The Truth In This Art with Chef Zoe Baez

Welcome to the Truth in His Art. I am your host Rob Lee, and today, continuing my theme of interviews around culinary arts month, I am welcoming the great chef Zoe Baez. Welcome to the podcast.

Hi. Good afternoon. Thank you for having me over, Rob.

Thank you for coming on. I'm glad we were able to make this happen. Like, look, you know, you know, I found that initial, I think it was, I think it was LinkedIn. I think I was first this audio on LinkedIn, and I was like, this is interesting. Let's let's let's dive into the profile.

I was like, I'm gonna reach out, and now we're here. So I'm happy about that.

Very exciting. Thank you for reaching out. It was wonderful connecting with you.

Likewise. Likewise. And, you know, as I'm one to do, you know, as I was touching on before we got into this, there's always sort of the the sparse introduction. Right? I give, you know, welcome to person or have you because I think it's much more value in the person introducing themselves.

Like, I think a lot of times there's a detail missing, you know, like someone has, like, who am I? And I'm like, I'm a lot of different people, you know. So I like to give the the guest the opportunity to introduce themselves in their own words. So if you will, could you introduce yourself?

Well, my name is Zoe Baez. I'm a chef, by profession. I've been, over 15 years in the industry. Definitely, that's my passion. My life revolves around food all the time.

Even when I'm off, most of the question that I get asked is, do you like to cook when you're off? And the, answer is absolutely yes. I love entertaining and hosting. So definitely yes. And I'm born and raised in Puerto Rico.

So I left Puerto Rico in 2014, definitely, and I've been in the United States since. I traveled a few states, and I live in a few states, in New York, in Georgia, and in Maryland. I have, passed some time also in Florida and Connecticut. I really, really enjoy the diversity from the north to the south. It's

amazing. And, thing that

I enjoy the most is the difference in ingredients that you can find and how people use the same ingredient differently and apply different techniques, and it's just a total different dish. So yeah.

I I love that. Like, I'm I'm a food snob, which is probably gonna come out during this conversation. I got some hot takes. I got some takes, but, so and and thank you for for giving us that extra context because so you've you've been, you know, here, you know, sort of in the States for, 20 years at this point or have you, and multiple places. So getting sort of your, your food passport, you know, if you will.

Yes. So growing up and taking it back, growing up, what initially, like, sparked your interest in food and cooking? Like, why did that resonate for you? And I'm saying this as a person who was very close to going into food. It was like arts, you know, or culinary arts.

And my parents was like, you're going into business. That's what you're gonna pursue.

Well, that's good. They did a great choice because then once you have that base of business, you can do and pursue your other two passions. Very certainly good. I love that. Well, for me, I will say, my grandma and it's a very cliche, but it's just I used to live basically most of the time with her and stay with her.

And she used to cook every day for everyone in the family. So she was like the stop. Everyone will come over for lunch. Everyone will come over for dinner. And I used to saw everything that she does for everyone.

I used to love sitting on the countertop over there and just watching her do everything that she was doing. It it will always intrigued me how she was peeling potatoes and everything in her hand. I'm like, why? How is she not getting caught? So, yeah, it was really, really intriguing for me.

I don't have an actual answer of what sparked it. I just have this passion since I have sense of knowledge. I've always been interested in food. I was always wanting to be in the kitchen. I was a weird kid if you may because my friends were outside and I used to have to be outside, but I had a time in the day that I used to come in just to watch a specific show and travel channel.

Used to call, great chefs of the world. Yeah. And, I don't know. I found that I used to love it and I used to sit there religiously and watch that. And my first, attempt with food was when I was 7 years old.

Yeah. I was at, what what's you call it? Sleepover. I was at a sleepover because my parents, they didn't let me touch the kitchen. No.

You're gonna get burned, this and that. So I'm I'm at that sleepover in the morning. It's breakfast time, and the mom of the house goes, okay. Let's cook. Who wants to help me?

Blah blah blah. And I'm like, okay. I got it. I know how to do this. I do this all the time.

And I made a great breakfast, crumbled eggs, toast, bacon, everything for everyone. Delightful. My first attempt, my mom comes

and pick me up and the mom is telling her, oh, she did this and did that. And my mom's face is changing colors because she's like, she has never touched the kitchen before she lied to you. But I used to lie just to touch the food.

