To La Torre the girls did go
To join Tia for the view below
But as the hour grew late
Dinner was the debate
And later maybe a show?
We Resume Monday's Saga, sit back kiddies...the finale is a tad longer than usual
Since the girls aren't back from the beach yet, Doug and Jake decide on a power walk asChuck y
settles in to reconstruct the NOWAT G-Mail list since GoDaddy is blocked. Time flies and the girls get back around 5:00PM and just then Prima calls and tells them to come over to the FOCSA Tower
for a drink and the view. “CUZ” declines
as does Jessie so Cuban Lady and Other “CUZ” head over to meet Tia and Prima,
much to the dismay of the guys, as nothing has been planned for dinner and
after their power walk, they are ravenous. Sooooo…. Chuck y keeps typing
away, the boys grab a shower.
Since the girls aren't back from the beach yet, Doug and Jake decide on a power walk as
Las Mujeres Vedado finally return at 8:00PM with
a happy Tia who was misty about the view from La Torre and dinner is still being debated. It was a firm No to La Casona - been there done that, as well as Nacional Pizza Café, [Ugh] so again Maria La China [hereafter referred to as La China so as to not be confused with Mary Niurka Valdes Montalvo- Collazo] is consulted about the place across the street. She prefers La Casona but some of her boarders
go across for breakfast and café so the vote is “Let's cross Linea”. In the
meantime, “CUZ” announces she is “ready
to go hear some Musica Latina tonight” and after much discussion they all [Chuck y]
decides that they'll go to SALSEANDO CHEVERE, considered one of the hottest dance
clubs in Havana . [The Miami-born Salsa Boy is ready to crack his best moves at a REAL Salsa Club] So everyone heads back to their rooms to
change into more appropriate “Dance Club” attire while Chuck y
drives Prima home and returns to find some still not ready… What’s new? Oh… and
Jessie elects to stay home and eat peanut butter wraps. [Jess... you're in Cuba fer Gawd's Sake, you can eat peanut butter at home!!!]
Now on the move, getting Tia and the
wheelchair across the busy street was a joint tactical exercise over the median, up the sidewalk, up the
steps, across the patio, now with cane -
up more steps...
At the door we are met by a solemn Señorita who, when asked “Can we eat here and what do you have” answers, “We have Food.”Chuck y
is not getting a good feeling about this already, maybe why La
China was hesitant to recommend the place. Soooooo, once settled outside we are greeted by a another cheerful Cute Señorita who hands us “the Menu” - to be clear - One Menu... that’s all they have. REALLY not getting a good feeling about
this.
At the door we are met by a solemn Señorita who, when asked “Can we eat here and what do you have” answers, “We have Food.”
While
we have someone’s attention: A bottle of Wine is ordered... She’ll see if they
have THAT label today...W T F?
So in the meantime - it's Pictures Time.
Everyone gets out their iPhone, Samsung, non-smart phones [shouldn't it then be a Dumb Phone?] and even a couple of cameras and one
by one attempt to get everyone’s attention... SMILE---WHISKEEEYYY – Yeah Right!...
Hey let's asks Door Señorita to use Cuban Lady’s camera for a group shot, since each
phone shot was missing the photographer. Ironically this is the only pic of the "lado de la calle - [{place}across the street]" and of the night. Chuck y usually snaps pics of “Everything
“ along the way including signage which in this case only said "Bar", too many distractions we
guess.
Of
course Cute Señorita doesn't have the label touted as the “Especial de La Casa”, but magically
she Does have this lovely Chilean Malbec label 1½ times the cost... How convenient! Tired of Bucanero and Crystal, they don’t
argue and the wine is opened – painfully -
the poor girl breaks the cork, has to go inside and have the boss finish opening
it and comes back and pours around... hmmmm 7 people, a bottle serves 5... streeetttcchhh
it babe, and she promptly disappears as we all
enjoy our little bit of Vino Tinto and chat about the day.
