There’s nothing like a home-cooked meal - nothing! When people ask me what the best restaurant in L.A. is, I say, ’Uh, my house.’ It’s more intimate. Food can connect people in a forever sort of way.

De Laurentiis contrasts the prestige of restaurants with the emotional authority of the home table. By calling her house the “best restaurant,” she reframes “best” as intimacy rather than luxury: the value lies in familiarity, hospitality, and the personal care embedded in cooking for others. The quote also treats food as a social technology—shared meals create bonds that outlast the occasion, becoming part of memory and identity. In this view, cooking is not merely sustenance or entertainment but a medium for belonging, where taste and conversation reinforce one another and help turn relationships into lasting community.