Music plays a pivotal role in a restaurant's ambiance. It helps to convey the vibe you want your restaurant to have. However, as Adam Melrose, the chief playlist officer of Control Play, says music tends to take a back seat.

But music can really enhance the brand experience in multiple ways, starting with the team members at the restaurant.

"Music has a lot to do even with just the energy of the staff members," says Melrose in the video. "If the staff is having more fun, their gonna have more fun with your customer."

Music on loudspeakers is common, but at most restaurants, there are also TV screens meant to add entertainment value. Mostly, sports or ChiveTV are popular programs being played for diners.

Melrose points out that in 2017, 25 percent of all music listened to all over the world was done while watching music videos. With that being said, playing music videos on screens has its advantages from an operator standpoint.

"Once the videos are part of the experience, people are staying longer and that equates to another drink or another shareable or a just longer stay time, which only increases how much money they're going to spend while there," says Melrose.

Unlike Pandora or Spotify, Control Play creates custom video entertainment specifically for restaurants and bars. With over 5,000 venues using the service in North America, Control Play curates a playlist specifically for your restaurant and the experience you want to convey. The playlist is constantly updated too, meaning the same old' songs won't be playing over and over to torture your staff.

KYU (pronounced “cue” like in barbecue) opened its doors in early 2016 in the art district of Miami, Florida known as Wynwood. The wood-fired Asian-American concept, brought to Miami by Chef Michael Lewis and Steven Haigh, has cemented itself as a cornerstone of the Miami’s burgeoning food scene. The culinary explosion is in part because of the development of the city. With more exciting spaces opening up Miami-wide — new ideas, customers, and money are pouring into developing areas and renowned chefs and restaurateurs are seizing the opportunity.

Chef Michael Lewis is the co-founder and executive chef at KYU. Lewis has cooked all over the world; leading teams, opening restaurants, and working with chefs like Jean-Georges. Lewis was Chef de Cuisine at Jean Georges restaurant on Central Park West which earned three Michelin Stars at the time.

In 2016, Lewis teamed up with Steven Haigh a 20-year restaurant and hospitality veteran to open KYU. One year after opening, KYU won its first James Beard for “Best New Restaurant”.

One of the biggest draws of KYU, outside Chef Lewis’s mouthwatering food, is the environment and the amazing service. When you’re there it just feels good. KYU is the new Miami — upscale and sexy, not overpriced, and just looking to have a good time.

On this episode of Table 42, Paul sits with Chef Michael Lewis and Steven Haigh to talk about how the restaurant connects with the community, the thoughtful design, and KYU’s unique name. Not to mention we get a behind the scenes look at popular menu items like the roasted cauliflower with goat cheese, shishito, and herb vinaigrette and the Wagyu beef brisket with black shichimi pepper.

In this episode of Table 42, we visit Stiltsville Fish Bar and meet Chefs Janine Booth and Jeff McInnis. The chef couple met on the line at Gigi’s in Midtown Miami before opening up the critically acclaimed Root and Bone in NYC. Their newest venture, Stiltsville Fish Bar, opened in 2018 and has quickly become one of the most talked about new concepts in South Florida, ranking in Foodable's Top 25 just a few weeks after opening. Inspired by Chef Jeff McInnis’s childhood, growing up fishing in Niceville Florida, Stiltsville Fish Bar is a neighborhood restaurant focusing on bringing locals a hometown feel complete with great food and Key West inspired cocktails.

On this episode of Table 42, Paul Barron takes us to his hometown, Los Angeles. Amidst the hustle and the bustle of the city, you will find starving artists and celebrity actors– all looking for a little camera time. And there’s one place you can find it without an audition, you just need a reservation. SUR, which stands for Sexy Unique Restaurant, is a high-end concept, known for its deliciously composed dishes and perfectly shaken drinks. The attractive waitstaff might look a bit familiar to you, too. That’s because SUR is also the set of the wildly popular reality Bravo TV show “Vanderpump Rules” and occasionally makes an appearance on “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.”

