La Ventanita

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Harry Coleman, Smoke & Dough BBQ and Empanada Harry's founder Jun 02, 2022

Show notes

Harry Coleman is making some of the best barbecue anywhere in South Florida at his Kendall – yes Kendall – restaurant Smoke & Dough.

And he’s making some of the most unique empanadas at his restaurant next door, Empanada Harry’s.

What makes both special is he tries to bring a multicultural element to his food that reflects Miami.

Although he’s Venezuelan, he bakes empanadas from all different Latin American styles, from crispy fried Colombian and Cuban to powder-coated Chilean. Same at Smoke & Dough where he barbecues dishes like a cafecito-rubbed brisket and timba guava and cheese sausage, and a smoked flan you would sell your children for.

He took a circuitous route to get here. He started out as a sportswriter and got into the family biz when no one was hiring.

And then just before opening Smoke & Dough, which was delayed by the pandemic, he had a heart attack that nearly killed him.

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Banter Show (Taco Bell pizza, Swensen's replacement, gun violence) May 26, 2022

Show notes

Carlos opens the show with a brief comment on gun violence after the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, which took him back to the senseless shooting death of his own father, Fernando Frías, two years earlier.

Somehow we segue into banter on the week's food news in Miami.

Amy Reyes, the editor of Miami.com, and Carlos Frias, the Miami Herald food editor, discuss how the stressful Miami Heat games forced Carlos to order Taco Bell Mexican pizza, Amy tried the Swensen's replacement in Coral Gables, The One on Sunset, and we pitch an idea for a Dandy Bear themed Kendall restaurant.

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Sef Gonzalez, "Burger Beast" food blogger, Crackers restaurant owner May 19, 2022

Show notes

Sef is the original Miami food blogger.

As Burger Beast, he’s been reviewing burgers and comfort food restaurants inside and outside of Miami since 2008. He’s become Miami’s advocate for the every-man diner. His Burger Beast Approved stickers adorn many of Miami-Dade County’s beloved institutions — but no fancy places, by design.

He’s an author – surprise, a book about burgers. He’s started a dearly departed Burger Museum. He bottles his own burger sauces and recently he became a bona fide restaurant owner, of Crackers Southern Dining in Miami Springs.

He talks burgers, wrestling, food truck and horror movies with Miami Herald food editor Carlos Frías and Miami.com editor Amy Reyes.

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Mitchell Kaplan, Books & Books founder, cafe owner May 12, 2022

Show notes

Mitchell Kaplan made Miami lit — well, literate.

He founded Books & Books, an independent bookstore in Coral Gables that has become a major gathering place for Miami-area writers and has grown into a major brand with seven bookstores. And it just turned 40.

The cafe at that Gables store is Miami’s original “third space” — where people who are not at home and not at work can stop in for coffee, a change of scenery to write their The Great American Novel — and a bite to eat from a James Beard Award-winning chef.

Books & Books is the one place a writer in Miami is always welcome. The food is always good. And where a copy of a local author's book (like host Carlos Frias' "Take Me With You") is always on the shelf even 10 years after it was published.

Mitchell also helped found the Miami Book Fair and he started a production company to turn books into major Hollywood films. I call him the patron saint of Miami writers. Hosted by James Beard Award winning host Carlos Frias and Miami.com editor Amy Reyes.

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Jenny Lorenzo, Cuban "Abuelita" actor, YouTube host May 05, 2022

Show notes

Jenny Lorenzo became “Miami famous” when the actor put on a gray wig, turned on her grandmother’s Cuban accent and became everyone’s Abuela in YouTube videos. Viral fame ensued.

Lorenzo, born in Kendall, a graduate of the University of Miami’s theater and arts program, became an internet sensation. You’ve seen her hilarious skits, starring the opinionated gray-haired Abuela and a host of other characters, including your judgemental tía.

