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 to silence him during the event, they only made his message louder.

Robeisy and his manager José Izquierdo (who was kind enough to play translator for our listeners here, although he’s kind of a big deal in his own right) joined us at Chug’s Diner in Miami to talk about boxing, Cuba, Robeisy’s hunt to regain the WBO title, and how he has used his success in his sport to tell the world about the struggles of those in his native country.

Robeisy’s next fight will be June 29 in Miami against Brandon Leon Benitez.

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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 All In The Industry podcast.

In this late-night conversation with chef Michael Beltrán, recorded on the terrace behind Ariete, Shari talks about her book, the state of food media, food festivals, and what she learned from her own career in restaurants, including the time she worked at Charlie Trotter’s in Chicago.

[Some of the above are Amazon affiliate links. While nobody was paid or prompted to recommend these items on the podcast, we do get a small kickback if you use these links to make purchases.]

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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 he’s put his own personal stamp on wine offerings at AHG, how he approaches leading the company’s wine team, trends in the wine world, and how Ariete’s two years with a Michelin Star have affected the way the beverage industry approaches him and the broader restaurant group.

Get more information and RSVP for Cars & Croquetas here.

Mentioned in this episode:

Watch Napoleon on Prime Video

Society of the Snow (trailer)

Sea (trailer)

Florida Cracker Kitchen

Midorie

Happy's Stork Lounge & Liquor Store (North Bay Village)

Watch Reacher on Prime Video

"Stolen Legos Leads to Bomb Found During Traffic Stop"

[Some of the above are Amazon affiliate links. While nobody was paid or prompted to recommend these items on the podcast, we do get a small kickback if you use these links to make purchases.]

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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 cancer diagnoses. The conversation is about some of the ways that cancer impacts families and how it imbues volunteer work, charitable giving and other efforts to combat cancer with deep personal meaning.

Mike’s second Cars & Croquetas car show to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society will be held March 10, 2024 in Coconut Grove, with Lucy stepping in to emcee.

Get more information and RSVP for Cars & Croquetas here.

[Some of the above are Amazon affiliate links. While nobody was paid or prompted to recommend these items on the podcast, we do get a small kickback if you use these links to make purchases.]

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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 blogger, respected by chefs and trusted by her audience.

In this episode of Pan Con Podcast, Mike talks with Brenda about how being the parent of a special-needs child led her and her husband Larry (who has a recurring role on their podcast, contributing most heavily on the subject of restaurants’ wine programs) to the fine dining date night hobby that became a year-round media project, what it was like seeing a restaurant industry she’d championed for so long recognized at Florida’s first ever Michelin Guide ceremony, and her plans to go on a burger expedition with past Pan Con Podcast guest Sef González (better known as Burger Beast).

• The Dish: The Lives and Labor Behind One Plate of Food
• Fancy Bread Miami podcast
• Cork Dork: A Wine-Fueled Adventure Among the Obsessive Sommeliers, Big Bottle Hunters, and Rogue Scientists Who Taught Me to Live for Taste
• Godless
• Invincible

[Some of the above are Amazon affiliate links. While nobody was paid or prompted to recommend these items on the podcast, we do get a small kickback if you use these links to make purchases.]

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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 subject matter he deals with than “food writer”). He’s the author of “Chefs, Drugs and Rock & Roll” and “Knives at Dawn: America's Quest for Culinary Glory at the Bocuse d'Or, the World's Most Prestigious Cooking Competition” to name just two titles.

In his latest book, “The Dish: The Lives and Labor Behind One Plate of Food,” Andrew Friedman takes you on a ride to follow all the work that goes into just one restaurant menu item at a Chicago restaurant.

Andrew met Mike Beltrán at Chug’s Diner in Coconut Grove for a conversation about the restaurant industry, how Andrew ended up in his unexpected career around chefs and restaurants, changes in the culture of professional kitchens, and Andrew’s experiences growing up in Miami.

In the Patreon-only extended cut, Mike asks Andrew about burgers, breakfast, PB&Js, and other important stuff.

Our parting recommendations and other stuff mentioned in this episode:

The Dish: The Lives and Labor Behind One Plate of Food

Chefs, Drugs and Rock & Roll: How Food Lovers, Free Spirits, Misfits and Wanderers Created a New American Profession

Knives at Dawn: America's Quest for Culinary Glory at the Bocuse d'Or, the World's Most Prestigious Cooking Competition

Don't Try This At Home: Culinary Catastrophes from the World's Greatest Chefs

Alfred Portale's Gotham Bar and Grill Cookbook

Dinner Rush

Athletic Brewing non-alcoholic beer

[The above are Amazon affiliate links. While nobody was paid or prompted to recommend these items on the podcast, we do get a small kickback if you use these links to make purchases.]

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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: Summer seasonal slowdown as an opportunity for development

30:00: Supporting local business. Matt wants to talk about fighting with Nick at a kid's party

38:12: Restaurant branding. Is Chug's Diner really a diner?

41:24: Burger Beast burger pop up

45:14: Workout music and motivation

50:36: Urinal ice

52:28: Kush Hospitality's roadmap, future plans

56:54: All things sandwich

01:01:28: Cereal

01:03:25: Hash browns

01:07:19: American cheese

01:13:20: Pace Center for Girls

01:17:12: Parting recommendations

Mentioned in this episode:

• Fans First: Change the Game, Break the Rules & Create an Unforgettable Experience
• Unreasonable Hospitality: The Remarkable Power of Giving People More Than They Expect
• Every Day is Christmas (album by Sia) on vinyl
• "LA MADERA & EL CASTOR" - by Rxnde Akozta (YouTube)
• Watch Nobody on Amazon Prime Video.
• Watch Jury Duty on Amazon Prime Video.
• Killy Tony on YouTube.
• Maty’s by chef Val Chang.
• Val & Nando Chang in Food & Wine (Best New Chefs 2023)

This episode was sponsored by Per'La Specialty Roasters.

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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.

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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 Muffs) in a conversation about the community’s love for the local business.

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Editing by: Christopher Cotte and Daniel Diez

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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 another three in Spanish, with the title “Las Paredes Oyen”). In our fifth installment of Pan Con Podcast Live (presented by Front Of The House), we hosted a four course dinner for guests who took in a reading of the script by the play’s cast, followed by a conversation with our host Michael Beltrán, playwright Robby Ramos, and director Gabriel José Bonilla.

The dinner was held at The Gibson Room (executive chef Kris Huseby), with four courses plated on dinnerware by Front Of The House and cocktail pairings (by Ariete Hospitality beverage director Tom Lasher-Walker) made with Slane Irish Whiskey and The Glengdronach Scotch Whisky. This event was also sponsored by San Pellegrino, Acqua Panna and Petrossian Caviar.

“The Walls Have Ears” is an intense reflection on totalitarian takeovers like the Cuban revolution and the impact they have on nations and families. It was an honor to have this reading — and the discussion in this episode — at the core of one of our live recordings.

To get your own tickets to “The Walls Have Ears,” (or “Las Paredes Oyen”), follow this link.

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