Capitalism Works!

One of my favorite sayings is that “Capitalism Works!”  (For adventure sports, such as skiing, I also like “Gravity Works!”

My point isn’t that capitalism is perfect. . .every system has its flaws, but this system offers both risk and reward, and because there is reward involved, people tend to be motivated to do a good job.

And that was true of the paladar we ate at on Monday night in downtown Varadero.  The food is fabulous. . .but that’s not to say the evening went off without a hitch.  Why would we pay to eat out when we could have had a perfectly fine dinner for free on the resort?

Well, I wanted to try something off campus – eat at one of the paladars.  (A paladar is a restaurant in a private home – a dipping of the country’s toe in the water of capitalism.  They started ten years ago or so, and have sped up as one of Raul Castro’s reforms.)  They are wildly successful, and the food is so much better than what it used to be (based on many, many comments).

Apparently, the New York Times has just ran a piece that the foreigners eating at paladars are taking away vegetables that the Cuban people used to eat, so now they don’t have as many vegetables.  First, there are not many vegetables with any of the meals we have eaten.  Second, the NYT once again shows its basic ignorance of economic life – the more demand, the more production.

Anyhow, we get to the paladar early, with the idea of walking around Varadero a bit before dinner.  But instead the head waiter is there at the door, waiting to check us in.  Except they don’t have our reservation (that I had done via email).  So, after not finding us on their list, they grumpily offered us a table in the smoking section (not everything is paradise in a worker’s paradise – too many damn Europeans sucking on their cigarettes, ruining the air I breath.  Cuba needs a no-indoor smoking law!).   Finally, they grudgingly sat us at a table for two away from the smoking section.

The paladar, Salsa Suarez, is beautiful.   We sat on their huge front porch (there were also three tables inside).  The covered porch contained probably six tables, plus four in the smoking section, as well as a bar, and many Christmas lights (Christmas trees seem to exist in every hotel and restaurant).

They grumpily took our order after making us wait for a while (everywhere else we have been, our order has been taken promptly and in a friendly fashion).  They brought me the wine list on a Samsung device, so I choose the list of red wines.  It was a lot longer than at other restaurants.  That means there were probably 14-16 red wines to choose from, instead of 4-6 as at most restaurants.  I ordered what I thought was a Cab Sav/Merlot blend, because both were listed on the same line.  The waitress insisted I choose between the two.  I said it was a blend – she went to the manager, who didn’t like us, and I was promptly corrected.  I went with the Spanish Merlot.

We ordered the chef’s plate of appetizers (which was quite good), and the Spanish seafood stew.  It was simply the best seafood stew we’ve ever had – better than great Cioppino in San Francisco, great paella (not a stew) in Spain, and seafood stews in New England.

After I complimented the manager and the owner for the best seafood stew we ever had, they beamed at us.  After we shared dessert, they quickly brought us two “I (heart) Cuba” shot glasses, and filled it with a limoncello derivative (the secret recipe includes basil, so it’s not exactly limoncello).  Carol enjoyed it, and I drank it to be a good sport in front of our hosts.

They called us a cab, enhtusiastically shook our hands, and sent us off.  If you are ever in Varadero, eat at Salsa Suarez!