César Oretea. November 9, 2007 11:10pm

So Friday night after my gig at Cabanas, my friends and I headed over to Tutto Bene since I heard Duende Camarón were performing there for the first time. You know how it is: the first night at a new gig is important because you want to give the owners the impression that you can fill up the place with customers. I love their shows anyway, but my friends and I were also doing our part to support the new gig.

Cesar Oretea. November 9, 2007 11:13pm

While Tutto Bene has an Italian name and serves Italian food, it is Bolivian owned and operated. And on the weekends when they serve Bolivian cuisine, I've been here numerous times with my latino friends mostly who tell me the food here is very good. The salteñas here are awesome!

Since it was a Friday night, they only served Italian. So I got the gnocchi with meat sauce for about $12 and it was very good as expected (the service unfortunately was not so good). It pretty much filled me up which was a good thing cuz the friends that I ran into that night were buying me drinks left and right. This doesn't happen all the time, but it happens enough that I know to fill-up on some sustenance early in the evening to prepare for the alcohol.

November 9, 2007 11:18pm

The show was well-attended considering it was the first night here. Thing is that the dining room here at Tutto Bene is very large and spacious. So the customers were spread out all over the place: either seated next to the stage and dance floor or all the way back at the other end of the room to sit at the bar. In the old days at Las Tapas, the stage, the dance floor and the bar were right to next to each other in a very tight space making it feel like a cozy house party. It was easy to pack the place at Las Tapas, but not so easy here at Tutto Bene.

Having said that, Tutto Bene has one advantage over Tapas in that the dance floor is very spacious. I can remember numerous times at Las Tapas when the occasional over-enthusiastic or spastic dancer would accidentally bump into a microphone stand or speaker (and sometimes with a drink in hand). Think about it (see the pic below) and imagine that if you had a microphone right in front of your mouth, you wouldn't want anyone bumping into your microphone stand now would you?

José Oretea. November 9, 2007 11:56pm

Apparently, José agrees with me.

José Oretea. November 10, 2007 12:58am

I can remember in the old days, Duende Camarón had a cajón player and bassist every week although later they started using a sequencer (an electronic piece of music equipment which digitally "plays" instruments) to provide percussion and bass accompaniment for José and Cesar's guitar playing.

But here at Tutto Bene, they decided to try out using a live percussionist who had everything from congas to timbales etc. They do have the extra space onstage for more musicians anyway. If things go well here, they might even start using a live bassist and keyboardist too. We'll see.

November 10, 2007 12:03am

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So there you have it: a little peek at Duende Camarón's latest gig. Show your support and come out this Friday. Call Tutto Bene at (703) 522-1005 to confirm.

In other news: dancer Tamara Sol we'll be giving her last performances in the DC area this week at Las Tapas. She's moving back to Arizona very soon. Let's send her off in style and pack the place with flamencos this Thursday night. She'll be sharing the stage with dancer Edwin Aparicio and guitarist Richard Marlow. I wouldn't be surprised if there are some guest appearances by some of the other local flamencos. Make your reservation now by calling (703) 836-4000. (But just in case you can't make it this Thursday, Tamara is also performing this Tuesday at Las Tapas.) See you there!

As for tonight, the Cafe Citron is closed for Veterans Day. Duende Camarón will probably be performing at Ozio as usual though. Who's going?