It’s not easy having restaurants all over the city (and in Las Vegas), each with its own personality and each highly regarded. Yet, this is chef Matthias Merges’ world.

Yusho, with locations in Chicago (2853 N. Kedzie Ave. and 1301 E 53rd. St.,) and Las Vegas, offers Asian-inspired cuisine including foods cooked over a hot Japanese grill called a binchotan. Billy Sunday (3143 W Logan Blvd.) features American comfort food and a great cocktail list. And A10 (1462 E. 53rd St.), where the menu is decidedly Mediterranean with pastas, pizzas, and assorted seafood, meats and game.

A10, in the heart of Hyde Park, served as our meeting spot. If you look closely at the architectural details, you will note that the restaurant’s entrance is actually the former entrance of the Harper Theater. Standing before the host counter, one has a choice — right or left. On the left, is a dining room with tables smartly arranged and a prominent open kitchen flanking the back wall. On the right, another seating area is dominated by a large U-shaped bar in the center of the room. Above the bar, wooden ladders hung horizontally serve as shelves for bottles of alcohol. Everywhere you look in either room, you feel the history of this building.

Merges is clearly proud of the location and its history. Apparently, the dining room to the right of the entrance was a butcher shop many years ago. It is in this space that we had time to chat over well-foamed cappuccinos. This is an edited version of the conversation.

Q: Give me some background on you. How did you get into this business?

A: I was the black sheep of my family. I have four brothers and all of them became engineers. I dropped out of college to cook. We all grew up in New Jersey. Mom was a terrible cook, although she is a really good cook now. All of us kids were voracious readers and we read a lot about travel, dreaming of where we could go. Then in the 1970s we got the Time Life series of world cuisines (“Foods of the World”). It was amazing. We read them all. For my parent’s anniversary in 1976 we cooked sukiyaki from the Japanese book. It was incredible, and I realized that something was going on inside of me.

That was the beginning of my career. I kept cooking out of these books. I asked my parents to take me to different ethnic restaurants in New York City. Once a year, the family would go with my dad on a business trip. One year we went to San Francisco and ate in a Korean restaurant. It completely blew my mind. It was such a great experience with incredible flavors. From there I worked as a dish washer, then garde manger (pantry), on to culinary school, and then (worked) at places in Chicago like La Tour, Carlos, Charlie Trotter’s, and Gabriel’s in Highwood. I also worked in Japan for a while.

Q: In all, you worked at Charlie Trotter’s for 14 years — 12 years as chef de cuisine. How did this time shape you?

A: Perseverance. A lot of people think that you can balance life and work. It is not the case. If you want it long term, if you want to make a big impact, you need to live it 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You just don’t turn it off when you go home from work. If you don’t act like the owner, you would never make it at Trotter’s. I was so fortunate. I learned to go the extra mile and have an entrepreneurial attitude. But it is not just about the restaurant. It is also about community involvement which is very important to me. You need to create a meaningful life’s work. That is why I started Pilot Light (with Paul Kahan and Jason Hammel) and work the Cook County jail nonviolent felon release program.

Q: Now you have five restaurants — four in Chicago and one in Vegas. They are all so different. How did this happen as opposed to coming up with one concept and reproducing it?

A: My family and I love to travel. I love those real-world, everyday experiences. For instance, you go to the night market in Shanghai. You feel the energy and taste the big flavors. I am inspired by these kinds of life experiences, the culture. Yusho was the result of my time in Japan — the intense flavors, great beverages, great service, and great space. A10 is the result of my travels in southern France and Italy. Billy Sunday is about grandma’s cooking. It is what I experienced at grandma’s house on Sunday afternoons when I was a boy. There was a big spread on the table complete with home-made sausages and grandpa’s pickled mushrooms he kept in the cellar. It was a celebration of the table just like at Billy Sunday.

Q: What have you learned about managing three very different concepts? It is not easy to do and many have failed trying to do what you are accomplishing.

A: A lot of this I learned at Trotter’s and have refined it over the years since then. You are only as good as your dishwasher. If they are bad, all is bad. If they are good, it carries through to everyone. Everyone is part of the mission and must be empowered to live the culture. I invest in my people. I want them to be better than me. Here it is about ego-less chefs. I like to surround myself with great people and listen to them.

Q: What do you like to cook at home?

A: I like having my fridge stocked with homemade salsas, chutneys, relishes, pickles and mayonnaise. I just taught my daughters how to make mayonnaise which was fun. We are also all about simple, fresh foods from the farmers market. We have a big garden and I cook from there several times a week. I like making some classic stuff — pasta with canned smoked oysters, grains and fish en papillote. We always have charcuterie and cheese on hand.

Q: Where do you like to go for breakfast in the city? Any favorites?

A: Lula Cafe. Jason is one of the most underrated guys out there. His approach to food is flawless with lots of soul and great local food sources. Whatever his specials of the day are, that is the way to go. I also like Jam and their sous-vide salmon benedict. It’s really great.

Q: Is there a special place you and your family like to eat — somewhere maybe small and out of the way that everyone should know about?

A: Mysore on Devon. It’s Indian vegetarian. Bring a couple of bottles of wine, get some dosi for the family and eat different dishes. It’s awesome.

Q: Last question. Every chef has a late night nosh. What is yours?

A: If it’s really late night, then it’s Dos Gallos on 26th Street. They have straightforward, delicious tacos. I get the al pasteur tacos. It’s a no-nonsense place — perfect when you need great food at the end of the night. If it’s earlier in the night, it’s Susie’s Drive-In on Montrose west of Pulaski. You have to get the double cheese burger with everything. It is totally and perfectly old-style — the way a hamburger should be.

Christopher Koetke is the vice president of the School of Culinary Arts at Kendall College. He also hosts the cooking show “Let’s Dish” on the Live Well Network.