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Posts Tagged ‘caffe bourbon’

Tit for Tat

Posted in Cuba, Guatemala, Living in Antigua, Restaurants, Travel, central america, guatemala, tagged , , , , on August 5, 2013| Leave a Comment »

in this case , referring to tattoos…so very very ‘late 1900’s’ kinda stuff….why folks still get ’em is a mystery….’tit’? take that anyway you want…just trying to keep you  abreast of  things, ok?

yeah, I went to Dishwater Saturday night for Nelson’s final performance…Piano Mike’s last event was last night (Sunday) and both of them leave us this week..a big hole in the Antigua music scene, which gets smaller every year…where the hell is Adan, the great Cuban pianist?  speaking of Cuba, Denise the superb server at Ocelot, leaves  us Wednesday and goes back to  medical school in Havana…how cool is that? I’ve never known any  medical students from Cuba and she’s fabulous…I’m  mention Havana more but with all this NSA stuff, I’m not..

Dishaulded has a new tenant in the front space…looks like some kinda performance art, here and there…looks….nah, go see for yourself: I recommend some kinda medication  first.

What was Caffe Opera  on 6th Avenida has been rented and they’re  repainting the interior. What was Restaurant Panchoy on 6th Ave sur is  still under renovation, as is what was Riki’s on  4th Ave…..whew..Bob Chocolate! got the semi-full story on his chocolate process (his brand, IxCacao, is my favorite, btw)….Joe M and HBT on the patio  for happy hour…yeah, we’re cooking up plans for   ‘field research’ of the nasty/naughty kind…hey…this is in the interest of science, ok? 

not sure why, but the new Reilly’s La Esquina had two guards at the  door on Saturday night…I chose the first door(on the left)and was told that it was the exit door….I’m dressed better than 99% of the town and I can’t just walk in? nope….screw it…Travel Menu let me in and took my  $$$…again, the interior of the new place is killer….Steve Wintershaw outdid himself…ok….i opened the  door by using the word in the title…here’s an old friend from ‘Vegas

brianna

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Diminished Expectorations

Posted in Guatemala, Living in Antigua, Restaurants, Shopping, Travel, central america, guatemala, tagged , , on January 5, 2013| Leave a Comment »

in that, the OTC cold meds are doing something(finally )and I’m semi-coming around to feeling abnormal again…everyone, well…not ‘everyone’ but a sizeable percentage of same seems to be disclosing similar symptoms. So? so what, right? those little green depth charges are working, even if I’m not.

 

Tomorrow? 12-ish, Micho’s Cafe/Pub on 4th calle..Spiro’s birthday…you know, the guy who whips up that incredible looking/tasting ceviche?  and i think(sic)that Nelson is playing Caffe Bourbon tonight…hey, music is almost back in Antigua and the good news is that the musicians are actually getting paid…well, most of ’em…Seth Montfort blew/left town last month…bad vibes with Panza Verde but then that’s not exactly news for a few people.

more bad vibes from the recently opened Pan E Fantasia deli on 3rd calle…’internal strife’…someone walked off/left in a snit…no, that’s not a moto…look, I like their stuff, it’s just the sticker shock that goes with it.

looks like i missed the grand opening of the Mango Smoothie Place on 5th calle last night…hey, i was zonked, ok? if that’s the same space that i was told was renting for $3000 a month, then do the math…figure a 1000q a day, rent, utilities, etc…if you’re selling smoothies at 50q each(don’t quote me)then that’s 20 a day, to break even..does it pencil out?

is this really the first weekend of the new year? yep…calendar-wise, etc…incoming snowbirds this week…Roberto Bookstein and Reid the C…Barb the K and Joe Collins, each recovering from dat old debil radiation, later this spring. Yeah, and Tuesday, my first trip to the City in six months plus…going to look for topo maps at the Guate Geo-what’s it office by the airport…maybe, just maybe, if  my ex-landlord and his mysterious brother get their act together, a road trip to Hue-Hue and the ‘lost spanish silver mines’…Friday? I gotta feeling this isn’t going according to Plan.

and one of our Antigua/Rio Dulce characters, back from RD yesterday…took the bus, which stopped halfway…the food/piss stop…got off and witnessed a shooting…bang bang…dude emptied his pistol into a bystander, then goes off to his car, gets another handgun and does it again…can you say ‘Hallmark?’

