Drake Leonards – The Road Back to his Roots

Houston reminds me very much of what New Orleans and I think Louisiana were a couple of hundred years ago, with a huge number of people who come in and bring their cuisine, culture and way of life. And it just kind of blends here in Houston beautifully.

I love the hospitality of a restaurant and being around people. And so having a passion for food and having a passion for people, and being a Chef it's kind of fits naturally together.

My colleagues at Café Boulud were young, hungry, ambitious cooks that made me be better because they expected more out of me than I expected out of myself.

I always think that in our restaurant, if we can surround ourselves with great people, it's gonna make us all become a little bit better. It's going to make our team better. It's gonna make myself better. And it just kind of we push each other.

I learned was that Chefs have taken, what they knew and grew up with and just refined it a little bit.

France and Germany were great place to go to understand the origins of what we're doing now and how it became Cajun or how it became Creole. I felt like I had to get to the source.

New York really gave me the confidence to know that the world was so much bigger than I could ever imagine. It just fueled that desire to really be able to see what was out there.

There's never a perfect time for anything. There's never enough money. There's never enough of anything. You just have to do it.