Simply Cuban

October-2015 I remember this day so clearly, we almost died lol. We bought these chairs on Craigslist that morning. Initially we were in a pick-up truck when we left to go get them. We were on the Turnpike and crossing that bridge that leads you to Jersey City when the pickup breaks down right in the middle of the bridge.   I started to panic a bit because there was no shoulder.  The only thing I remember is me looking at the him and saying "We need to get out of this car and run to safety." I just had this bad feeling about staying in the car. What if a n 18 wheeler came at full speed and didn't have enough time to brake? There was no shoulder for us to direct traffic either. We ended up walking to this little diner off the nearest exit and calling the police and a friend to come pick us up. Long story short, we ended up picking up the chairs in my Jeep. (the picture) We met the couple who was opening the new restaurant and wanted to get rid of some chairs t...

The first thing we had to do was transform the restaurant from its cool, cold décor to something more "Cuban".  We were so excited, especially him.  In one afternoon, he painted over the old restaurant colors and covered everything up for the new reset.  He was all set on his colors but finding them required a lot of swatching and switching up.   This r equired a lot of research; I'm talking about random drives into Brooklyn to get inspired or going to Home Depot almost every day and getting new swatches.   "Jefe" knew exactly what he wanted, it's like when something is at the tip of your tongue, but you can't word it?... he doesn't have that problem.  This particular day we were just trying to figure out what the color of the awning was going to be.   Almost every day I would get a text or a call from him asking what I thought of this or what if we do this.   I'd literally drop everything to go meet him and brainstorm.   "Chelly, look ...

Do you know how excited we were when we found a place that made this neon sign for us?  It was his vision; everything was always His vision.  I had some input but since we had the same taste, everything he fell in love with I fell in love with too.  He's a Gemini and I'm an Aquarius, we were meant to start this little beautiful restaurant.   The sign came that day and we couldn't stop going outside to look at it.  We were so giddy lol This was welcoming... come in, have a coffee and talk to us.    A neon sign anywhere in the middle of the night was a "Hello, come in."  I know that's why he fell in love with idea because it gives him life when he can talk and connect with people.   The real set it off was in SoHo though.    I don't know exactly where this was except that it was off of East Houston Street.  I'll figure it out another day and update the blog.    We were sitting in the corner booth of ...