And since then, the first time I cooked for my family was when my grandma got sick because there was no one else to do it. Same year. And I did a great job at that lunch. And since then, she used to we used to tackle the kitchen between each other. So it was a great, yeah, great upcoming with that.

That's that's delightful. It's it's great to hear that. And I'm I'm gonna go backwards a little bit, and then I'm gonna go back into this sort of other question. Is it's a segue? I'm trying to act like I'm professional, throw up my skills a little bit.

I love one of the things you'd mentioned about sort of like the travel channel or have you. And it's, you know, I watch a lot of cooking shows, watch a lot of traveling channel, travel channel and, you know, any of these just different things for like inspiration. It's not like some of these things like OD. So that is a giant burger. I don't know if I need that, but maybe combining certain flavor for the flavor profiles together or seeing, like, what maybe plays well together.

And so that's that's one thing. And you mentioned your grandmother. And I and I think of just, you know, at times, you know, cooking with my my grandmother. And it's just certain not not often, but it was enough that it's just, like, that stuck with me or that stuck with me. And there was one thing that she would make very, very simple sort of breakfast thing, but it was always with, like, the scrambled eggs, biscuits, you know, you had the sausage.

And it was this this really sharp, like, cheddar. And I've not found one. I'm a cheese guy. I've not found one that's rubbing

me to it. So

is there is there, is there something specific like a meal that you remember from your grandmother that you were like, I need to either make this when I get on doing my thing or just something that you really, really, really dug as a child?

So, one thing that I used to love about her is her chicken stew, and it was served with a roasted garlic white rice. I know. You roast your garlic and then you make your rice look better. The thing with the chicken is because he used to cook with beer and wine. So it differentiates the flavor from a regular one.

And that I learned to cook with wine and beer since very early because of those. And then after I grew up, I started adding different beers and stuff like that. Yeah. And then, for example, for my beef stew, I love to use Guinness because it's dark and rich. And she used to do that specific stew with all the potatoes and all the vegetables, and it was amazing.

That's probably one of my favorite things to eat from her.

See, see, look. Now I'm a snob ness about to start coming out. I look. I've cooked with beer a few different times, especially, you know, I'm one of those guys. I'll go to the liquor store, wine source, where have you, and I'm there looking for the perfect beer.

I have some standards. I, you know, like I generally drink, like, Japanese beer, like I drink Sapporo, you know, Kirin, things of that nature. And, but if I get a beer that's not quite what I'm looking for, I was like, this might work differently. So I remember getting this. I don't like sour beers.

I'm like IPAs. So something that's sort of sour. I'm like, I might be to do a chicken dish for this. I wanna put this in the crock pot. And I remember I got, like, a 4 pack of a beat of the New Orleans beer.

Uh-huh. And I

was like, I'm going to figure this out. And it was like over rice. It's flat. I've never had a beer since then.

That's crazy. I love all of the beer styles. I used to be married with a beer brewer, actually. So I learned a lot about beer in my past years, and I really do enjoy all beer styles. Definitely, hazy IPAs and dark beers are my favorite.

Yeah. You get it. You did.

You get it.

So so this is the the sort of me trying to reverse it in in with the segue. Right? So, you know, and and what I've learned in conversations that I've had, and like I said, I really admire chefs and folks in the sort of culinary industries. It's it's a calling. It's a vocation.

It's not something to be taken lightly. You know, thin margins, hard work, long hours, lots of training, you know, and so and you were touching on your first. So I want to touch on this piece. What was that initial sort of draw to say, I want to do this as a living? Like, some people like to cook and they're into it, but as a living, I think that's a different sort of consideration.

So what was that moment like of, I'm gonna do this. I'm gonna I'm gonna give it a go.

I started thinking about that in 7th grade. 6th, 7th grade. When people started to ask, what are you gonna do when you grow up? I'm like, I'm gonna be in a kitchen. I just wanna cook all day.

And took it seriously since then, as a profession. I really knew I wanted to do that since early on. I used to watch the show that I told you, and I used to see them on their chef coats and sauteing and all that. But in middle school, I took some little classes, and then I decided that from my high school, I was gonna go to a trade school that just give you 3 years of baking. And then after those 3 years of baking, I went to culinary school.

