Pan Con Podcast

Marcus Rivero fell into the shoe customization business almost by accident. Nine years after creating Soles By Sir, athletes in every major sport can be seen wearing his work on their feet on a weekly basis. In fact, during that time, every Super Bowl has had at least one pair of Soles By Sir cleats on the field. Marcus joined Mike Beltran to talk about his business, his design process, what it's...

Mike and Nick got together to record this special dispatch to provide a summary of and some clumsy reflections on the protests in Cuba sparked by the arrest of Havana artist Denis Solís and the ensuing hunger strike by his fellow members of the San Isidro Movement. Follow Movimiento San Isidro on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mov_sanisidro/ Become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/DADEmag F...

After some charcuterie at the Ariete bar, Brett Romberg joined Michael Beltrán on Pan Con Podcast to talk about his time playing football at the University of Miami, stories from nine years as an NFL offensive lineman, the Fort Lauderdale bikini contest that changed his life, and the adjustments he's made since making the move from Canada to South Florida, where — aside from becoming a nation...

It had been a while since we recorded an episode with no guest, so we took this episode to get caught up with Mike on a range of things from business to politics to his overpriced CBS All Access subscription. Also, Nick doesn't throw parties, but they would probably be bad if he did. Become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/DADEmag Follow Pan Con Podcast everywhere: Facebook: www.facebook.com/panc...

A native of Puerto Rico, José Mendín arrived in Miami at 19 years old and fell in love with the city. HIs sushi concept, Pubbelly Sushi, was supposed to be a simple fast casual spot, but circumstances led to an elaboration on the idea and it became one of Miami's favorite dining experiences. It also helped make José — now a five-time James Beard Award semifinalist — one of the most celeb...

Rosa María Payá is the Cuban activist behind Cuba Decide, a campaign to bring change to Cuba through a plebiscite — that is, a direct vote by Cubans on a transition to democracy. Her father Oswaldo Payá was one of the most prominent Cuban dissidents of his generation. He founded the Christian Liberation Movement (or Movimiento Cristiano Liberación), which sought to bring legislation to Cuba's...

Peter Santa-María, best known for his brand Attack Peter, is a Miami-based printmaking artist whose Japanese-inspired work depicts monsters, superheroes and other characters, including at least one that he’s created himself named Takoro. In this episode, Mike Beltran talks with Peter about their high school alma mater, their shared commitment to old techniques, and the things that motivate and fue...

Gio Fesser is best known to Miami diners as the Pastelito Papi (though there's an extra i in Papii on social media). A longtime colleague and friend of our intrepid host chef Michael Beltran, Gio has been there every step of the Ariete Hospitality Group journey, and his pastelitos — traditional Cuban pastries that he's gotten more creative with than Miami thought possible — have caught t...

[This episode was first published July 5, 2019] Pablo Zitzmann (of No Name Chinese and the forthcoming Alcalde) joins Mike and Nick in the patio at Ariete to talk about his own journey to food and how he fell in love with Asian cuisine growing up in Colombia. Pablo and Mike discuss the communication of culture through cooking, leading teams, dealing with burnout, and the development of Miami's foo...

After Ariete's third Versos Sencillos tasting menu dinner, Mike and Nick (who finally got around to having one of these dinners himself) get together to talk about the experience, how it's developed, the impact it's had on the Ariete team and where it's heading in the future. We run through most of the dishes on this most recent menu, some of the backstories on how they came together, and a bit of...

Zak Stern, better known as Zak the Baker, is — as the eponymous business suggests — a baker. Based in Miami's Wynwood neighborhood, Zak's bakery makes some of the city's favorite breads. He fell in love with baking even after having initially rejected it as a career path (he pursued a life in cheese first, spending time on a goat farm in Israel). He started his business in Miami baking i...

Our guests on this episode are Melanie and Jason Schoendorfer, the couple behind Babe's Meat & Counter, a butcher shop and sandwich joint in Miami's Palmetto Bay neighborhood. They joined Mike to talk meat, Canada, ketchup chips, and how they've adjusted for the peculiar challenges of the coronavirus pandemic. Visit and follow Babe's: https://www.instagram.com/babefroman305/ http://www.babefro...