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My Grate is Full

Posted in golf, Guatemala, Living in Antigua, Restaurants, Travel, central america, guatemala, tagged , on December 31, 2012| Leave a Comment »

in that I’m blessed to have gotten this far, in this year of monthly setbacks, get backs and wise-cracks…don’t ever mention ‘container ships’ to me, ok? once was more than enough.

in yet another case of transcultural migration, Mono Loco is/has opened a branch in the City, following in the footsteps of Luna Miel and Reilly’s…I’m not sure if it’s a case of having too much business here in Antigua rather than just going where the $$$ is/are. This town has too many bars/restaurants/dives to support already, even with the ones with ‘no visible means of support’…

Nicky the Z! I’ve been wondering where he’d gone to….in the park this morning and lo/behold, he’s landed on his feet again: running a driving range and giving golf lessons in the City, just what he’s always wanted to do…sound familiar? remember the movie, “Tin Cup?”

a face from the Dark Side, “She Who Must Be Obeyed” seen in Bodegona this morning…thank you, god, for sparing me…and yes, more and more of the annual ‘snowbirds’ return to Antigua, cluttering up the benches in the morning…now we’re at two bench fulls and counting. With the return of Reid C/Robto Bookstein next week, that may well add up to three bench-loads of blabber. As I said to Jon Mellen/Epicure this morning, all the conversations are centered around food/recipes, with an occasional reference to Depends…women? as if…I’m trying to quit.

and one of the more insane rumors heard so far(this week)…Immigration is coming to a bar near you, in search of illegal gringo workers…it’s been said, or rather I heard, that it has happened once before here…the fine? 10000q and  deportation…wait: if they skim the 10000q, how can you afford a plane ticket? maybe it’s just a room on a banana bucket leaving Puerto Barrios…I dunno/you know how this town runs on gossip/chisme and rumors..if you can top this one, spread it around tomorrow, thickly…at any rate, I’m exceedingly grateful for all that came my way this year: Neitsche once said ‘that what doesn’t kill me, makes me stronger.’…Neetsche? Notchysky? f….king spelchuk…enjoy yourself tonight….do not kiss the cobblestones, eh?

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Runnin’ on Empty

Posted in Guatemala, Living in Antigua, Restaurants, Shopping, Travel, central america, guatemala, tagged , on December 29, 2012| Leave a Comment »

yeah, I know….I haven’t been out/around or even ‘on planet’ for a while…the stinkin’ cold had/has me in it’s grip…early to bed, early to rise and that’s good for bags under my eyes…

Caffe Bourbon, introducing a new concept! paying their musicians…and maybe their help/suppliers….the new owner is well-connected and even better, has deeper pockets..Nelson Lunding now playing there Fri/Saturday nights…maybe even PM, Moriah and Bobby Darling sometime?

whoa…three loads of cruise ship passengers in town yesterday…pale folks, baggy bermudas, cameras in place..welcome to Antigua, pilgrims…some bar/eaterie owners reporting a steep downside in December revenooo’s…blaming it on a change in the type of tourists this year…low enders missing, the $150 a night hotel room folks reporting no vacancies.

got chops? Bull aka James Santiago Durham is NOT giving up the import of pork products from Tecpan….the two 1/2 lb pork chops (unsmoked, thank you)are my fave….jameswdurham2@gmail.com will do the trick…

La Sala! taking over the downtown nightclub scene…Johnny’s Place in Monterrico doing an ‘end of the year’ bash…from the way i feel now, I’ll be lucky to be getting out of bed, much less getting ‘bashed’…bushed, maybe…bashed, not..

