How does someone get started in your field?

I think culinary school can be the right path, but only if someone comes from a background where their parents have money or they will not have student loans. Some of our best chefs never went to culinary schools.

What is the most important quality in a chef?

Passion. It’s not about talent. It’s about education, hard work and passion. In German the word for passion is “leidenschaft” and it sort of means suffering, or to enjoy suffering, or be willing to suffer for it. That’s what passion is. It’s not like a hobby. The German word says it much better: Be willing to suffer or enjoy suffering for it.

What is your best advice to newcomers?

Be patient. At first, cooking is about repetition. We do things over and over and over again, and it takes a person who enjoys that.

Be focused. New York is an amazing place, but it’s also incredibly distracting. There are so many cuisines alone. You could say, hey, I want to learn how to make pizza, or Japanese food is really cool. Or I want to learn how to make French food, or how to bake, or how to make pasta. All these things can be super distracting, and my advice is, just focus on what you want to be the best at.

Don’t jump around. Think about what you want and then pick the restaurant that fits that, and stay there for two, three or four years. When I look at chefs who stayed somewhere for a long time, I see them much more evolved.