Tom Douglas

“Sustainability includes how you run your business, and my bottom line includes how you treat your people. Sustainability starts with your staff.”

“My wife and I decided to try and kick start our kitchens to a $15 minimum wage for cooks. I've probably had to go through and raise every menu price now by 50 cents because it took away my profit. I just underestimated what it was going to cost.”

“Over the years I've tweaked my stuffing recipe many times, adding a variety of ingredients like sauteed wild mushrooms, dried cherries, fresh chevre, toasted hazelnuts, chopped ham hock meat, and other taste treats.”

“There's a restaurant in Manhattan called Balthazar, and next to it is Balthazar Bakery. It's tiny, and it's very charming to have that little retail outlet to sell the house desserts and breads.”

“There's something majestic about a 30-pound Chinook salmon roasted and served whole - people get excited when you present it with the head and tail on. It has beautifully browned skin and extraordinary bright red flesh when you cut into it.”

“I'm much less shy in conversation than I am on my own.”

“I don't have any interest in being a chef without being on the business side of things, or vice versa, because if you don't make money at the end of the month, you're going out of business.”

“Be sure to read a recipe all the way through before you cook. The time it saves you in the long run is invaluable.”

“I don't know too many kids who ask to weed the garden.”

“Spanish chorizo is a spicy cured sausage that's especially tasty with clams.”

“The classic Italian green sauce, salsa verde, is easy to make and especially nice in the spring when bunches of fresh herbs start appearing in the farmers market or in your garden.”

“Albacore tuna has a mild flavor that's delicious served raw or seared briefly on the outside so that it's still rare on the inside.”

“If deep-frying catfish, try a dredge of seasoned flour and cornmeal and add some bacon fat to the oil.”

“Razor clams are large, oblong clams, although not as big as geoducks.”

“Sometimes managers are a little shy to criticize another manager or another operation.”

“I'll never understand those greasy little deep-fried wings most bars serve.”

“The simplest way to prepare Dungeness crabs is to boil them in the shell and set them in front of your guests with crab crackers or crab hammers, cocktail forks, and plenty of napkins.”

“Disappointing cakes have often been sitting out too long. They should last just long enough to have the last pieces the next morning with coffee - who doesn't love cake with coffee?”

“Support a small chef. Not these big chains... but support the people who are out there trying to do things right and working hard to do that.”

“Salsa verde is delicious with trout or most any fish.”