FV: I’m not better than anybody else. I’m different for many reasons; some of them good some of them bad. I don’t want to be the best chef in America, because that’s too much of a competition. That’s the problem; everyone wants to be the best chef. I want to be everyone’s’ Grandmother, because Grandma is always right, she always has the best food and you miss her when she’s not around.
DC: Do you have a Chef that you look up to or that was your mentor?
FV: I don’t have a mentor, because I’ve been in business by myself since I was eighteen. I’ve sought knowledge, passion and expertise from everybody I’ve met. I don’t have a role model, because I had to figure out a lot of things by myself. There are a lot of people out there that I admire for different reasons, such as restauranteur Danny Meyer from Shake Shack whose company just went public. I also admire Chef Jamie Oliver, because of his passion, expertise in marketing and how he’s giving back. I love that.
DC: The celebrity chef and food movement has gone to a different level over the last 8 to 10 years. Do you think that trend is going to continue?
FV: My thought is that celebrity chefs are like reality shows. Twenty years a go there were three celebrity chefs on TV and they were rock stars. That’s the same with reality TV. There were only three reality TV shows that people watch, but now everybody has a reality show ninety percent of them are garbage. Now, nobody really cares about reality shows, because there’s too many out there. In ten years probably nobody is going to care about celebrity chefs. Although reality TV has helped my career by broadcasting what I do, it also put me on the spot for critics. Everyone is a critic nowadays; because people know what good food should look like. I do care whether or not I get a good or bad review, because I’m not perfect and always want to better myself. However, if a critic comes with a different agenda and is being a jerk about their review, then that’s criticism that we really don’t need. It’s happened to me before, but at the end of the day what I’m doing is still a blessing.
DC: How do you describe the type of food that you are known for preparing?
FV: Back to the basics from scratch, rustic but yet well presented. We do food that people crave, but we don’t give you a dish that you have to figure out. You will understand and know what’s going on with your dish. I’m really looking forward to our wine concept coming down the road.
DC: What two pieces of advice can you give to an aspiring chef that really wants to be successful?
FV: First for the next ten years you have to care about nothing but your work. If you’re working less than 130 hours in the kitchen then you’re not going to build a legacy. Secondly, you have to find the right balance between pleasing yourself, your customers and the professional critics. Don’t be too selfish or too forth coming.