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Former Jon Bon Jovi Soul Kitchen Chef Terrence Stewart has been hired to take on the culinary charge and training at Interfaith Neighbor’s Kula Café on Springwood Avenue, officials announced in a written news statement.  

The South Jersey native said he moved Asbury Park back in 2004 because his father and other family members lived in the area.

“I want to help Kula to become a popular restaurant,” he said. “I look at this as a challenge.”

Stewart, 45, said he was first introduced to cooking as a child by an aunt who owned a catering venture. And while he spent many years traveling the hospitality industry’s landscape, he credits  a 2010 cooking course with Chef Ray Cattley at the FoodBank of Monmouth and Ocean Counties, now Fulfill, for changing the course of his professional career.

“He became a friend,” Stewart [at right] said. “I saw what he was doing with the students at the FoodBank and how important volunteering was to him. He inspired me.”

Stewart went on to work as the Executive Chef at Lunch Break in Red Bank before joining the Soul Kitchen staff in 2011, where he rose from sous chef to Executive Chef. He left Soul Kitchen in April to seek a new challenge, launching a personal chef and catering service company.

He took on the role as head chef on Oct 24, officials said. Stewart’s immediate charge is to use his creative skills to offer appetizing and healthy meals at fair prices and continue Kula’s integration of fresh produce from its adjacent Kula Urban Farm into the café’s menu items.

“Terrence is ‘all-in’ on our vision to making Kula Café the most diverse dining establishment in the city where people of all walks of life break bread together,” said Roger Boyce, director of the Business Development Center at Interfaith Neighbors, which created and owns Kula Café and the neighboring Kula Urban Farm.

Stewart said his over 30 year experience in the industry will fuel his training approach.

“It’s a whole cultural experience,” he said. “I’ve learned all different aspects of cooking styles because every chef I’ve ever met has a different approach.”

He said the key will be to show students with no restaurant experience how the industry’s skill set can translate into other aspects of life and careers.

“The culinary field and my travels helped me develop and broadened my world,” he said.

And while he’s temporarily moved back to the South Jersey area, Stewart said he hopes to move back to city.

Until then, he is at work retooling the Café’s menu; asking for patron’s feedback on varying specials.

Interfaith Neighbors opened Kula Café at the Springwood Center in April 2013. The eatery offers a nutritious based menu and paid on the job training program. In 2016 the neighboring Kula Urban Farm opened at 115 Atkins Ave. It operates a year round greenhouse where produce is grown using hydroponic techniques, and with outside seasonal beds during the non-winter months. The farm sells produce to local restaurants and the public but also provides educational programs and paid work and training programs for Asbury Park residents. An educational garden opened this summer across Springwood Avenue, offering sturdy vegetables that can be easily harvested by local residents.

Kula Café is located in the Springwood Center at 1201 Springwood Ave. The restaurant is open from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday. For more information, visit kulacafe.org or call 732 455 0514 [café] or 732 455 0511 [farm].

[Photo courtesy of Kula Farm shows Stewart with up and coming menu items: a turkey club sandwich, coconut shrimp and mixed greens from Kula Farm, and whole wheat pasta with spinach, diced tomato and black olives.]

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