Charlie Trotter
Charlie Trotter
Charles "Charlie" Trotterwas an American chef and restaurateur...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionChef
Date of Birth8 September 1959
CityWilmette, IL
CountryUnited States of America
ask five great three
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.
god tackle trying
I don't know how to put this gently, but I'm trying to tackle the biggest question of all, which is the God question.
art business great knew learned restaurant successful sudden
There has been no great surprise, no sudden revelation. I knew pretty much what I was getting into. What I've learned is that a restaurant can be as much of an art as you want it to be, but it has to be a successful business first.
book books-and-reading
We said, 'We've got to write his book for him,'
budget continued dollar energy finally forward looking pay spent trying
We were all looking forward to this and we spent a lot of energy in trying to do this, ... But as the budget continued to escalate, we just finally said, 'Do we really want to pay off an 11-1/2, 12-million dollar restaurant?'
education school stepping stone using
I wasn't using college as a stepping stone to law school or some other career. I just wanted a liberal-arts education.
best life pedal planet
Life's too short. You may be on this planet for 80 years at best or who knows, but you can't just pedal around and do the same thing forever.
appeals both diner food lay time
The most successful food, I think, is food that both appeals to the super-sophisticated diner or foodie and to the lay diner at the same time.
hard harder
As tough as I've been on anybody, as hard as I've ever been on anybody, I have been harder on myself. By far.
anywhere near trying
To me, searching for perfection isn't anywhere near as interesting as trying to find your own voice.
life
If you ever want to get anywhere in life, you're going to have to push it, and somebody's going to push you to get there. End of story.
attempt food less standing texture vertical weaving
In my case, vertical food was less about standing things up than layering things: more an attempt to gain texture by weaving things together.
afraid figured people
You can't be afraid to not have everything figured out. There's too much pressure on young people today to have it all figured out when they're in college.
bigger birthday bob born dylan fan kid moment pregnancy previous time wife
I timed my previous wife's pregnancy to the moment to have my son born on Bob Dylan's 50th birthday. There is no bigger Bob Dylan fan than me. You don't just time the day and impregnate your wife to get your kid to be born on Bob Dylan's 50th birthday.