Takeout & Talk: Every Episode, One Table
There's a version of every important conversation that only happens when food is on the table. Not a dinner party. Not a studio. Just takeout, still in the containers, and someone across from you worth talking to. That's what Takeout & Talk is. COCINA's first podcast — hosted by Xorje Olivares — launched in October 2025, and every episode proves the same thing: the food loosens something. The real conversation starts the moment the lids come off.
Xorje brings a specific kind of ease to these conversations. A proud Tejano from Eagle Pass, Texas, with degrees in Broadcasting and Chicano Studies from UT Austin, he's built a career at SiriusXM, NPR, Vice, and Rolling Stone asking exactly the kind of questions that belong here — about identity, about what it means to be Latino in the U.S., about the stuff we talk about when we stop performing and start eating. In his own words, Takeout & Talk is a space to hold conversations with friends, old and new, over delivery. That's it. That's the whole thing. And somehow, that simplicity has produced some of the most culturally alive conversations in this space.
And if you were getting food FOMO, you can now easily find where your favorite guest got their bite: introducing the Takeout & Talk map, where you can find every restaurant, spot, and takeout order that's made it onto the table. You can also catch Takeout & Talk on Spotify and all major streaming platforms. To celebrate , we’re listing what has happened in Takeout & Talk so far (see? We keep helping to avoid any FOMO).
Every Episode of Takeout & Talk, From the Beginning
Ep. 1 — Suzy Exposito: Bad Bunny, Brujacore & What Representation Actually Means
The series opened with Suzy Exposito, Rolling Stone journalist and one of the sharpest cultural voices covering Latin music today. Xorje and Suzy went deep — Bad Bunny, brujacore aesthetics, and what it actually looks like when Latina representation in media is done right (and what it looks like when it isn't). The kind of episode you play twice.
Ep. 2 — Zeke Peña: Border Stories, Desert Dreams & Lime on Tacos
Author-illustrator Zeke Peña joined the table in episode two for a conversation that felt like pulling a thread and watching the whole sweater unravel — in the best way. Border identity, the stories that live in the land, and a very firm stance on lime on tacos. Creative, funny, and unexpectedly moving.
Ep. 3 — Anjelah Johnson-Reyes: If You Laugh, You're Family
Comedian and actress Anjelah Johnson-Reyes brought crunchy-taco energy and that rare ability to make you feel like you've known her your whole life. The conversation went places only family conversations go — funny and then suddenly, genuinely tender. The table was full this episode.
Ep. 4 — Manuel Betancourt: Dinner at Home, Awards Season & the Movies That Stay With You
Film critic Manuel Betancourt joined Xorje to pair takeout with awards season — the films that move the needle, the ones that get overlooked, and what it means to watch movies as someone who sees their community on screen for the first time. Thoughtful, warm, and an episode for anyone who watches everything.
Ep. 5 — nic: New Name, New Era, Sushi on the Table
Singer-songwriter nic sat down mid-reinvention — new name, new sound, same hunger. Over sushi, the conversation explored what it costs to start over and what it feels like when the new version of yourself finally clicks. An episode about becoming, which is always an episode about food, too.
Ep. 6 — Sonora Reyes: Comfort Food & What Fuels the Creative Life
Author Sonora Reyes talked comfort food, writing through change, and the creative fuel that keeps you going when the work gets hard. The kind of conversation that makes you want to eat something your abuela made and then go sit down and write.
Ep. 7 — Curly Velasquez: Culture, Career & the Creative Hustle
Content creator and cultural voice Curly Velasquez unpacked what it looks like to build something from scratch, stay rooted in Latino storytelling, and grow without losing the thread. The hustle conversation that doesn't feel like a hustle conversation.
Ep. 8 — Cher Álvarez: Fear, Fame & Everything Paranormal (Between Bites)
When Cher Álvarez sits down with Xorje, the conversation goes somewhere no episode guide can fully prepare you for. Fame, fear, the paranormal, and somehow it all makes sense by the end. The table was the only thing grounding this one to earth.
Ep. 9 — Dr. Regina Martínez Lorenzo: Olympic Dreams, Late-Night Shifts & Dinner at Home
Olympian and ER doctor Dr. Regina Martínez Lorenzo is one of those guests who makes you recalibrate what you thought was possible. Between her athletic career and her work in emergency medicine, this conversation was equal parts awe-inspiring and deeply human. Training mindset. The food that keeps you going at 2am. Home.
Ep. 10 — Tomás Mier: Pop, Música Mexicana & the Perfect Sandwich
Music journalist Tomás Mier joined Xorje to talk about the sounds defining the moment — Peso Pluma, the rise of música mexicana, and pop's relationship with Latin identity. Plus: a very specific sandwich opinion that you'll either agree with completely or spend the rest of the episode arguing with.
Ep. 11 — Becca Ramos: Family, Food & El Barrio
Writer and host Becca Ramos brought el barrio to the table — Puerto Rican identity, the food that roots you to a place, and what family looks like when it's complicated and irreplaceable at the same time. An episode that feels like going home.
Find Every Restaurant on the Map
Every order, every spot, every restaurant mentioned across all eleven episodes of Takeout & Talk lives in one place: our interactive map, right here on COCINA. It's the closest thing to pulling up a chair at every table Xorje has sat at — and finding the food that made the conversation happen.
Whether you're in the same city or eating your way toward a city you've never been to, the map is how Takeout & Talk travels with you. Pin it, plan it, eat it.
The Table Is Always Set
Takeout & Talk isn't about the food. It's about what happens because of it — the conversation that wouldn't have started otherwise, the detail someone shares when their hands are busy eating and their guard is down. Xorje knows how to hold that space. And the guests keep showing up, containers and all.
New episodes drop every month — new guests, new food, new conversation. Browse the full Takeout & Talk archive and find your next one. And if you'd rather listen on the go, Takeout & Talk is available on Spotify and wherever you stream your podcasts.