In 2014, James VanOsdol started the Car Con Carne Podcast with his friend Mike Bratton. The initial concept was to record a podcast inside various barbeque restaurants, but the pair quickly realized that due to the background noise that’s often present in such locations, this idea wouldn’t be possible. With Bratton being a professional voiceover artist, he suggested recording in a car, as that’s where he would often record an audition or a demo if he was away from his home studio. Bratton indicated that the inside of a car is relatively soundproof, and that all he needed was his laptop and microphone to make a recording. With this realization, Car Con Carne was born.

After the initial year, Bratton moved to New York for professional reasons and VanOsdol carried the podcast forward. He decided to tweak the format from a barbeque podcast to more of a general food podcast. He also elected not to team with a cohost and instead chose to have rotating guests every week. When asked about how the podcast has grown over the years, VanOsdol said “I think the secret for any successful podcast is if you believe in it and if it’s something you want to do, just keep doing it. Don’t give up. I think that tenacity and that reliability translates to success. I don’t have Joe Rogan numbers, but I have an audience that I’m really proud of. I think that’s the biggest thing, people actually listen to it.” One significant change that the podcast has experienced over the years is the emergence of the video aspect. Presently, video draws more of an audience than the actual audio of the podcast. VanOsdol explained, “That’s been the biggest change, really being aware of the fact that more people are watching this on Facebook and maybe YouTube than are actually listening on iTunes or Google Podcasts. There’s a voyeuristic aspect to it. There’s always that chance that maybe Local H will spill their food on camera or you’ll get to see marinara sauce coming out of Jeff Pezzati of Naked Raygun’s mouth. You never know.”

When discussing episodes of the podcast that were especially memorable, VanOsdol was quick to again mention Pezzati, stating “he’s a hero to so many of us.” He then elaborated on his reasons for continuing with the podcast and said, “I’ve now been doing this for over 300 episodes. I look forward to this. I joke and maybe I’m half-kidding, but this has become my social life. Every week I know that I’m going to have a cool dinner with someone who I find interesting. That’s really exciting and really special to me. The fact that people want to watch or listen is just awesome.” While his guests aren’t always musicians, (sometimes various media personalities or even comic book artists) Car Con Carne predominantly features local bands. When the topic of the Chicago music scene was mentioned, VanOsdol said “We have really talented people who live here, really accomplished musicians. Whether the world at large is aware of that, it doesn’t matter. There are some really incredible people with incredibly fascinating and idiosyncratic personalities here. I love being able to support the local scene and it’s almost like you’re honor-bound. You live in this area, support the home team. I love in my own small way being able to help and support.”

VanOsdol insists there aren’t any dream guests he’d like to have on the podcast and that he’s happy doing what he’s currently doing. He also shared that in his experience, the right local, independent band can oftentimes bring more of an audience than a national level artist. In terms of the most fun that he’s had recording the podcast, VanOsdol recalled one of his latest episodes. He said, “Recently I had Herb Rosen, the owner of Liar’s Club, and Scott Lucas of Local H in the car at the same time. If you don’t know Herb, he’s very charismatic and he’s basically the ambassador of fun and debauchery for Chicago. Him and Scott together have a really unique chemistry. I laughed pretty much from start to finish throughout the recording of that episode.”

In regards to the food portion of the podcast, many of Chicago’s great dining establishments have of course been featured, but there are several definite favorites. VanOsdol cited two eateries in particular that have warranted multiple visits. He said, “Epic Deli in McHenry has been a strong supporter of the show. The dude who owns it, Tyler Wildey, is a mad scientist with food. He does elevated junk food. That’s the best way I can describe it and I’ve never left there hungry in my life. I’ve gone back to places like Haymarket in the West Loop. When I first started, I thought, ‘I live in Chicago, I never need to repeat a location.’ But there’s some places that are just great and worth visiting again. The two that come to mind as far as most frequent are probably Epic and Haymarket.”

When addressing the future of Car Con Carne, VanOsdol suggested that he’d like to continue with the podcast, but do so on a more frequent basis. He said, “I look forward to this every week. I get to hang out with cool people and eat interesting food. I think my fantasy with Car Con Carne is that it becomes a full-time job. If I could do this three to five times a week and support myself doing it, that would be my version of the American Dream.”

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