plans afoot for heading northwest and the outskirts of Hue Hue in a week or so…do some diggin’ around some old Spanish diggin’s…silver…find some specimens(no, not urine)shoot some photos, write it up and maybe get  paid a year later…and you thought this writing gig was lucrative? hah…no, make that a BIG hah…ok, fine…I’m surprised I got this far…in with the Old, out with the Ewe…

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Two Weddings and a Funeral

Posted in El Salvador, Granada, Guatemala, Living in Antigua, Nicaragua, Restaurants, Shopping, Travel, central america, guatemala, tagged , , , , , , , , on November 24, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Blooie! the mortar bombs at La Merced were great….the earlier aerial fireworks show at what might’ve been Capuchina…I try not to get to close to wedding ceremonies, as I break out in a cold sweat thinking about one.

‘the Perfesser, Mike Donley, is back in town…with a tale of two boats…ask him…it was a narrow escape and a….per he, Reid the Choate is due back, once his son graduates from the Police Academy..no, not the movie…

Alabama Bob, likewise back from El Salvador (and Evelyn)….rumors starting to build about another ‘road trip’, this time up the Pacific Coast towards Take a Lick Abaj…look out Reyo!

our loss…the delightful Miss M aka Marbel…left us for India…actually Nepal..yeah, she had her ‘issues’ but I liked her: we laughed well together. What the hell did she do with her drum set? in the living room of her apartment on 6th avenida, was a full on pro drum set…kinda makes sense, in that her ex-boyfriend of ten years was a drummer for Lenny Kravitz…god speed and vaya con dios. I suspect she’s in for a bit of culture shock.

der Henrik, back from an inspection tour of the new Reillys in Granada, Nicaragua…yeah…2 thumbs up…Granada, unlike this burg, likes to party and is officially encouraged to do so, fueled by Flor de Cana rum and Tono beer…it’s like Antigua, visually except they paved their cobblestone streets and its hot and humid…perfect for ordering another round of adult sports beverages.

4th Calle, the ‘golden gulch’ of A-Town…quiet…Micho’s doin’ a bit of biz, and El Cazadore Italiano packed with the glitzy city crowd..Caffe Bourbon doin’ well…Da Vinci a dead zone but the annual Christmas tree and decorations are xlnt, as usual…worth a look…Flor(escent)of Dasha open late, doing biz..Travel Menu doing two tables of 4, the bartenderess complaining….and where’s my book holder? 

dos Reilly’s filling up early…Ocelot/Lava quiet but it was early…Ixcot other known as the Cemetery, dead..stick a fork in ’em…Sangre? with a 25q cover charge and some kinda ‘all you can drink’ special? folks..wrong concept: pay people 25q to get in and then hit ’em with the ‘all you can swill’ idea…La Casbah lit up, music on and a full staff…welcome back!

the funeral? Figueroas on 6th avenida norte…a full crowd..business is dead concept in full play…and another ‘only in Guatemala’ adventure…

http://www.examiner.com/article/the-brakes-failed-on-the-way-to-thanksgiving

Ricardos’ Tabacos y Vinos, by the Arches? packed to capacity..!

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Rainman

Posted in El Salvador, Guatemala, Living in Antigua, Restaurants, Shopping, Travel, central america, guatemala, tagged , , on October 11, 2012| Leave a Comment »

is it ever gonna stop? yeah, every one says another week…two weeks…what the hell do they know? I know that I’ve got mold on the hat band of my favorite old black fedora,if not also on my mind…my mind.. what’s on, my mind? not much(typical)

Caffe Bourbon,now offering hamburgers…o tired cliche, o tired menu item…Pietra,what was on the saure, moved a block south, by Mono Loco…rotsa luck…another hope/dream/idiotic scheme moving into the previous space..

http://www.examiner.com/article/the-lady-psychologist-and-her-magic-horse?cid=db_articles

yeah, this isn’t my usual ‘beat but it’s different…whore’s therapy..no…dammit,spel chuk..’horse therapy’ and damned interessting..more to follow, once the rains quit in the morning and i can shoot better photos..if it were the previous, rather than the latter, i’d be thinkin’ of going out to the Jet Set (and I am)for some ‘indepth interviews’..looks like a run to Monterrico next weekend,compliments of Johnny’s Place/Yann…yey! I hadn’t known, for example, that he’d gotten married(why am i always the last to know?)for a little update and time off…right, the hectic schedule of being rained on, morning, noon and night…the only bright spot is that I’m still on Umbrella #1, a first..gave the real 1st one away to MDC of Salon Creativo, a few months ago..

