![\"\"](\"https:\/\/esquiresg.s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Osteria-Mozza-Chef-Nancy-Silverton-Profile-Shot-Credit-to-Hilton-Singapore-Orchard.jpg\")
I\u2019M A GOOD HOST<\/strong> because I\u2019m generous. First of all, if you\u2019re invited, no one has to bring anything; I\u2019ll provide everything. I just love serving food. I love plating food. I love bringing people together, and I like to be the host, because I like to work at my parties. I\u2019m a better host than I am a guest.<\/p>\n WHEN I’M A GUEST,<\/strong> it\u2019s like,\u00a0what can I do?<\/em>\u00a0I like to be busy, y\u2019know? I\u2019m not great at standing idly by. I wanna move around; I wanna use my hands and feel useful.<\/p>\n I DON’T BELIEVE IN RETIREMENT, <\/strong>especially if I get to do what you want to do. I am living the life that I\u2019m supposed to be living, so when somebody asks,\u00a0Are you going to retire<\/em>, that usually means to stop what I love doing.<\/p>\n I WAS EXPRESSING MYSELF<\/strong> on a plate, but I wasn\u2019t expressing myself as a plate.<\/p>\n DON’T BUY SOMETHING THAT’S FASHIONABLE.<\/strong> I just acquired a style that reads fashionable to other people.<\/p>\n I LOVE ACCESSORIES.<\/strong> With my hair clips, to be 100 per cent honest, it started because I\u2019ve always hated my hair.\u00a0I have very curly hair, and I always wanted really straight hair, y\u2019know.\u00a0But I\u2019ve decided to embrace it by pulling it back tight and sticking some colourful things in it. I feel it distracts people from actually looking at my hair. Instead, they are focused on the clips, which look like a crown or a tiara.<\/p>\n OH, I OWN MORE THAN 100 HAIR CLIPS,<\/strong> and they\u2019re not cheap. I have a whole collection of vintage clips\u2014beautiful clips\u2014that have their own personality.<\/p>\n THE THING WITH MY IMPERFECT VISION<\/strong> is that everybody\u2019s beautiful and soft. Once you put on these glasses that correct your vision, and all of a sudden, everybody\u2019s sharp, and they have flaws.<\/p>\n YEARS AGO, <\/strong>when I finally got a pair of prescription lenses, I looked at the ground, and, oh my goodness, the ground is so dirty. I never knew that.<\/p>\n I WORE GLASSES AS AN ACCESSORY… <\/strong>I\u2019m gonna say 10,15 years ago. It was a time when I felt that I needed details on my face: that\u2019s where glasses came in. I became so used to wearing them that I feel almost naked without them. There\u2019s something very comforting about it. Like I\u2019m wearing a piece of armour.<\/p>\n I GREW UP IN THE 60s, <\/strong>in an era where, I think, families from an early age kinda stuck together.\u00a0I feel like I was always with my family every single night as we ate dinner at the table.<\/p>\n ABSOLUTELY NO TV<\/strong> during dinner. Instead, we talk. I knew what my father did that day, whether he went to trial or won a case. I knew what my mother worked on and what she wrote. Most of all, I learnt about politics. My parents were very political, and they would discuss politics with each other at the table with my sister and me. I thought that was very unique.<\/p>\n I LIVE <\/strong>my bucket list every day.<\/p>\n AMERICA <\/strong>isn\u2019t going in the direction that I agree with. The many wonderful things that were commonplace in our lives are going to be taken away.<\/p>\n IN 1979, <\/strong>there wasn\u2019t anything like a celebrity chef. In fact, most people did not know who did the cooking at a restaurant.<\/p>\n I WAS VERY LUCKY <\/strong>to be the opening pastry chef for Wolfgang Puck when Spago opened in\u00a01982. Prior to that, I worked at a restaurant in Santa Monica called Michael\u2019s and I was happy there. I met Mark at Michael\u2019s\u2014and would eventually become my husband\u2014and he was gonna leave and be the executive chef at Spago. He asked if I wanted to work at Spago.<\/p>\n I WAS VERY RELUCTANT, Y’KNOW.<\/strong> But I saw it as a career advancement for me. After a lot of begging, I finally gave in. Little did I know, I rode on Spago\u2019s success and right away, the press came, and with that, my career took off.<\/p>\n UNDER THE SPOTLIGHT OF SPAGO, <\/strong>Mark was never gonna become the focal point because it was Wolfgang\u2019s show. Two-and-a-half years later, someone lured us away to work at a restaurant in New York. I didn\u2019t want to do it, but Mark really wanted to, because it was his opportunity to become a celebrity chef. We moved to New York, and it didn\u2019t work out, but by then, Mark was ready to open his own restaurant. We returned to Los Angeles and opened Campanile.<\/p>\n I COULD HAVE WORKED <\/strong>for Wolfgang forever. I had no desire, really, to own a restaurant, but Mark really did, and I wanted to support him.<\/p>\n TO BE A GOOD CHEF,<\/strong> you have to be a chef who\u2019s well-travelled.<\/p>\n VINTAGE, PRE-OWNED GUCCI, <\/strong>I love that more than its contemporary line.<\/p>\n WHEN I STARTED COOKING,<\/strong> I was very intimidated by the idea of being a chef. To me, a chef was someone, who wore the tall white hat, a button-down shirt and had worked for many years. I always felt that I\u2019ll never achieve that, y\u2019know? I\u2019m still not comfortable with that title.<\/p>\n YOU GOTTA LOVE<\/strong> what you do.<\/p>\n [IF I HAD AN OPPORTUNITY<\/strong> to host three people who aren\u2019t around anymore], it\u2019d be with my mother, my father and my middle child. That would be a great party.<\/p>\n THE WAY PEOPLE DESCRIBE ME <\/strong>so often is like,\u00a0You\u2019re a legend<\/em>. Maybe I\u2019m a legend because I\u2019m so old and I\u2019ve been around. I look at a legacy as someone who leaves their mark. So, hopefully that\u2019s what I have.<\/p>\n I DON’T REALLY LIKE IT<\/strong> when people are overly creative. Meaning that they don\u2019t feel that they will either make their mark or be appreciated as a chef if they do something simple. Instead, they put such a crazy spin on a classic dish.<\/p>\n IF I’M IN THE MOOD<\/strong> for a grilled cheese sandwich, I just want toasted, buttery bread with a really good aged Gruyere. That\u2019s it. I don\u2019t want any foie gras<\/em> in there.<\/p>\n I DON’T LIKE <\/strong>seeing myself in pictures. Never seen myself on television, never even listened to myself on a radio interview.<\/p>\n DI I HAVE ANY REGRETS? <\/strong>Yeah, I regret that I didn\u2019t work on my marriage with Mark.<\/p>\n NO, ACTUALLY, <\/strong>I think everything I\u2019ve done was within my control. If I don\u2019t want to live in Los Angeles, I can move somewhere else. If I don\u2019t like having restaurants, I could sell them, right? I thought about the things that I regret, and I really don\u2019t, because I\u2019ve done everything that I wanted to do.<\/p>\n