When I was a young cook, I went to work in the three-Michelin-star kitchen at Georges Blanc in Vonnas, outside Lyon, France. It was hard work. Most guys got fired. I didn't. Chef always pushed us toward excellence. He was rooted in France but looked to the rest of the world. He was a searcher. I wondered, Can you search in a three-star environment? I thought it was a destination. When I decided to move to the States, he said, "How can you leave three-star macarons to go to the land of the burger?" But it was my time at Georges Blanc that gave me the confidence to come to America. —Marcus Samuelsson, Red Rooster, New York City