Robeisy “El Tren” Ramírez is an elite boxer by any measure. He has two Olympic gold medals (which he won with the Cuban national team) and was the WBO featherweight champion between April and December 2023. But it wasn’t until his title defense in July 2023 (in Japan against Satoshi Shimizu) that he became known even to casual fans, especially Cubans in exile. He’d been outspoken a long time about his opposition to Cuba’s dictatorship, but when that government intervened halfway around the world...
Jun 06, 2024•1 hr 31 min
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 . She’s also a hospitality industry publicist and the host of the A...
Apr 13, 2024•1 hr 56 min
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 he’s put his own personal stamp on wine offerings at AHG, how he app...
Mar 09, 2024•1 hr 44 min
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 their experiences helping care for each of their mothers in the wake of ...
Feb 24, 2024•1 hr 53 min
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 diners rather than publicists — have made her Miami’s premier food blogge...
Nov 21, 2023•1 hr 25 min
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 work as a chef writer (a phrase he thinks more aptly describes the subje...
Oct 31, 2023•2 hr 41 min
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 project about Hialeah 13:57: Miami's summer slow season 18:00: Summe...
Oct 11, 2023•1 hr 32 min
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 recommendations This episode was sponsored by Per'La Specialty Roasters . Support Pan Con ...
Sep 22, 2023•43 min
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 Brittany Rothwell (who also teases her new podcast, A Tale of Two Muff...
Jun 30, 2023•1 hr 32 min
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 Arts Center in Miami (in English for three weeks, then anoth...
Apr 03, 2023•1 hr 11 min
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 journey — from little league to coaching pros — stopping along the way to...
Mar 15, 2023•2 hr 39 min
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 Bethune Cookman University. We also get stealthy moonshine service from the presid...
Feb 24, 2023•1 hr 1 min
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 friend’s life. That Q&A is what you’ll hear in this episode of ...
Feb 24, 2023•1 hr 17 min
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 distinct from one another, and the challenges he's faced while implementing major cha...
Jan 14, 2023•1 hr 43 min
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 experience of being a part of the team that won Ariete its Micheli...
Dec 30, 2022•2 hr 45 min
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 considerably longer, and she’s preparing to put down roots in Miam...
Dec 09, 2022•1 hr 44 min
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 States and the lows of seeing its stock price tank. More recently, Jorge ...
Nov 22, 2022•2 hr 24 min
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 and written about Cuba’s history and the resistance movement on the...
Nov 09, 2022•1 hr 39 min
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 to tell kids his story of flight from war in Spain, Nazism in Ger...
Oct 31, 2022•43 min
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 and what it might take to change how more people think about their rel...
Oct 23, 2022•1 hr 40 min
U.K. native Ashley Moncada studied law before making plans to adopt a globe-trotting lifestyle. She and her wife lived in Australia, New Zealand, France, Barbados and North Carolina. But, as Ashley notes in this interview, “you can’t travel doing law.” She was a good cook, though. So she lied about having professional experience to get her first kitchen job in Australia and was off to the races from there. A careen that began with a fake résumé led Ashley to a place on the Ariete team that won a...
Sep 26, 2022•1 hr 56 min
When Eddie Zamora moved from Miami to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career, it was because — at the time — there wasn’t much opportunity for him in South Florida. Over time, twists of fate (including a well timed tweet about Lance Armstrong and some “douchey duck lip” coffee selfies) led him to a career in food media. He’s built an audience of followers (they know him as The Yum Yum Foodie) who trust him for everything from recipes to restaurant recommendations. He’s also managed to parley tha...
Sep 15, 2022•1 hr 49 min
Growing up in Texas, Alexys Hernández’s restaurant environment was made up largely of chains and Mexican joints. The mom-and-pop-heavy landscape of Cambridge and Somerville, Massachusetts (or Camberville, as they say in those parts) was something new. What wasn’t was a dearth of great Cuban food, which is what Alexys was raised on at home in a Cuban-American family. In this conversation with chef Michael Beltrán, Alexys talks about Ensueño Cubano , the Cuban pastry and sandwich pop up he launche...
Sep 11, 2022•1 hr 8 min
In this episode of Pan Con Podcast, guest host John Falco (co-owner of Fire Pit Hospitality and first-ballot Pan Con Podcast hall of famer) interviews Eric Isaac. Eric is an FIU professor and the pastor of Neighborhood Church Miami, a Presbyterian church that meets every Sunday for services at Lincoln’s Beard Brewery, where this interview was recorded. John and Eric talk about Neighborhood, why it was formed, why it meets at a brewery, and how it’s different from (and similar to) other, more con...
Aug 21, 2022•1 hr 30 min
Kris Huseby was one of our first guests on Pan Con Podcast back in 2019 . His second appearance comes just after the opening of Ariete Hospitality Group’s newest concept, The Gibson Room , where Kris is the executive chef. In this conversation with Mike Beltrán, the two talk about taking over a restaurant and overhauling it (a first for Ariete Hospitality Group), Kris’ experience settling into his first executive chef role, leading young talent, the fulfillment that comes from teaching skills to...
Aug 05, 2022•1 hr 55 min•Ep. 117
Henry Gómez is the VP of strategic planning at Zubi Advertising Services, a Miami based firm founded by the late Tere Zubizarreta, a pioneer of Hispanic advertising and an Advertising Hall of Fame inductee. In this conversation with chef Mike Beltrán, Henry talks about his own career trajectory, his role on the team that won a Cannes Lion for bold Burger King campaign, and the parallels between the advertising business and the restaurant business. Become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/DADEmag...
Jul 22, 2022•2 hr 28 min
When the pressure of COVID restrictions in Los Angeles pushed chef Phillip Frankland Lee to set up shop in Austin, Texas, it didn’t take long for the gamble to pay off. Sushi by Scratch Bar was a hit. But it was a push from an early Austin guest — Joe Rogan — that sent things into another stratosphere for Phillip’s company. In this conversation, Phillip tells Mike Beltrán about how his career in food began, the experience of earning his first Michelin Star, the impact of a social media post from...
Jul 02, 2022•2 hr 30 min
Florida has its first Michelin Guide, with eleven Miami restaurants taking Stars and a number of others being awarded Bib Gourmands and recommendations. In this episode, chef Michael Beltrán recaps the inaugural Florida ceremony, recalls what it was like for him and his team at Ariete Hospitality Group to win a star at Ariete and a Bib at Chug’ s Diner, and talks about the significance of the Guide’s official arrival to Florida chefs and restaurateurs. In the second half of the podcast, Mike ans...
Jun 24, 2022•1 hr 20 min
Lee Schrager is the senior vice president of communications and corporate social responsibility for Southern Glazer's Wine & Spirit of America. He’s also the founder of the New York City Wine & Food Festival and the South Beach Wine and Food Festival. Mike Beltrán’s criticisms of SOBEWFF are no secret. In fact, if you’ve hear enough other episodes of this podcast, you’ve heard a lot of them. Mike invited Lee on as a guest for this episode of Pan Con Podcast. In this conversation, the two...
Jun 13, 2022•2 hr 17 min
Val Chang is a member of what Miami diners affectionately call “the Chang gang.” She, her father Fernando and her brother Nando are the engine that drives Itamae (which began as a stall and recently opened as a standalone restaruant), B-Side Sushi, and Raya. Like our host Michael Beltrán, Val and Nando were named 2021 StarChefs Rising Stars. In this episode of Pan Con Podcast, Val and Mike talk about her childhood, family recipes, working with family, and navigating the waters of an evolving, ex...
Jun 02, 2022•1 hr 54 min
