Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
Salt is so, so, so important. If that's the one thing everyone remembers, every step of the way, whenever I cook, I try to incorporate salt.
My father is Polish, and at 68, he still wears a Speedo to the beach, and he wears regular briefs - so did his father. That was my upbringing.
Some people want to define themselves, and they should, as it's part of their identity. For me personally, I've never really had a label for myself.
Food not only connects us at the idyllic dinner table setting with family and friends: it is also part of our mundane, daily transit to and from work.
I'm definitely more of an extreme eater. I'm decadent on weekends and try to go plant-based during the week with a bit of fish - pescatarian thrown in.
I get really manic on set, and then to just get myself to a place where I'm alone in my apartment again, it's like this recalibrating thing that happens.
I could not be more thrilled to be writing about the recipes I love and think are essential to any novice home cook, professional, and somewhere in between.
Since puberty, I've always known there was a possibility of me being with a man. It wasn't anything I felt the need to explore until the time came to explore it.
A cheese dip is good - it's for when you're like, 'You know what, I've had a long day. I'm just gonna eat a big bowl of cheese, and I'm not gonna care about it.'
Montreal is just so multicultural and ethnic and diverse, and it's what makes us special. I say 'us' like I still live there, but I still do feel like a Montrealer.
I usually like loud T-shirts and band shirts, so I just try to keep it as simple as possible with jeans and white kicks that are worn in and, like, a simple jacket.
My kitchen is limited at best. I have one drawer. But I make do with what I have; it's taught me to be super efficient in terms of how I clean and how I put things away.
I think the purpose of veganism is an appreciation for plants and veggies and fruit and to just eating cleaner... If you're going to go vegan, then really learn how to be.
Montreal bagels are much better than U.S. bagels, because there's a sweetness to the dough, and there's a pull. New York bagels are basically bread in the shape of a bagel.
I have experience more on the front-of-house side of things, but I've always had a strong reverence and a respect for chefs... they've always been sort of like my rock stars.
I love a little darkness at the table with just enough light from IKEA white candlesticks. Seriously! They look elegant but are simple and unscented and create mood lighting.
There should be no rules at your dinner party except for people to eat a lot and enjoy a long night where they feel like they could fall asleep at the dinner table at the end.
It's important to go into the grocery store with a plan and a list. But it's a skeleton - you need to know how to deviate from it and adapt it to what ingredients are available and fresh.
Jicama, which is one of my favorite things in the summer, looks like a really horrendous root vegetable, which it is - it's like a hybrid of a potato and an apple, but you can eat it raw.
If I'm in Italy at a certain time of year, I'll make sure to try fresh porcini mushrooms in risotto, or puntarelle, a sort of curled chicory leaf that's only available for a few weeks in May.
When I was studying at the Neighborhood Playhouse, I would overdraft my bank account and not have enough money to buy groceries. But I also discovered how to cook with very limited resources.
If I want to hear a voice, Lana Del Rey is very soothing, and I could just listen to her on repeat, but my real go-to that's been very consistent for at least the past ten years is Miles Davis.
I am someone who food has been a constant in my life, and it's been a passion - it's something that I've constantly studied - and I'm constantly trying to better my craft, and that's good enough for me.
After the passing of my personal hero, Anthony Bourdain, I've been reflecting a lot on his influence on food culture. He made street food from around the world, that most of us have never heard of, accessible.
My dream kitchen would have a massive island with some beautiful slab of stone, a huge fridge, possibly even a walk-in - I just want it to be a plethora of fruits and veggies. I would have a nice bar area, too.
I was a busboy, a waiter, a manager, a sommelier... like... all of it from a family-run Polish restaurant, with, like, grandmas in the basement hand-making pierogies, to working at Bond Street for a while. I've done it all.
I would want to do a cooking show. But I want to honor the opportunity that's been given to me with 'Queer Eye.' I feel like my work is cut out for me with the show alone. If it ever goes bust, then I'll explore that possibility.
I've always considered myself a little more fluid along the spectrum. So even being called bisexual... I remember, in my early twenties, I was like, 'But bisexual means I can only like girls and guys. What if I like something else?'
I really enjoy being vulnerable, and it's how I connect with other people, and part of how I do that is through food, by sharing something that I feel is very intimate and personal because it's something that I create out of nothing.
Polish people have a wit and sarcasm. They're gentle but still very strong. Like, they love beer, which is traditionally so manly, but they'll put a spoonful of jam in it to sweeten it up. They're this wonderful mix of hard and soft.
The truth is that it has not been my pipe dream to have a restaurant. I know restaurateurs, and the amount of work that goes into a restaurant is nothing short of insanity. It's a real commitment, and most restaurants don't make it, so the odds are really against you.
There's a deodorant I wear called Baux, from L'Occitane, that is super nostalgic because it reminds me of being in Greece in the summer. When I put it on, I'm immediately taken back to that feeling of having salty skin and hair from the ocean and the taste of fresh fish.
When you're entertaining, and I still haven't accomplished this because I'm always stuck in the kitchen, but spend enough time actually with your guests. It allows you to chill with your friends and be an actual, normal human as opposed to being in the kitchen cooking all the time.
On 'Queer Eye' I come in with what I know, and I try to parlay that into lessons for our 'heroes.' But that's really listening to what they need. Sometimes it's a little more ambitious. Sometimes it's very simplistic. But it's got to be something that's condensed into a short amount of time.
I have a lot of different passions. Food has been a constant through my whole life; it's something I've always had a very intrinsic passion toward and for, and I continue to learn about it, and I'm not going to let any type of negative comments dissuade me from wanting to pursue that, because I love it.
For the most part, it was never assumed that I was gay, and I've had people be sort of surprised that I was gay or act apologetic like they didn't know, which would just make me really uncomfortable. And I never had shame for it, but I never felt like introducing myself as, 'I'm Antoni. I'm gay. How are you?'
I'm someone who's experienced impostor syndrome - as I think a lot of people have with their careers, especially when they pursue what they're passionate about, because they want to be good at it. I've experienced that as a gay man; I've experienced that as a cook, as a gallery director, as a student of psychology.
When I was around 18, I got kicked out of my parents' house, and I wasn't allowed to take anything with me. I slept on YMCA towels for a whole semester in university before my father found out and bought me a mattress. I felt really free because I was finally living on my own, but I was also really depressed because I had nothing.