And that's definitely what I I I was set up with that. I've never think of doing anything else. Yeah. And and it's been a great career. I've enjoyed everything.

You definitely have to have a lot of discipline like you were saying, and and be willing to work at night when your friends and family are gathered on a Christmas day. But it is worth it. I love it, and I make up for them with other things.

So great. So with this sort of next part of it, the first piece, like you touched on that first instance in the kitchen or what have you. And, you know, kind of like maybe a little finessing, maybe a little finessing that was going on. It's like,

oh, yeah, I've

been in here before. Like, you know, no, that's true. So

talk a

bit about sort of your your first job in the industry and maybe, you know, clients or or first, like, sort of the first in that way, once you're in the spot where you're professional, you're in the industry. And from those experiences, what was the most informative for you as your philosophy when it comes to food, when it comes to being in the kitchen?

Well, I started college in August. And probably half of the month of August, I was already trying to see what I could do to get out there and step in a actual professional kitchen. So I used to volunteer a lot with my chefs in the college. And they they used to mention a lot, go do trials, work for free, try to get your your food in the door, then I did. So my my first job was not a paid job.

And I went to the Intercontinental Hotel. They had a huge place, that was overlooking to the ocean. And I I said, okay. I wanna work here. So I went over there and worked for them, probably, like, a month.

And then I got hired by DuPont restaurant, which was at the Hotel San Juan next to that hotel. So I stayed in the area, and I did that job at the, the Palm restaurant for 4 years, and that paid for my college completely. Yeah. Yeah. So while I was in college, I was already in a professional kitchen, long hours, full time.

And I was so ahead from my peers in class because they were just getting their toes wet. And I was like, no, don't do that. Do this. Do that.

And, like, run-in the kitchen. And my my chefs, my professors were like, what's happening in here?

Because they it was a huge catapult. I am really glad I did that because I had the instruction during the day, and then I was applying during the night at work. Second was that. And my 3rd experience with first clients that were mine was when I came back from Spain, and I opened a little tapas bar in Isla Verde, Puerto Rico. And I had when I opened that 1st week, I had a family came over that week.

They were staying in a hotel across the street, and they loved it. We had a great connection. They start bringing new people over, and that was from there, it was really cool. It was really cool. So what what shaped me from there and what is the most important, I think, I think the ability to perform while I was learning in the palm, that was great.

The ability to actually be, donating my time to get knowledge was very important to me in the first one. And in the third one, when I was in the tapas bar, definitely was I was able to create my own dishes. I was able to have more freedom and seeing people enjoy my creativity. So those 3 are probably the most important for me.

Thank you. It's the the way you're describing it, sort of that, you know, getting the the education component and putting it into practice, that's that's like an accelerated, like, 400 level course. This is like, we out here.

It was tough. It was tough because like I tell you,

I was a 48 hour, 40 hour, job, and I was taking a lot of credits too because I wanted to accelerate and do everything at the same time, but it was wholesome, it was good, and I'm really grateful that I did that. It was great.

So you you've mentioned, you know, sort of sort of Spain, that's that's Madrid. Right? And then, you know, sort of different places here in the in the US and in and in Puerto Rico as well. Talk a bit about sort of, like, we have the on page, you know, education, the, you know, from the book, having the classes, and I have this belief when it comes to something that is creative, it's the reps. Like, especially, you know, I'm doing the education thing and teaching, you know, students how to do podcasting.

And I'm like, you can learn some of the technical stuff, but it's sort of the reps. It's the the amount of times in doing it. So how is, like, having experience in different kitchens, in different countries, different communities, really served and built out that knowledge base for you?

I think it's amazing to have and seeing different different kitchens because everyone does everything different. In that same line, no chef is equal to another one just because they're upbringing. Because anyone has the same upbringing. No one does. So you always apply the things like you you with your grandmommy, with my grandma.

So things that will layer and form you as a chef. So you will always take in a lot of different things, also different layouts of kitchens. You learn how to navigate them, how to be proactive, and how to manage your time and do everything in different spaces, also different flavors because you will have access to different local stuff.

