When you’re not working, what are some of your favorite vacation destinations?

Love to go to any of the islands. Love being around water. I just love water. Of course going to our cabin—we have a cabin on the water in a little area in Northern California. Really enjoy Tahoe, enjoy the mountains, I’m an outdoors person. Anywhere where we’ve got the great outdoors is fun. I don’t like it super cold and I don’t like it super hot. If I do have a city environment that I’m going to, one of my favorite cities, probably my first favorite city is Vegas. I love Vegas. I went to college in Vegas. Our son went to school in Vegas. I’ve got my restaurants in Vegas. Boston is another one of my favorite cities. Just being around the water, going down to the Cape. Going to Long Beach. Anywhere on the east, anywhere on the west, anywhere in the south.

Let's talk islands. Which ones are your favorites?

I want to do Tahiti and I want to do the Philippines—I want to do it all but so far when I say islands I mean Hawaii. We did Oahu forever and shot Triple D there. Loved it. Then we said we’d go to Maui. I’d been to Maui when I was younger and wasn’t that excited about it, but I just realized how bit it was and was in the wrong part of the island. I was in too much of a tourist area and I don’t like the tourist stuff. Then we found some other places and we love Maui. We’ve never been to the Big Island before, so this year the family is going there and we’re excited for that. You know what it is, I love culture. I didn’t even say Mexico—Mexico is one of my favorite places. But I love culture. I love being around people and their environments and the food and the style and the energy and the music—all of the aspects.

How do you navigate a night out in a city?

There’s no rhyme or reason. I don’t have a schedule of what where and why, but it usually involves talking to my buddies. I've got somebody that’s a friend that knows something of a guy that has something. I love music, big music fan. Music is a big thing. Getting back to that thing about food—I’m in a city for two days. I want to make sure that every meal I get is going to be the best one I can have. That’s about it. Depending on how many people and what the situation is, what the next day is, there’s always a barometer on the program depending on what the next morning is. A lot of time there’s work the next morning so we can’t be out too late or get too crazy.

In the case that things did get too crazy, do you have any go-to hangover cures?

Ohhhhhhh, sleep? [laughs] Sleep and Gatorade.

What color Gatorade?

Lemon lime. There’s a big battle. Everybody’s got their Gatorade, but I’m old-school Gatorade. That’s my favorite.

Do you have favorite hotels in the world?

Every city has their funky little boutique one-off, and I love those. But I’m a Kimpton fan, a Fairmont fan, the Cromwell in Vegas is where I stay. Cromwell’s nice—it’s small, it’s petite, I know everybody there, it’s not far from my restaurant, it’s easy. We keep an inventory of where we’ve been and where we’re going. Like, we’re getting ready to shoot in Seattle in a couple weeks and we haven’t been there for a while. I love great hotels and I love, for being a guy who travels as much as I do, we really pay attention to where we’re at. I just stayed in Oakland the other day even though it was close to home but traffic was crazy so we stayed at the Fairmont, the big white hotel in Oakland, it’s called the Claremont. Oh my gosh what a beautiful hotel, and nice people. It means a lot. I’m a guy from the service industry, so I really appreciate great service and hospitality and attention to detail. That’s the kind of place I like to stay in. I think the industry as a whole is doing a really great job.