The characters she creates come from tapping into her Miami experience. She lovingly pokes fun at the inter-generational conflicts between Cuban immigrants and their Cuban-American progeny. She speaks about breaking out of the Miami mold — even about how she became vegan, but still eating her beloved Cuban food — with La Ventanita co-hosts Carlos Frias, the Miami Herald food editor, and Amy Reyes, editor of Miami.com.

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Michael Beltran, Ariete/Chug's Diner chef, Miami apostle Apr 28, 2022

Show notes

Ask Michael Beltran about any topic, and he’ll have an opinion. The Little Havana born Cuban-American chef wears his Cubanness on his sleeve — literally, he has an arm sleeve of tattoos that includes art of a mamey and a Cuban coffee cafetera.

He’s the owner of Ariete and Chug’s Diner in Coconut Grove, and studied under some of Miami best chefs, James Beard Award winners like Michael Schwartz and Norman Van Aken. And he’s a two-time Beard nominee, himself.

Padmak Lakshmi, the host of Hulu’s Taste the Nation, picked him to be on a show about nochebuena last year and that episode is up for a Beard award too. He incorporates Miami flavors into exquisite fine dining. I call what he’s doing a sort of New Miami Cuisine. And that’s his thing: MIAMI AGAINST THE WORLD.

You can hear him go hard for Miami in his weekly industry podcast, Pan con Podcast.

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Adrian Castro, founder Panolo pan con bistec, Miami Beer Week Apr 21, 2022

Show notes

Adrian Castro created a fantastic Little Havana steak sandwich pop-up Panolo’s. He goes by the nickname Manolo at the wrestling-themed Union craft beer in Miami, where he manages the bar and films hilarious videos for its social media where he plays a cubanaso like Manolo from "Scarface." During the pandemic, he started making Cuban pan con bistec on Thursdays, modeled after the ones at Mary’s Coin Laundry, a Miami locals’ favorite. So he named his pop-up Panolo’s. Got all that? He co-found the first Miami Beer Week. He got personal and talked to co-hosts Carlos Frias and Amy Reyes about mental health, his close relationship with his mom who raised him and his brother, and his blossoming relationship with a father who spent most of Castro's life in prison.

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Karla Hoyos, World Central Kitchen, Miami chef Apr 14, 2022

Show notes

Karla Hoyos has spent six weeks in Poland, on the border with Ukraine, cooking 12,000 meals a day for evacuees of the Russian invasion with chef José Andrés’ nonprofit World Central Kitchen.

On the April 17 episode of La Ventanita, the Miami Herald food podcast, Hoyos, a Miami chef with two upcoming South Florida restaurants, shares a first-hand account of feeding families who are fleeing the Ukraine-Russian war, with Miami Herald food editor Carlos Frías and Miami.com editor Amy Reyes.

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Val Chang, Itamae chef and co-owner Apr 07, 2022

Show notes

Val Chang was just 6 when her father left her and her older brother in their grandmother’s care in Peru and came to find work in Miami as a sushi chef. When the Changs reunited in Miami nine years later, it was the start of a long journey together that led to all three being named James Beard Award nominees in 2022 for the restaurant they started as a family, Itamae — which also brought them national acclaim. Val tells co-hosts Carlos Frias, the Miami Herald food editor, and Amy Reyes, editor of Miami.com, why Peruvian food is the best (all Peruvians will say this), why Inca Kola is the best Latin soda (another a Peruvian hot take) and how Japanese and Chinese cuisine influences her food and cooking.

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Matt Kuscher, owner Kush, Lokal, Stephen's restaurants Mar 31, 2022

Show notes

Even though he’s not from Miami, Matt "Kush" Kuscher has this ability to grab Miami culture out of the air and inject it into his restaurants and hidden bars. Matt built a secret entrance through a Bill & Ted phone booth at his burger restaurant into a hidden milkshake bar that’s decorated like his moms house in the '70s. He's themed bathrooms for spiritualist Walter Mercado and the Hialeah Spider-Man. And he recreated Tobacco Road. Hosts Carlos Frias and Amy Reyes also ask about his connection to "superhero" Kaptain Kush.

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