Yeah.

So that's the most exciting part too. I'm I'm a people's person. I love talking. I love meeting people. So traveling, it's something I love and adore.

And getting to know different people and learning from them techniques and tips are are everything.

So in this this is normally what would be a rapid fire question, but I gotta ask is that you mentioned travel. What is your what is, like, one of those first things you do when you're traveling to a new place as as a chef, as a people person, what have you? Is it you got

Well, your first conversation, it's first of all, do a research of the place and

see what's available and and see what are what are they doing there? What's their specialty there? And then proceed to find places that do it well. Yeah. Every time that you travel, the best way to know where you're going is through food, I think.

It's it's definitely an Anthony Bourdain quote, but it's true. It is true. He he hit the nail. It's totally true. So definitely going dining, It's when you sit down, you talk to your, waiter.

Hey, how is this? How is that? How is the locals? How what where should I go? It's always based on the restaurant.

It's always in the meeting when you're breaking bread. That's where you're actually meeting people and expanding your knowledge about the place. So research on food is the first thing. And then if there's water around, honestly, that's that's my my second one. I love the ocean.

I love rivers. I love everything that has to do with water. So those 2 are my top things to do.

I dig it. That that technically, that's not gonna count as a rapid fire because I gotta give give you the real ones later, but I I was very curious right there. So in in reading it and even, you know, in this conversation thus far, there's an exuberance there. There's a a zest for what what you do, and you've cultivated a profound appreciation for the power of gastronomy and, you know, fostering connections. What role does culture, does tradition play in sort of your food?

You know, like, how do these elements, like, influence your your dishes and your approach to food?

Well, as I said earlier, I'm born and raised in Puerto Rico. So it's a very, very Caribbean, very island style. We have a lot of fresh seafood around, great vegetables, great herbs. So I will always be in that Caribbean setting. My things are always gonna come across more tropical than it should be, maybe.

Like, we can do super tropical in the middle of December. I have no problem with that. That will always influence my dishes, but also my travel to Spain. Those two things. I when I went there, I I think how I I married both of them is the tropical part from Puerto Rico, but then the style of dining, which is from Spain.

I love my people to have a little bit of everything in the table so they can mix and match and try different things in one sitting. So I think those 2 are how I marry them.

I love it. I'm I'm trying to like, here in in Baltimore, there's a sort of lack of having multiple options for, like, Puerto Rican food. And I'm trying to get my old alias back of Mifungo Poppy, and it's just Uh-huh. It's just not quite working because there's not enough options.

I know. There's not a lot of options.

We can have a chat later. Okay? We

we we should talk. We should talk later. But, yeah, it's it's definitely, you know, when you see like different foods and different approaches to food and seeing it's not it's not fusion, but so does the sensibility, like, you know, you know, it's a place I went to for Topaz recently, and it was a really cool setting and being able to try these different things. And it just leads to sort of that conversation of being able to be at a table with someone. It's like, oh, I'm gonna try some of this.

Now I'm in your food. You're in my food, and we're kind of sharing and connecting on on that sort of level.

It's more intimate.

Yes. Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. And I think that's a thing here.

I think it's a very US thing that is kinda lost, that people are connecting to that.

What do

you mean?

That they they'd be like, I wanna have my play, my main course. They will share an appetizer, but, they will normally go inclining to have a main dish for each person.

100%. And, you know, look. I gotta I gotta steal croquettes sometimes. I'm like, well, let me get that let me get that off.

That's so true.

So in in speaking of of dishes, we're we're moving into sort of the food portion, the food course of this podcast. Can you speak on a sort of a a memorable dish for you that represents who you are as a chef, who you are culinary?

One of my favorite, grains is pigeon peas. And we do a rice in Puerto Rico, which is probably our national rice, if you may. May. And I turned that into a risotto. And then I did instead of pork pot, I did pork belly, and I did a guava sauce on it.

So the sweet with the pork belly and the pigeon peas, the creaminess of the risotto. So that one is one of my favorite, dishes that I've created.

Was was what was the inspiration around it? Because I'm I'm hearing these comments. I got to Okay.