Already 9:00 we need to order [Jake is ready to start chewing on somebody’s arm]...
where is she... it can't be that busy... we're
the only ones here. 20 minutes later Cute Señorita reappears - [Door Señorita must
have told her we were getting antsy]. Orders
are taken, after a big debate over odering seafood or not in a place like this so Ropa Vieja is
the pretty much unanimous, while Chuck y
decides to take a chance on La Zarzuela de Camarones Especiales [a BIG Chance we're soon to find] with a side of black beans..."sorry we don't have any today." W T F – NO Black Beans!?! This is Cuba for Gawd's sake!!!
Now
they start to pass around the phones and cameras for a peek at the various “Group
Shots” [minus 1] and as Chuck y
reaches across the table to take “CUZ’s” phone, the Cuban Lady re-positions her
wine glass, his thumb hits the stem and guess who is now wearing the complete
contents of her wine glass on her new Khakis and blouse? Yup, our very own Vedado Girl... Ain't it amazing how far so little wine can go on a new pair of Khakis!!! So now... does she rush
home to change and risk cold food... if it ever comes, or just sit in wet, red, clammy slacks and worry about it later? And of course we now hear: “You should put cold water on it”... No Ice
Cubes... I've been told use Seltzer Water...” “NO” Chuck y
says firmly, "It's a Cabernet grape, water will turn the spot an indelible black... If you can wait, we'll use the peroxide and baking soda we always pack
to keep it from setting.” She elects
to wait for dinner - "We'll see about it later", she says - staring daggers at the Little Italian Man.
Dinner
FINALLY arrives [Jake swears they had to first find a cow to kill for the Ropa
Vieja] and most of it is passable, Except… Chuck y
bites into the “Fresh" Camerones Especiales and... No Crunch… more like Musshhsh. Trying another, some crunch… the short of it, if his sinuses weren't so irritated from all the diesel exhaust from converted 1950 Chevy's, he might have detected the Ammonia smell of bad Shrimp. Normally he would
not hesitate to bring it to someone’s attention but he doesn't see either Door Señorita
or Cute Señorita anywhere and was so hungry, he just makes a meal of the rice in garlic sauce [no black
beans today] and vegetable sides. He did tell them about the spoiled shrimp as they were leaving... only to get a defensive “You can’t eat the whole thing and then say its bad”, AT-TI TUDE and he hastened to reminded Cute Señorita that he has already paid and wasn't looking for
anything, just asking her to alert the kitchen to check the Shrimp before someone gets VERY sick.
Yeah...like she's really gonna do that..
Chucky's Meal Rating: Service minus 2 stars, Food minus 1 star [Ropa Vieja was "OK"], Wine: Good [except for the spilled part] Ok... wine is always Good, just some"Gooder" than others.
Yeah...like she's really gonna do that..
Chucky's Meal Rating: Service minus 2 stars, Food minus 1 star [Ropa Vieja was "OK"], Wine: Good [except for the spilled part] Ok... wine is always Good, just some"Gooder" than others.
Of
course by now, with wine spotted khakis, the late hour and the mood totally dampened, the consensus is to skip CHEVERE [Chuck y
is NOT pleased with this – he has been itching to get there since they landed-"Hey... The clubs don't start hopping till 11PM"].
Soooo, back down the steps, across the patio, down the step, off the curb, across the median, up the curb... and “Expedition Montalvo”
is back at 55 Linea.
Everyone
heads to Zzzzzz land and Chuck y sets
up to compose more NOWAT.
Stay
tuned for a day with Hero Memorials, the Necropolis de Cristobal Colon, a Visit to Tia’s
former house in Vedado, and a hastily produced dinner at home, on the Island
with more running 1949- 56 Chevy’s
then in all the collections worldwide.
HASTA LUEGO,
Uncle Chuck & The sulking over wine stained Khakis
Cuban Lady
They're Sippin' cheap Cabernet in the land of Old Jello Chebby's
No comments:
Post a Comment