Quote: "The truth is, I don't cook: I assemble․ My greatest talent in the kitchen is knowing where to go to find the best in a particular category and how to throw it all together․"
Quote: "I do feel, especially in a restaurant, that groups of eight are the ideal․ You can stretch the head count to 12, but once it gets over that, it's like people are at two or three different parties․"
Wrote for a number of mystery television series including "Matlock․"
Executive produced several related projects for the Food Network including "The Best Thing I Ever Ate" and "The Best Thing I Ever Made․"
Doesn't like coconut or olives, but he once ate ants on shoestring potatoes and stir-fried crickets with chilies and basil as part of a "Good Morning America" story
His fitness regimen includes walking several miles five times a week and eating chocolate, as he read a study concluding that it promoted weight loss
When he first moved to Los Angeles, he opened a checking account at the bank across the street from one of his favorite restaurants so that it wouldn't be a chore to go the bank once a week
Believes that real chili does not contain beans, and hates finding them in the dish
Cited some of his favorite L․A․ take-out restaurants as Joan's on Third, Dolce Isola and Clementine
Stated that he regretted not having kids when he found out the only way a favorite sushi restaurant would serve side orders of its warm vinegar rice was to small children