So our our most traditional dish in Puerto Rico, the one that we do when there's any party, any gathering, any anything, is any party, any gathering, any anything, it will be pigeon pea rice, which is a a yellow rice with those peas inside, and we will roast huge pork pots or the entire pig if you have the ability. And we do like potato salads or other type of salads. Normally they do barbecue, but I love and I have a passion for guava in sauces, in desserts, and everything. Like, I love guava so much. So I decided to do a sauce with that one for the pork with the saltiness and the tanginess of guava.

Well, I get those those played well together. The sweet and the salty head plays well together. Mhmm. So I had I asked this question previously, and I framed it because I'm a nerd and, you know, I got the the pop culture reference. I call it the crime alley.

The crime alley like ingredient. Is there an ingredient that caused you fits in the kitchen? And, you know, sort of what was that moment when you you got over the hump? Like, I've seen look. I've seen some badly done things by people, and it's like, why do you keep trying it?

Why do you keep putting it on the menu? And then eventually, they get over and say, oh, this is this is really good now. And it was fish for me. I can't I'm not good at frying things, for instance. But what is what is that for you?

Okay. So in in college, I had this professor, a chef, and he used to tell us stories always. And one story that always stood to me to this day, and I do tell that story to my my peers and also everyone that I come across in the kitchen that needs that push. He used to said that he used to have to, peel cases and cases of potatoes, and they they had just one machine to do it. And then the machine was automatic, but it just one at a time, and he's like, but then again, I'm taking a lot of time.

So he used to put one there and then race against the machine, and then it's 2 at a time. And I think that was a really interesting way of seeing things. He always, used to tell us how to just find a way to make it more efficient and faster and work faster instead of getting frustrated with your prep. So I never got frustrated with my prep. I I'm a weirdo.

I used to love to sit with I find it relaxing. Okay? Sit me there to cut cases of something. I'm like, okay. This is my nothing else.

Okay. Great. This is fantastic. But, I I am good with technique. I was never frustrated with technique, but when I was in the palm, there was this salad.

That was a chopped salad, and I had a line probably with 15, 20 ingredients, and it probably took most of them. Yes. And then by order, you have to chop your salad every time. So, I was frustrated because I was getting behind. I like to be really fast.

I I don't like to, you know, keep bad timing on my tickets.

Sure.

So I came across with, okay, let's see if I do a few pulses, put everything in there and do a few pulses on my foot processor and I cracked the code, and all my peers were like, we hate you. But now I can't do that half time, still great, great quality, and rough chopped really well. So that's that was the one that I really didn't like. It was called Monday night salad. Yep.

Every day was a Monday. Imagine that. What a name.

I feel like I feel like there's an orange tabby cat that doesn't like that salad either. You know what I mean? Like, a little Garfield reference there.

Yeah.

But, yeah, it's, and and and the what you were what it sound like you were describing was sort of the gamification of things. It's like, look, I gotta beat this. I gotta beat this time. We're just gonna get better at it. And again, it's it's the reps.

Like,

you

know, I think doing

it a lot.

Yeah. And I think if you're into it and if you have a passion and a zeal for it, you're able to just naturally do the process of doing it. Just get better. Just it gets just get more efficient and I I do this. Some people still still say I don't know how I'm doing, but, you know, I've been doing it for a long time.

So I guess I'm getting better. I don't know. So menu development, let's let's talk a little bit about that. Like, what is that process like for you? Is it, you know, traveling and you get inspiration, you're like, oh, that's that's a really cool ingredient.

I wonder if I can use that, or if it's like, this is what's in season currently, so let's try to develop a menu around this. What inspires new dishes that you're gonna create?

I like to look at the menu that I'm gonna create depending on the season of the year that I am, what things are happening, what's going around. Local availability, also very important to me. What's the occasion? And I always try to do my menus by season when it's doable. I really like the fresh.

I really like to hang out with the farmers. Yeah. And it's it's fun. I think it's fun. And also depending on who I'm cooking for, based on obviously the occasion, how many people am I cooking for?

Because you don't shoot yourself on the food either.

Sure.

Right? So there's things that are marvelous, but recreating them 100 times is not the same as 25.

Sure.

