"Subtlety in food does not impress me. I like big, loud flavors — sweet, sour, hot, salty, aromatic, pungent, tingling — preferably all in the same bite. I'm the guy who always asks for salt and pepper in the fancy restaurants and who thinks that most dishes could benefit from a squeeze of lime or a shot or two of Tabasco."
"I call this a salsa because the guy who first made it for me loved to listen to salsa music. He was from El Salvador, and his job in the restaurant was to make sure all the food was received in good order. When the clams would come in, he'd always pick up a few and put them off to one side, then work on them over the next couple of hours, shucking the clams and chopping them as he got the chance, squeezing the lime, adding the Tabasco. When lunchtime rolled around, he'd eat this mixture with crackers like a kind of clam cocktail. Every so often, if I had given him some help during the morning, I'd find a little bowl on my cutting board... It was always a treat... in the true style of Elmer himself, with saltines."
"The physical process that takes place during searing is known as the Maillard reaction, after the French scientist who discovered it. In layman's terms, this complex reaction can be summarized easily: 'Brown food tastes better.' Think of the difference between the taste of golden-brown bread crust versus the rest of the bread, or the aroma of roasted versus unroasted coffee beans, and you will understand the process that gives grilled foods their intensity of flavor. So now that you know all about the Maillard reaction, you'll have an answer to the favorite rhetorical question of backyard cookouts, 'How come grilled food tastes so good?'"
"The East Coast Grill opened its doors on August, 18, 1985. At that point it seemed a pretty risky venture. Although my partner, Cary Wheaton, and I had plenty of restaurant experience, we had no business experience. Restaurants have high failure rates and a lot of folks didn’t think Inman Square was that good of a location. And you know what? If I had known then, what I know now, I definitely would have talked us out of doing such a crazy thing – but we were young, fearless, and had a dream of opening a restaurant."
East Coast Grill & Raw Bar 