Chef Walter Staib is a third-generation restaurateur with over four decades of culinary experience. He is an author, Emmy Award-winning TV host, James Beard-nominated chef, and culinary historian. He began his career in Europe before coming to the United States in 1969. As founder and president of Concepts By Staib, Ltd. (est. 1989), a global restaurant management and hospitality consulting firm, Walter Staib has opened more than 650 restaurants worldwide. He is currently the driving force behind one of the nation’s finest dining establishments, Philadelphia’s City Tavern, a faithful recreation of an original 18th century tavern and Concepts By Staib, Ltd.’s flagship operation. In addition to being a top chef, restaurateur and consultant, Chef Staib has also authored several cookbooks: City Tavern Cookbook, City Tavern Baking & Dessert Cookbook, Black Forest Cuisine, and City Tavern: Recipes from the Birthplace of America. Staib has made numerous appearances on local and national cooking shows, such as the Today show, and the Food Network’s Best Thing I Ever Ate and Iron Chef. He is the host of A Taste of History, which just received a 2012 James Beard Foundation nomination for Best TV Show On Location and which was awarded three Emmys in its first two seasons. The show is a vehicle for Staib to share 18th century cuisine with a growing audience. Currently, he can be seen nationwide for the fourth season on PBS and on national cable on WE-TV. In July 2006, he was named and remains the Culinary Ambassador to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The same year he was also awarded the Seven Stars & Stripes Award for Excellence in Hospitality. He also won the National Restaurant Association Keystone (Pennsylvania) Humanitarian Award that year. In 2009, he received Entree of the Year by Philadelphia Magazine. He was awarded the Silver Medal Award by the American Culinary Federation in 2010. The Colonial Society of Pennsylvania gave him the 2011 Contemporary Pioneer Award, and he was voted the Top Philadelphia Chef in the Conde Nast Cadillac Culinary Challenge in 2011.