, announced Thursday Geoffrey Zakarian too is dropping out of Trump’s new hotel in Washington, D.C, a day after celebrity chef Jose Andres pulled out of the same project. The recent statements surrounding Mexican immigrants... do not in any way align with my personal core values, in light of this, I am unable to move forward with a restaurant in the Trump International Hotel, slated to open in Washington, D.C.’s Federal Post Office building.

Geoffrey Zakarian

Categorized in : Lifestyle

Determine who you are and what your brand is, and what youre not. The rest of it is just a lot of noise.

Geoffrey Zakarian

brands determine noise

The most important things in life happen over conversations while eating.

Geoffrey Zakarian

things-in-life important eating

It's so funny. I honestly thought every one of those people on the show could beat anyone at any time anywhere. You just have to have a slightly off day or moment or two or you missed a touch of acid. It has nothing to do with credentials. Anyone could've chopped anyone at any time. I had to look at myself as the one who could lose this the most.

Geoffrey Zakarian

two people looks

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.

Geoffrey Zakarian

winning fun thinking

I got killed against Morimoto. I brought out white plates with food; I thought that was really nice. He brings out sculptures of ice, Noah's ark made of balsa wood that he carved at his restaurant downstairs, smoking trees ... When I saw that, I looked at my sous chef and I'm like, we're toast.

Geoffrey Zakarian

nice smoking white

What we've witnessed in the past 25 or 30 years is just incredible. We've birthed 30,000 or 40,000 restaurants. I used to go to Europe every year to get experience [and ideas]. I don't go to Europe anymore. I go to Oregon, I go to Washington, I go to Louisiana, I go to Little Rock, I go to Austin, I travel New York City. I don't go to Europe anymore.

Geoffrey Zakarian

rocks new-york past

I don't enjoy eating humble pie.

Geoffrey Zakarian

pie eating humble

Chestnuts are my favorite ingredient to use in the fall, especially for the holidays. I always find that they are meaty, hearty and have a mysterious refinement when cooked or roasted over sea salt.

Geoffrey Zakarian

holiday sea fall

The worst day is just that I did not enter the culinary world sooner. And the best day was seeing the reaction of my one year old daughter when she tasted her first crisp apple!

Geoffrey Zakarian

apples daughter years

I'm very active. I've got two small daughters and four restaurants in three cities. I'm busy.

Geoffrey Zakarian

daughter cities two

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.

Geoffrey Zakarian

glasses wine moving

It's really an honor to be included in such an incredible lineup of chefs. The team Borgata has assembled is by far one of the best on the East Coast.

Geoffrey Zakarian

east team honor

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.

Geoffrey Zakarian

nuts morning night

I've been working in boutique hotels my whole life.

Geoffrey Zakarian

hotel whole-life whole

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.

Geoffrey Zakarian

quality real giving

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.

Geoffrey Zakarian

color personality should-have

I love hospitality, and I love cooking. The kitchen is where I feel most at ease and where I feel most like myself.

Geoffrey Zakarian

kitchen cooking ease

Days off are few and far between in the restaurant business. But on an hour off, I like to have a glass of wine with my wife.

Geoffrey Zakarian

wife glasses wine

Everybody these days wants to be a star, including myself. Don't get me wrong, I'm a chef but you want to market yourself and your projects.

Geoffrey Zakarian

stars want chef

Everyone could use instructions on every aspect of cooking: pantry, storage, refrigeration, cooking, what to buy. Everyone that I come into contact with could use help.

Geoffrey Zakarian

cooking use helping