The dinner at Cuba Libre was my call. All week, the restaurant was offering a special menu in honor of American writer Ernest Hemingway, who spent many years living and writing in Cuba. The menu consisted of some of Papa Hemingway's favorite Cuban dishes. The former Broadway show, The Addams Family, was Judy's choice. I was looking forward to the dinner. The musical, not so much.
The Addams Family, based on the cartoon characters originally designed by Charles Addams for The New Yorker magazine, didn't start until 7:30 p.m. so I figured that if we arrived at the restaurant by 5:15 we would have plenty of time for dinner and still make the show.
Our dinner began well. I started with the Crema Floridita (lobster veloute soup with seafood medley) and Coctel de Camarones de Golfo (fresh Gulf shrimp, poached and chilled in Nuevo Cubano cocktail salsa). Judy had the shrimp. All were quite tasty.
For my entree, I ordered Pargo Ambos Mundos (red snapper stuffed with malanga-crusted crabmeat with sweet onion sauce). Judy had a version of Cuban surf and turf (petite filet mignon with culantro bernaise and lobster rings with enchilado sauce). We had a choise of dessert - either an Alaskan tropical or a Hemingway sorbert - which we could order later.
After finishing our appetizers, we waited for our main course. By 6:35, it still hadn't arrived. I signaled our busy waiter and explained that we had tickets to the Kennedy Center for 7:30. He arrived with our dinner about 5 minutes later. Maybe it was the rush to eat or the fact that I had looked at my watch too many times (I didn't want Judy to think I had planned dinner this way to delay our arrival at a show she had chosen), but the entrees were way below the quality of a normal meal at Cuba Libre. I handed the waiter our credit card, told him we would be skipping dessert, and asked directly for the check. To Cuba Libre's credit, manager Tsvetomir Hristov immediately came to our table, apologized for the delay, and gave us his card which would be good for a drink and a dessert at a later time.
By means of swift walking and good luck with connections to the Metro and the free shuttle bus to the Kennedy Center, we were in our seats before the musical started. We even had time to go to the bathroom.
As the curtain opened, I was fully prepared not to like the play. (I still remembered the last play at the Kennedy Center that Judy had chosen. That was Billy Elliot and I didn't care for that at all). But during the opening number, a strange thing happened. I began really liking the production. My liking only deepened during the 1st act. The banter was timely and witty, the songs and dancing entertaining, and the themes of love, lying, and normality were presented in an interesting way. By the closing curtain, I thought the 1st act was superior to the 2nd, but I would still give the play 2 thumbs up. The Addams family might be creepy and be kooky, mysterious and spooky, but their play performance certainly was not ookie.
Tales, Tidbits, and Tips
We are already scheduled to see 2 former Broadway productions at the Kennedy Center next season. Judy picked War Horse and I chose Book of Mormon. If they are up to the standard of The Addams Family, we will be fine. But I think we will go somewhere other than Cuba Libre for any pre-theater dinners.
.JPG)
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