From his early days growing up in New Jersey within a family deeply rooted in great cooking, Chef Keith Taylor loved everything about the kitchen. Visits to New York City restaurants with his uncle and alignment with his grandmother – a professional cook – Keith would eventually meet and spend quality time in the kitchen with Chef Patrick Clark – a chef of great renown in America. His career was self-determined at an early age and through culinary school and later working at Disney, Hilton Hotels, sporting arenas with teams like the NJ Devils and the New York Giants – Chef Taylor developed a reputation as a solid culinarian who knows logistics, is a strong leader, and a strong personality with the knowledge to run a profitable operation. Now the owner/operator of Zachery's BBQ and Soul Food and Chef Soul Enterprises, Chef Taylor has earned a reputation as one of America's premier proponents of Soul Food and the flavors and history of southern style cooking. He is an eloquent speaker, a motivational force, a successful entrepreneur, and a spokesperson for operating kitchens with heart.Join us for a deeply personal and inspirational episode of CAFÉ Talks with Keith Taylor – chef, businessman, leader, husband and father.

Thinking creatively is natural during youth and not so much so as we age. Factors including group dynamics, the structure of formal education, peer critique, and fear of being scorned for thinking outside the norm – make it far more difficult to be creative in our approach toward opportunities and challenges. Bob Eckert is the CEO of New and Improved – a company dedicated to helping others work together, reinvigorate their creative energy, and in the process innovate towards new and improved ways of solving problems and creating those opportunities. Join CAFÉ Talks for a lively, reflective discussion with Bob Eckert about this creative process and how it might help individuals, businesses, teams, and schools address their challenges and set a course for a bright future.

The experience of dining would not be complete without a great, appropriately matched bottle of wine. What goes into the production of that bottle is a long process that begins with the farmer and the terror. The quality of the wine, as every vintner will tell you, is determined by the quality of the grape and the grape depends on the soil, the sun, the temperature, amount of rainfall, and nurturing from the person who works the soil and cares for the fruit. Great wine makers try to let the juice of the grape and the fermentation process speak for itself. After harvest and the crush, the juice of the grape, through fermentation - is allowed to evolve – converting natural sugars into a juice that reflects the character of the terror and the palate of the wine maker. Understanding the complexity of the process, the passion of the vintner, the science of the wine maker, and the vision of the chef who must match food and wine for the best experience, is the craft of the importer and exporter. Join us as Jack Edwards of The Jack Edwards Collection talks about his role in helping to bring the very best wines from their source to the restaurant table and his thoughts about the importance of wine education. Jack's experience with the people of wine, and knowledge of the product itself will open a fruitful discussion on this podcast episode. You won't want to miss it.