So we'll always go around all those questions before you start, doing a menu. If it's for a a private, personal chef party, we'll definitely go around allergies, and we'll go around, if they have any, preference. They're vegetarian or they're pescatarian. So all those little things will influence that. I will start throwing probably half of the ingredients that they don't know what they are.

But I will tell them, hey. But this is this, and it tastes like that. And they're like, oh, okay. That sounds great. Let's

so I actually convinced them a little, lured them into new things.

Yeah. And that's that's definitely, how I go through them. I normally if I go out, I'm dying or I travel. I take notes. I get inspiration, so I have like a little bank of stuff that you can go back and forth with as well.

Yeah. I, thank you. When I do any travel and I as I mentioned, I got a little bit that's coming up. I I always have, like, one of my little ugly book notepads with me, and I jot down different things. I'm like, I'm gonna need that.

I'm gonna have to try that. That's inspiration for a question, and and things of that nature. And funny you should you know, funny we should kinda talk about that that that that sort of capturing that inspiration. This last question that I have is literally one of these questions that I wrote down in a notepad, and I was like, I'm gonna ask Zoe this one. So

Oh. Literally,

that's it.

Sanitation. Right?

This is specific. This is a bespoke question for you. So I read somewhere that, like, chefs are like rock stars. Maybe it's a bordainism. Who knows?

And so let's say that that is the case. Right? You know, you're a rock star in this instance. Right? What is your opening act menu item?

What is your, like, sort of fan favorite, and what is the the encore dish? Some people say it's the dessert, but what is your encore dish? Like, give me give us your set list.

So I would like to say that paella is my favorite thing. Paella is one of my favorite dishes to recreate. It's always a crowd pleaser. It's versatile. You can do any combination with them.

I adore the fact that I actually went and learned it in Spain. Since then, that's one of my favorite things. For dessert, I will say that flancocco is one of my my favorite ones to make, which is half cake and half custard together. So when you bake them, you put the 2 mixtures together. And when the you bake them, they separate and they get half and half.

Nice.

And, you make a caramel sauce for that, and I make different, types of flavors with that. I have a pina colada one. I have, yep, I have a Old Bay one as well just because we're in Baltimore. I did that one we moved to Maryland. I do a red velvet.

I have a chocolate one, a caramel and popcorn one. There's so many there's so many ingredients and and things that you can mix onto that too.

And I I definitely gotta ask if you got the fan favorite, if you got the closer? What are you opening with?

Oh, I like I like, ceviche.

Okay.

I like ceviches, different types of ceviches. And if I'm able to, I love to serve them in little oysters or little, clamshells and make them as close to the ocean as possible.

Okay. I like that. And, definitely tropical. And I and I must admit, in in looking at your, your your IG, everything is super colorful. Everything is very bright, but I was like, I'm here.

I'm here. Everything is vibrant. I'm here. So I dig it. And, with that, we're able to move into the rapid fire portion of the podcast.

When we started, there was only 2 rapid fire questions. Now it's 5. So I've

been adding

as we've been talking. Great. The first one, it might might be a little controversial, but I gotta ask. In your opinion, what is another word for chef?

Well, where I'm at right now, I think chef chef is the person that leads the kitchen. Right?

Yeah.

And cooks or line cooks are the persons that do the prep and cook and run the line. Another work for a chef is definitely an artist, just because of the credit creativity that you have to put into your job. And because you have to dance in that kitchen, it's definitely an art to keep up with everything at the same time and actually enjoy it and be willing to wake up every day and keep making people happy with food.

It's It's great. It's a great answer. You you touched on a little bit earlier sort of enjoying cooking even outside of, like, you know, the the normal day to day, you know, with your job. Right? So, what your vocation you're calling.

So when you're not working, what is the go to meal that you're making at home for yourself?

For myself. Well, you see those memes where where the chef is sitting in front of the microwave? It's true. Okay? It's kinda true.

But I love to make pastas. I enjoy fish a lot. Grilling, it's really, really, really in in something that I like to enjoy, and roasting vegetables mostly are something that I have always, roast vegetables. I do in in, that same question about what do I do for people also when I'm on my own time. Sure.

