Scott Conant has been working in restaurants for 40 years, since he was an eager 15-year-old teen in Waterbury, Connecticut. Since then he has opened restaurants in New York City, Miami, Las Vegas, Toronto, and elsewhere, as well as a new restaurant in the Bahamas at the Baha Mar resort slated to open later this fall. 

His restaurant L’Impero won the James Beard Foundation Restaurant & Chef Award for best new restaurant for 2003 and Conant has been moving forward ever since. His Scarpetto concept launched in 2008 and is still going strong with seven locations, although Conant is no longer involved. He does have Cellaio Steak in New York and The Americano in Atlanta as well as the forthcoming Leola at Baha Mar. 

And of course he’s also a celebrity chef, currently hosting "House of Knives" on the Food Network and also making numerous appearances on "Chopped" and "Beat Bobby Flay."

He recently sat down with Menu Talk co-hosts Pat Cobe and Bret Thorn and discussed his latest projects as well as the inspiration behind them.