The Great Antigua Bus Tour? yes..finally, finally got to ride the tour today…I like it, better than the previous incarnation..story goes that next week is their ‘Grand Inauguration’..this week, they’re getting the kinks worked out, etc..the water’s back on is all of town..finally..pipes hooked up, etc..

Who is the very tasty, usually very well dressed babe that knocks on Jades Antigua(upper 5th)at 8am?  she’s an early morning vision, whoever she is.

if I count my chickens/quetzals, I’m off to El Salvador next month…couple of days in my favorite city, San Salvador, catch up with Dan of Lips, maybe an outing to some Mayan ruins I haven’t seen..and a special thanks to Robto de Oro, for parachuting in some much needed $$ following the demise/loss of my debit card…maybe,just maybe next weekend I’ll have a replacement.. so, if i hit you up for a few $$, that’s why..from the looks of the FB ads, Mario is whipping up the crowds at La Sala..a good thing..that part of town may well be the new ground zero, given the demise of upper 5th avenida..funny how things shift, eh? different crowds, different times,…Zone One, long the garbage pit of the City now becomes the new hot spot..good for Henrik et al for seeing this and goin’ forward…altho now that Neil Craig has his own joint, who’s gonna cook at the  new/improved pub at what was Casbah? and are they ever gonna open? oops..not s’posed to write about this stuff…’scandalous babble material’

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Weird Stuff

Posted in Guatemala, Living in Antigua, Restaurants, Shopping, What to Pack, tagged , , , , , on September 21, 2012| Leave a Comment »

like where’s the action? where are the tourists, diners and folks with the $$$?

maybe it’s just post Independence Day for Guatemalo and maybe it’s just a rainy Friday night…the air has gone out of the balloon and it’s starting to resemble a condom on the sidewalk.

the 5th Anniversary of the Bistro by Merced? doin’ fine but the owner not there at 7…Ron Fortin, he of the great sax…recently laid off per lack of business and talking of creating a new group of musicians with an ‘act’…the music scene in town has evaporatated, dispersed and taken a dive…Luke playing at the Escargot Room?…totally weird…Piano Mike and Moriah did one night at Caffe Bourbon, scheduled for two…2nd cancelled per lacka  $$…next time you see PM, ask him about this great/insane project he’s taken on..guaranteed to make your head spin, as it did a guy at the bar in o’Lot last night..

major congrats to Linnett D for selling another piece of art…no, she didn’t offer to buy me a drink..but that fact that anything is selling in town is a major accomplishment.

the Marvelous Miss M and girlfriend having dinner at dos Reilly’s..thanks, Ryan, for the free cocktail..it was raining, I left my umbrella at home and….thanks, dude..

the new ‘Tapas  Orientales’ place on 6th ave, norte? ..’Izakaya’? where Luna Miel used to be? I’m thinkin’ that their ‘ costillitas en BBQ China’ might be something to try…their’s is an interesting twist on menus..who knows?   and AyRobot? has Dan pulled the plug?  he mentioned looking for another place, closer in…Jungle Party is closed for 2-3 months…renovations and ‘seasons over’..

how much deader can things get?…MM has opened a gelato place/coffee bar next to La Casaca…great location..will gelato outsell Marco Polo or Sarita? or Helados Exoticos, Alex F’s great 40 flavors and counting?  Nido Anigua, Alex of Fusion’s place, looking xlnt…but empty…is it the rain or the season? bit of both, one suspects..’ran into Peter the G this morning…he’s touting the City as being the ‘place’ to be…from what I’ve heard about Zone One…i guess it’s time to get over my dislike for the ‘city’ and go take a look.

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