And, also, it will apply to the prior question of what I opened with. It's with charcuterie boards or racing boards. I love those and making many combinations, definitely depending on the situation, depending on what's the occasion. But I enjoy those a lot. I can prep 1 and leave it on a Sunday in the middle of the day, and then we'll race in the whole day from there, have people over, friends, family, and it's really fun to see them just talking and peeking from there.

And it's it's really fun, and it's very interactive too.

It's dope. Stoked. I'm, a big fan of, and I've been able to flex and develop my skills in building out those charcuterie boards. So yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Definitely. It's a it's definitely a show stopper, and it's a conversation starter and, conversation accelerant.

Yeah. I got to the point that I make flowers with the meat and everything.

I'm not there yet. I'm not advanced yet. That's actually a tier 2. That's, you know, that's I'll

take 2. It's really it's really it's l t 2 l t 2.

So let's see. What is your favorite piece of media related to chefs, related to cooking? Like, I know that a lot of people like to show the bear. I know that this the movie, Chef about the, what was it? The Cuban sandwiches food truck, which I really like that movie.

What's your favorite media around food?

I don't remember the name of the movie right now, but it was, for there were French, they were a French cuisine, And I saw that for the first time in Madrid when I was over there. It always stuck with me, but I never got that name of that movie. Now, to be honest, I don't watch a lot of TV. I don't have time. But Chef's Table for me, on, that's the series that I love.

Just because you can see the transparency of the chefs, you can see their personality, You can identify with the things that have happened in their lives, how they're guided through those through their kitchen as well. And and I cried. That's my my novella, if you may. Literally. Yeah.

That that show for me is very important. And I I seem to know chefs from that, series that have inspired me. Yeah. Also have let me know, like, you're not alone. This has happened.

And all those things in between. So it's a really good identifier, fire, and it really lets you up as a chef.

It's great. It's great. So these here's the last 2. The first one, and I'm hoping is in there, but I, I saw I heard earlier, you know, there's a pastry sort of background. Right?

You know? So I gotta ask, what are your top 3 cakes?

Well, I love, almond cake.

Okay.

I love tres leches cake.

Uh-huh.

And I love, I love I I'm gonna say 4. I love pineapple upside down cake because I do a twist on it. And definitely the the poster with the cake together. Those 4 are my go to.

You named 2 of my favorites. So shout out to you.

There you go.

I I I I'll put it this way. I used to used to work in a Spanish speaking call center, so look. We were out here. Yeah. You see I'm like, where you guys bring it in today?

Oh, trust leches. No wonder. Oh, go figure.

Oh, yeah. I love those. I love those.

Alright. So here's the last one. Because we're I think we're in the the same, like, tribe here when it comes to this brown beverage? How do you take your coffee?

Uh-huh. Black with no sugar or anything on it at all. It could be hot or it could be ice, but I don't like anything on my coffee. Now I do enjoy different coffees. If I go to a coffee shop, I will ask sometimes for some, specialties they have or their mix that they have for the season.

I used to go live in Kent Island, and I used to go to coffee shop that they have on a dock. Yeah. And it's amazing. And they have so many different flavors, rotational ones. And I used to play more there with the flavors, but normally, what I take every day, is a hot black coffee or hot ice coffee.

That's it.

Just black. No sugar. No nothing.

So I I put a little cinnamon in mine, you know, but aside from that, that's it's kinda it, you know, and

I'm sending one of my sangria and my coffee.

That's that's a new heat right there I need to be aware of. So look, I'm I'm I'm getting free tips here. So so that's kinda it as far as the pod. I think we've got a lot of ground covered and there's 2 things that I would like to do as we close out here. 1, I wanna thank you for coming on to the podcast.

This has been a treat. And, and 2, I wanna invite and encourage you to share with the listeners where they can follow you on social media, website, all of that good stuff. The floor is yours.

Well, thank you so much for having me over. I had tons of fun with you, connecting with you, and all through everything in this conversation. You can find me on Instagram or Facebook, and everything everywhere is, LinkedIn as well. Chef Zoe Baez, and everything is all across the social media the same. Chef Zoe Baez.

Well, there you have it, folks. I wanna again thank chef Zoe Baez for coming on to the podcast, and I'm Rob Lee saying that there's art, culture, and community in and around your neck of the woods. You've just got to look for

it.