Pan Con Podcast

Shari Bayer is the author of “Chefwise: Life Lessons from Leading Chefs Around the World” (Phaidon Press), a book in which she’s compiled insights, quotes and anecdotes from exchanges with world class chefs like Massimo Bottura, Jeremy Chan, Tom Colicchio, Nina Compton, Wylie Dufresne, Suzanne Goin, Enrique Olvera, Eric Ripert, Clare Smyth, Alice Waters, and past Pan Con podcast guests Jean-Georges Vongerichten and José Mendín.

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Adrian López is the wine director at Ariete Hospitality and is a partner at the Miami restaurant group’s Coconut Grove bar/retail concept, The Allocation Room. In 2023, with Adrian at the helm, the wine program at the company’s Michelin-starred flagship restaurant Ariete won an Award of Excellence from Wine Spectator.

In this conversation, Mike Beltrán talks with Adrian about his development as a sommelier in South Florida, how ...

We last had Lucy López on Pan Con Podcast in 2021. Since then, the former Power 96 radio personality has refashioned her career with (among other things) roles hosting two podcasts — Slate’s Care and Feeding podcast and her own Mamacita Rica podcast. She also had a role in #Graced, a play written by past podcast guest Vanessa García and co-directed by past guest Victoria Collado.

In this episode, Lucy and Mike open up about...

Now in its second year with Michelin-Starred restaurants, Miami’s fine dining scene is well into maturity, participating fully on the global restaurant stage. Miami food media, on the other hand, has some catching up to do.

Among those doing the work of filling the void is Brenda Popritkin, whose blog, The Whet Palette and podcast by the same name — along with her serious approach to restaurant reviews that are written for dine...

Andrew Friedman’s “big break” came in 1997, when he collaborated with chef Alfred Portale on the “Gotham Bar and Grille Cookbook. It won the IACP/Julia Child Cookbook Award for “Best Chef or Restaurant Cookbook,” and got a James Beard Award nomination for “Best General Cookbook.”

Though he’s worked on loads of cookbooks since, it’s been a while since Andrew last wrote a recipe. Instead, his attention has been focused on his wo...

Kush Hospitality founder Matt Kuscher joined Mike Beltrán at El Vecino Cigars & Cocktails in downtown Miami for a smoke and a discussion about his restaurant business, burger toppings, urinal ice, and his work with the Pace Center for Girls.

02:35: Matt Kuscher on the Washington Commanders

07:40: Sebastian Strong Foundation (children's cancer research)

11:52: Abre Camino Collective working with Kush Hospitality on a theater pr...

Mike and Nick got together to catch up on what's new at Ariete Hospitality Group.

02:00: Mike has a new dog.

03:30: Eva, Ariete Hospitality Group's new Mediterranean restaurant, is set to open soon.

10:55: El Vecino Cigars & Cocktails is now open.

22:33: The Miami restaurant industry is going through the first real summer slowdown in years.

28:45: Let's talk sports (and Sinead O'Connor).

28:00: Parting recomme...

Chris Nolte is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Per’La Specialty Roasters. He specializes in developing, branding and marketing of the company in order to aid in its growth. In this conversation with Michael Beltran, Chris talks about the origins of the brand, the coffee industry, struggles in starting a small business in places like farmer’s markets, and adjusting to Miami Latin culture. Plus, a special appearance from ...

The first time Robby Ramos was on Pan Con Podcast, he told us about a play he’d written. The script (his first) took its inspiration from stories about Cuba that he’d been told by people like his grandfather, who did time as a political prisoner in three different Cuban prisons before going into exile in the United States.

That play, titled “The Walls Have Ears,” is now gearing up for its April 7 premiere at the Westchester Cultural...

When Mike Beltrán saw his high school friend Jon Jay on the cover of Sports Illustrated, his reaction, as he notes in this episode, was something like, “That’s my fuckin’ dog.” Jon Jay played 12 seasons of baseball in the majors and won a World Series with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2011. Now he’s back in his hometown as the Miami Marlins’ first base coach.

In this conversation, Mike and Jon talk through the whole baseball journ...

Mike and Nick set up for a podcast at the Pig Pen,  which is what Mike calls the warehouse where he and his car club keep their vintage cars, ATVs, golf carts and electric scooters. We get caught up on a variety of things, from a cancer research benefit car show happening behind Chug's Diner to the coming-sometime-soon opening of El Vecino Cigars & Cocktails to Ed Reed's butting heads with the administration at Bethun...

On January 15, we hosted a screening of the documentary “Love, Charlie: The Rise and Fall of Chef Charlie Trotter.” Guests saw the film while they enjoyed a Charlie Trotter-inspired meal and cocktail pairings created by the culinary team at Ariete Hospitality Group. After the film, we had a discussion with chef Norman Van Aken, who was one of Charlie Trotter’s best friends and who was interviewed at length for the film about his fr...

Chef Andrés Kaifer recently took over Charlotte, North Carolina's Customshop. The restaurant had been around for about 15 years — a feat, to be sure. But Andrés has helped make it one of the best — if not the best — restaurants in Charlotte. In this conversation with Mike Beltrán, Andrés talks about what it's been like to adapt to North Carolina's food culture as a Miami native, how North Carolina's cities are distin...

Tom Lasher-Walker has played an integral role in the growth and refinement of Ariete Hospitality Group’s beverage programs. In this conversation with Mike Beltrán, the two talk about classic cocktails, why Mike thought Tom was a good for for Ariete’s company culture, the role of cocktail competition in the growth of cocktail culture, and the differences between bartending and mixology, among many other things. He also recalls the e...

Veracruz, Mexico native chef Karla Hoyos made an impression on José Andrés when took time from her job in Indiana to volunteer with World Central Kitchen in Puerto Rico, where the organization was feeding victims of Hurricane Maria. Not long after she was back at her job in Indiana, she was being recruited to join the team at The Bazaar in Miami Beach. What she’d told herself would be a two-year stint in South Florida has gone on c...

In our third ever Pan Con Podcast Live event, host Mike Beltran sits with guest Jorge Mas (and 15 guests in the audience) for a conversation about business, leadership, legacy and culture.

Jorge Mas is chairman at MasTec, an infrastructure engineering and construction company founded by his late father, Jorge Mas Canosa. He talks about the highs of growing that business into the largest Hispanic-owned company in the United State...

This episode was recorded on the same night as our previous release with guest Vanessa García. In that last episode, Vanessa and Mike discussed her new children’s book, “What the Bread Says: Baking with Love, History, and Papan.”

In this recording, the two discuss Cuba, human rights, and the whirlwind of protests, human rights campaigns and activism that followed Cuba’s July 11, 2021 protests. By that summer, Vanessa had studied...

The last time Vanessa García was on the podcast in 2019, we talked about Amparo, the immersive play she had created together with director Victoria Collado, her partner at Abre Camino Collective (also on that episode). This time around, Vanessa joins us to talk about her brand new children’s book, “What The Bread Says, Baking with Love, History, and Papan,” which draws on her childhood memories of making bread with her grandfather ...

It’s been more than two years since JoJo Tea founder and American Tea Master’s Cup winner Mike Ortiz joined us on the pod. Since then, JoJo has grown its business and broadened its goals. Whereas Mike had once been focused more narrowly on bringing tea to Miami’s restaurant culture, he’s now looking to make tea a part of his customers’ home lives.

In this episode, he talks with Mike Beltrán about tea, Kanye West, Miami dining an...