The Menu Bar

Podcaster, Producer [2013 - 2018 Podcast]

In 2013 I started a podcast with my friend Zac Cichy called The Menu Bar. We were great friends but lived on opposite sides of the world so we would often opine that we could not hang out at a bar… so we started a podcast!

The conceit of the show was that we, and other friends of ours, would meet up at a virtual bar. We recorded each participant with high quality microphones, we would mix our own drinks, then we would add background sound effects of “bar chatter”. The effect was a strangely intimate conversation between a few friends, that cut against the grain of contemporary “white guys talk about Apple and technology for an hour a week” podcasts.

The alcohol also helped everyone limber up, forget it was “just a podcast” and have some surprisingly personal conversations.

The novelty of the show, and the free-wheeling no-topic-off-limits nature of the conversation led us to feature various podcasters, bloggers, filmmakers, musicians, and other people we found interesting. These guests included Marco Arment, John Gruber, Federico Viticci, Rob Sheridan, Robin Hanson, Juno Reactor, Alex Proyas, and many others!

Personally, my favorite episodes were the ones where we would drink, laugh, and lean into the friends-at-a-bar feeling. We would occasionally stumble across some profound little ideas, and the community that formed around the show was warm and supportive.

In 2016 Zac (left) and myself (right) finally met in person, and again in 2018 for WWDC.

After a hiatus we started a short lived second season in 2018, but it’s no longer available online. You can listen to the first episode of each season below.

I’m very proud of what we achieved with this weird podcast, and the biggest lesson I take from it is that audiences everywhere are hungry for real. We were un-self-aware and did whatever made us happy and this made all the difference.

Software and Tools:

• Logic Pro 7

• Photoshop (Logo)