Ricardo Ricardo Pau-Llosa is a poet and art critic whose life's work has centered on Cuba and Latin American art. When his family fled Cuba in 1960 after Fidel Castro's co, he ended up in Chicago, spending years there before heading south to Miami. From Ricardo's own website bio: "His first book of poetry, Sorting Metaphors (Anhinga Press, 1983), won the first national Anhinga Prize,[citation need...

Mike Beltran and Nick Jiménez took this guest-free episode to get caught up on Ariete's monthly tasting menu dinner series and what it's significance has been to Mike and his crew during the strange circumstances created by the COVID-19 pandemic. After that discussion (and a surprise visit from Matt Kuscher), the podcast's attention turned to widespread protests, racism, rampant rioting, and the m...

In this special joint episode, Mike is joined by David Verjano, a branding creative and host of Step Into The Sandbox, a DADE podcast about the creative process. Check out Step Into The Sandbox: http://www.dademag.com/stepintothesandbox Become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/DADEmag Follow Pan Con Podcast everywhere: Facebook: www.facebook.com/panconpodcast/ Instagram: www.instagram.com/panconpo...

Mabel De Beunza is a partner at Deep Sleep Studio, a creative agency in Miami. In her first visit to Pan Con Podcast, we talk about her work, running a business during a pandemic and the correct way to order your steak medium well. Most importantly, though, this conversation starts with a focus on Operation Fill The Fridge, a charitable endeavor that grew organically during the pandemic as an effo...

Sandra Walimaki is a regional educator for Counter Culture Coffee, which Mike Beltran serves at Chug's, his Cuban-American diner in Coconut Grove. In this episode of Pan Con Podcast, the two talk about coffee culture, what makes Miami's relationship with espresso unique, and Sandra's experience migrating from Peru (where she has roots in the coffee industry) to the United States, where she's been...

Mike's old friend Jason Hill had apparently been asking for a Pan Con Podcast invite for months. He finally got one from Mike and the two got together for a few post-service drinks and conversation about finding fulfillment in leading a team of high school football players, lessons from high school and college football, and the impact that being educated by the Marist brothers at Christopher Colum...

Josh Pascual left his career selling medical devices to pursue a business that grew out of a weekend hobby: Wagyu beef. For three years, he's been providing South Floridians with steaks — and, more recently, other proteins — sourced from farms all over the world. His business has grown; earlier this year, he opened his first brick-and-mortar shop and he has plans to expand into e-commerc...

Mike has put a lot of trust in his restaurant group's director of operations, Brittany Rothwell, in whom he sees a lot of the attitude he brings to the company. That kind of relationship is valuable under any circumstances, but it's become indispensable at a time when — like other restaurants — Mike's businesses are in a fight for their lives. In this episode, Brittany and Mike talk abou...

Matt Hinckley worked in restaurants all over the world before settling in Orlando, where he set up Hinckley's Fancy Meats and took it from a deli case in Orlando's East Market to an online delivery service whose first order came from New York Times food editor Sam Sifton. He eventually moved back into the East End Market and refocused on serving the Orlando area. In this episode, Mike and Matt tal...

Joaquín González was a cornerstone of the national champion 2001 Miami Hurricanes football team. The offensive lineman went on to play four seasons in the NFL — three with the Cleveland Browns and one with the Indianapolis Colts. Today, Joaquín is president of the family business he joined after football, Tire Group International, a Miami-based tire distributor. In this episode, recorded via...

In an episode that was stretched to unusual lengths by bubbly white wine, Mike and our guest John Falco talk about the coronavirus' continued impact on their businesses, sleeping on rugs, video game documentaries, John's participation in the Iraq surge, parenting, Peter Meehan, and how little either of them actually wanted to show up to record this podcast. Also, we tough lightly on what John does...

Documentarian Billy Corben (Cocaine Cowboys, Screwball, The U, Dawg Fight)joins Mike Beltran via Zoom for a conversation about his films, his ongoing feud with Miami-Dade County State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle, duck madianoches, and Jimmy Johnson's hair. NOTE: We ran into a technical snag while recording this conversation, so there are a few minutes of audio missing near the end of the c...

Fred Vogel is a man of many talents. He's a painter, he's a filmmaker, he's a philosopher. In this wide ranging conversation with Mike Beltran, the two talk about creativity, fulfillment, Miami, race, police brutality, strip club rules in the time of COVID-19, and the idea that everything —even your morning dookie — is art. Follow Fred on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sweetbabyfred/ Be...