Geoffrey Zakarian
Geoffrey Zakarian
Geoffrey Zakarianis an Armenian-American Iron Chef, restaurateur, television personality and author. He is the executive chef of several restaurants in New York City, Atlantic City and Miami. He is featured on several television programs on the Food Network, including Chopped and in 2011, The Next Iron Chef, where he won the right to join Iron Chef America...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionChef
Date of Birth25 July 1959
CountryUnited States of America
color should-have personality
A plate of food has to have balance. For example, a mild fish like skate mustnt be overwhelmed by the side dishes. They should have personality and color, but they also have to be subtle.
passion journey thinking
I don't even look at resumes anymore. I think they're misguided. I talk to them, ask them where they've been, "What's your favorite experience in a restaurant?" Where do they like to eat? Blah blah blah. All that stuff, but I can only really describe my journey with another person if I can connect with them and their passion. Otherwise, I don't care where they've worked. It doesn't matter to me. Really I have to feel it, and then I can teach them anything.
real giving quality
If you give a discount there's a desperation there and I like to substitute desperation with service and real quality. And the desperation goes away.
long
I'll transform anything as long as it's edible.
things-in-life important eating
The most important things in life happen over conversations while eating.
cooking way limits
I really don't limit myself in any way. I just search for great flavors and marriages wherever they come from.
hotel whole-life whole
I've been working in boutique hotels my whole life.
thinking two kitchen
When you have a chef that wants to be in the spotlight, maybe after one or two appearances on a show, they think they're at a certain level that they haven't reached yet in the kitchen. Shows like 'Top Chef', 'Hell's Kitchen' have helped bring attention to the culinary world.
morning night nuts
When I step into the kitchen in the morning, I go for the scrambled eggs with pine nuts and minced lamb. When I finish at night, it is hard to resist the burger.
moving wine glasses
I wish that restaurateurs would choose simpler and smaller glassware. The tables on restaurants these days are way too crowded, and mostly because the plates are too odd looking and big, and the wine glasses are so gigantic that it takes up the whole surface area and you can't move. I prefer smaller glassware.
karma congratulations thinking
I was shocked when they told me congratulations, you won, that's the good news. Then the bad news is that you have six battles next week. That was a bit of a shocker. I was exhausted. And I had Chopped shooting that same week. I didn't have a sous chef lined up; I thought that was bad karma to try to think ahead. So I scrambled. I scrambled the jets, took off and we bombed our target. I think it's gone well.
wine buckets restaurants
I like old fashioned things. We have these old wine buckets at the restaurant and none of them match.
fun winning thinking
My agent called me and said, they watched you do Chopped Champions and they thought you'd be good for this competition. What do you think? And I said, well, what do you think? He said he thought it would be great and I said let's do it. When you decide to do this, you don't really think that you're going to win it. I thought it would be fun, good to test my mettle; games are fun like that. Why not? I'll try it.
daughter cities two
I'm very active. I've got two small daughters and four restaurants in three cities. I'm busy.