Cooking for my family is always a pleasure when I'm able to do it. My favorite thing to make is really whatever my kids ask for on any given day. It's more about being with them and doing something together. Joe Bastianich More Quotes by Joe Bastianich More Quotes From Joe Bastianich America has been conditioned to think of pasta as the never-ending pasta bowl and Olive Garden. Joe Bastianich garden america thinking Wine pricing is an art - like painting. Joe Bastianich painting wine art It's one thing to execute dishes on your own time for family and friends, but quite another to perform and be judged in a competition. And that's what cooking in a high profile restaurant is. It's a competition. You're up against every other three-star restaurant in your city, and if you want to stay in business, you'd better deliver. Joe Bastianich competition stars cities I prioritize in life. I like to work, I do TV shows, I do a lot of Iron Man training. I enjoy kicking back on a good night and drinking wine until I go to bed, and having fun with my friends. You just have to make time for it and keep it balanced. Joe Bastianich goodnight good-night fun Your pantry is your first line of defense against food-borne illness and things like high blood pressure and cholesterol. Joe Bastianich lines defense blood My wife and I battle over home decor. My style goes from Gothic to Baroque. Hers is minimalist. Joe Bastianich style wife home Carbs - especially pasta - are the fuel my body needs to maintain an athletic lifestyle. Joe Bastianich athletic fuel needs Pasta is the one food I can't live without. It's the food I eat to fuel my running. Joe Bastianich pasta fuel running Being general manager is like being the de facto owner. It's like wearing the crown of 'Restaurant Man' without being 'Restaurant Man.' You're trying to run the business, but you're running the ranch without riding the big horse. Joe Bastianich horse running men With four-appetizer, four-entree menus, it's like, give me a break. That's not a restaurant, that's a dinner party. Joe Bastianich four party giving Essentially, wines are fermented grape juice, so I'm trying to make the point that the wine world is about scores and marketing and kind of creating a scarce resource where they don't really exist. Joe Bastianich creating marketing wine If you eliminate the junk food, you don't really run the risk of gaining weight if you've got a good workout routine. Joe Bastianich risk workout running New York is the best food city in the world. Joe Bastianich cities new-york world I have a Madonna portrait done in the style of a Russian icon. My mother, the chef Lidia Bastianich, and I bought it together. It reminds me of her. Joe Bastianich icons style mother Babbo's menu is only four pages, but it's overwhelming - there are 20 different pastas in there, a lot of stuff. There is nothing I hate more than a useless, lazy menu with only three appetizers and four entrees. Joe Bastianich lazy different hate When I stopped looking at food as a reward or a celebration and began looking at food as energy to fuel my athletic ambitions, that really kind of changed the whole world for me. That was the real 'aha!' moment. Joe Bastianich athletic real ambition After World War II, a lot of people moved to the cities for work and abandoned the old vineyards. Then in the 1950s and 1960s, wineries were paid to produce volume at a cheap price. That's when the Lambruscos and bad Chianti were popular. Joe Bastianich cities war people I'm one of three judges on 'MasterChef' with Gordon Ramsay, but I don't want my own show. I'm kind of used to the sidekick gig. Joe Bastianich sidekicks three judging I was brought up to believe I could achieve anything. My mother instilled in me the belief that there was always something great coming. For example, even though I'm afraid of flying, I always think the plane can't crash because there are so many better things still to come. Joe Bastianich mother believe thinking Selling wine is all about sizing people up, and it takes a certain amount of chutzpah. The tableside bottle sell is a very funny thing - you take a look at the guy's blazer, what kind of shoes he's wearing, what kind of broad he's with. Is he trying to be a hero? Joe Bastianich funny-things wine hero