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Coming from a classic French background, how did you become so synonymous with Italian food?

It was Flour + Water. I was actually working in Italy when my now business partners and I first started talking about Flour + Water. It was many a night in a phone booth, just talking to them for hours and hours. The business plan was already underway, but they were missing the third element to it. I worked at Quince in San Francisco, and that was really inspired by Italian food. I thought it was an amazing learning experience. I’m fascinated by food, and I’m certainly fascinated with Italian food because you can never stop learning about that food. Italian food is so regional. There’s so much depth to it. The more you research about it, the more complicated it becomes.

What do you look for when you’re hiring somebody to work in one of your kitchens?

Attitude. It’s 100% attitude. We have very little turnover in our restaurants. We have an amazing crew and family that comes together. You see these guys more than you see your girlfriend. You can teach somebody to chop onions, you can’t teach somebody how to have a great attitude. So it’s attitude and it’s drive. This is a weird industry. You can’t just clock in and clock out. You take everything home with you, so it’s really that drive, that hunger, to learn and push. If they’re doing that, that means they’re pushing and teaching and learning and pushing the people around them. I can sit down in an interview with an amazing resume in front of me and in two minutes know just by talking to them. I can sit down and in two minutes know if it’s going to work or not work.

So you don’t have them stage?

The first one’s an interview, and if they make it past the interview, it’s a stage. And sometimes it’s two or three stages, depending if I’m not really sure. I don’t want to bring somebody on just to cover a schedule. I’d rather work harder myself, I’d rather have the team work harder, than bring somebody in that the team as a whole is not going to benefit from.

Is there anything you don’t enjoy eating?

I have a fear of snakes. I don’t think I would ever eat a snake.

I think you could avoid that one pretty easily.

I’m allergic to shellfish, which is pretty funny, because the dish tonight has shellfish in it. I still taste. I’m trying to train myself to not be allergic.

It’s the “Princess Bride” approach.

Exactly. I really wish I was not allergic to shellfish. I don’t enjoy it, because it’s in the back of my mind. So shellfish and snake.