Colicchio
You
Art
Understanding
" I started cooking in kitchens right out of high school, and I was lucky to work with a lot of great people, but I had no idea it would turn into this. Of course no one should go into this business because they want to be the next Emeril. "
Tom Colicchio
Work
School
Great
" In New York, I'll walk down the street and someone will say, 'Nice show,' and that's it. If I'm at a food festival, it's open season. "
Tom Colicchio
Food
New York
Walk
" I call all chefs 'cooks.' They're all cooks. That's what we do, we cook. You're a chef when you're running a kitchen. "
Tom Colicchio
Kitchen
Running
Chef
" I'd like to see 'Top Chef: Amateur'. Sometimes we have an amateur chef on the show and they just can't cut it against the pros but there are some great stories there. "
Tom Colicchio
Top
Chef
Sometimes
" I know from personal experience, if a chef yelled at me in a kitchen, the first thing I'd want to do is hit them with a pot. "
Tom Colicchio
Experience
Pot
Chef
" You can buy a box of low-fat macaroni and cheese made with powdered nonsense. I'm not worried if I'm using four different cheeses and it's high in fat. It's real food. That's what's more important. "
Tom Colicchio
Real
You
Important
" My son, before he went to school, he'd eat pretty much everything. Then as soon as he went to school, he got some peer pressure, and other kids would say, 'Oh, you're gonna eat that. That's horrible. That's disgusting.' "
Tom Colicchio
Eat
You
School
" I remember at The Quilted Giraffe, when I was when working there to try out for the sous-chef position. I really wanted it, and the woman working the line next to me kept messing up and making me look bad. The last day of my kitchen trail, I just said to her very quietly, 'Do me a favor and get out of my way, because I want this job.' "
Tom Colicchio
Day
Remember
Me
" I travel around and hear from so many kids. Their parents say they were always very picky but they watch the show and they want to try stuff. The show is entertainment, but I think it has done so much for the public perception of what food can be. "
Tom Colicchio
Think
Travel
Parents
" This is what people don't understand: obesity is a symptom of poverty. It's not a lifestyle choice where people are just eating and not exercising. It's because kids - and this is the problem with school lunch right now - are getting sugar, fat, empty calories - lots of calories - but no nutrition. "
Tom Colicchio
People
School
Problem
" Making ribs in Texas isn't that unusual a choice for 'Top Chef'. We played the stereotypes everywhere we go. It's not only in Texas. We do it in New York; we did it in San Francisco. Listen if we shoot it in Seattle you know we're going to be throwing salmon somewhere. "
Tom Colicchio
Chef
Stereotypes
New York
" I started cooking 30-something years ago. When I was 14, 15, I was a short-order cook in a snack bar. That was at a place called the Gran Centurions. It was an Italian-American swim club my parents belonged to. "
Tom Colicchio
Cooking
Parents
Swim
" As a chef, I had started working with groups like Share Our Strength and various local food banks in New York, raising money for hunger-related issues. And not only me, but the entire restaurant industry has been very focused on this issue. "
Tom Colicchio
Money
New York
Chef
" One of the first jobs I ever had was opening clams in a seafood restaurant, so I'm pretty quick at it. "
Tom Colicchio
Opening
Jobs
Restaurant
" I know how to make sausage, and now that I've seen how laws are made, I'll stick with sausage. "
Tom Colicchio
Stick
Laws
Now
" If you're dining with someone who wants the same cut, it's always better to get a 16-ounce steak and split it than to order two eight-ounce steaks. The longer something cooks, the more flavor it develops, so you'll get a better taste with a bigger piece of meat. "
Tom Colicchio
You
Always
Better
" I can't deliver lines, but I can talk about food all night long. "
Tom Colicchio
I Can
Food
Talk
" I remember in the first season going, 'This is retarded. I can't believe they're making chefs do this.' But then it actually does show off certain skills. And at the end of the day, this is entertainment and this stuff is very entertaining. Is a lot of it ridiculous? Of course it is. But that's what makes it interesting. "
Tom Colicchio
Believe
End
End Of The Day
" There's a food revolution going on throughout the country. And it doesn't matter if you're down south, up north in Maine, if you're out west in Portland or Seattle. "
Tom Colicchio
You
Country
Down
" Many of them have accomplished a lot before they ever get to 'Top Chef' although they're not well known. The show just provides them with a platform. There's just one winner and on some seasons you can get numerous chefs that are really good. Even if they don't win, they're all talented. "
Tom Colicchio
Winner
Chef
You
" 'Chef' doesn't mean that you're the best cook, it simply means 'boss.' "
Tom Colicchio
Cook
Boss
Chef