In this episode of Table 42, we meet Co-Founder of At Your Service Hospitality Group, Evan Rosenberg, and Executive Chef Brad Warner at their new restaurant Shay and Ivy in New York City.  We are exploring watermelon as it has become a year-round ingredient for many restaurants and their chefs. Executive Chef Warner is experienced with progressive American fare that pulls influences from all over the world to create truly approachable global flavor dishes at Shay and Ivy, and his culinary creations showcased in this episode are no different. Want to know more? Watch the full episode!

A tiny Beverly Hills eatery serving a creative menu to about two dozen guests is Chef Curtis Stone’s life-long dream. Its name, Maude, pays homage to his first culinary mentor — Curtis’ late paternal grandmother. Her influence can be seen throughout the restaurant fixtures and china used to serve food. Since opening in 2014, Foodable Top 25 Restaurant Maude has been serving a 10-course seasonal tasting menu, focusing on one key rotating ingredient each month.

Foodable is back in the City of Brotherly Love and today we tell the story of High Street on Market. This restaurant ranks on our Philadelphia’s Top 25 Restaurants list, along with its sister concept, a.kitchen + a.bar. Together they are part of High Street Hospitality Group (HSHG) and our Table 42 host, Paul Barron, sat down with culinary director and semi-finalist for the James Beard Award for “Rising Star Chef” in 2015, Chef Jon Nodler. High Street is unique and ambitious in the way they run their operations because it offers three different menus at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. “When we started, we set out to offer three unique meal periods.... While it has its little challenges, it’s great because we are able to hit a much broader audience,” says Chef Nodler, who got his culinary start at a cafe in Madison, Wis., that specialized in coffee and crepes while placing high importance on ingredients. In this "Table 42" episode, Chef Nodler shows off his skills while demonstrating how to prepare his Angry Crab spaghetti, as well as a guest favorite, the Kennett Square mushrooms dish, which has been part of the menu since High Street on Market first opened.

Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger, chefs and co-owners of Border Grill, were inspired by authentic Latin flavors they first discovered in the kitchen of a French restaurant. During staff meals, the pair enjoyed Oaxacan and the Yucatecan home cooking prepared by their fellow cooks from Mexico. After falling for the cuisine, they traveled to Mexico to get a comprehensive understanding of the flavors. They then brought that knowledge back to California and put their own spin on it to create the Latin-fusion restaurant Border Grill.

Toronto is arguably one of Canada’s top foodie cities. Having 10 Torontonian restaurants listed in our Top 25 list alone, it’s not hard to believe why restaurateurs place such importance on not only its food, but architecture and restaurant experience as a whole, to stay ahead in the competitive market. That is the case for: Gusto 101— a five-year-old restaurant located in the heart of downtown Toronto, which serves up modern takes on Southern Italian cuisine. The casual eatery was born inside a repurposed garage, featuring concrete, metals and an overall industrial look to the space. “The Gusto design... Janet has quite the eye for that... it did win international design awards…,” said Gusto 101’s Executive Chef, Elio Zennoni, who was referring to Janet Zuccarini, Gusto 101’s owner, and the Hospitality Design Award the restaurant and Munge Leung interior design firm won back in 2013 in the casual restaurant category. The space also features a retractable glass roof for the rooftop dining area that was allows Gusto 101 to provide a patio experience to its guests year round, especially during the fall and winter months. To complement the innovative restaurant design, Gusto 101 is equipped with a tech forward kitchen which Chef Zennoni, who has been cooking for over 20 years now, notes it is something that appealed to him from the beginning. Watch the episode to learn more!

This year, Table 42 brought us innovative dishes, awe-inspiring plating, and truly authentic cuisines from a lineup of first-rate chefs. However, a select few stood out from the rest. Here are Foodable's "Best of" moments for Table 42 in 2016. Keep an eye out for all of this year's "Best of" episodes to learn more about which industry professionals changed the game in 2016!