11:24 AM
What was in the Catalonian air 120 years ago that helped produced two of the best Cantineros ever?
Some monument really should be raised to honour Lloret de Mar. Not the Lloret de Mar that became, in recent years, the playground for European springbreakers, but the small fishermen’s village that it used to be – and still is when all tourists are away. Its population doesn’t even reach 40,000 so why should we treat the place as sacred and holy ground? Well, two names: Constantino Ribalaigua and Miguel Boadas.
Constantino was born here, in 1888. Boadas was born in Havana, thousands of kilometres away, in 1895 but his parents hailed originally from Lloret. What was in the Catalonian air 120 years ago that helped produced two of the best Cantineros ever? (Hopefully, you do not expect an answer…)
Boadas came to this world in calle Empedrado, a small street that would acquire mythical status: it borders the Plaza de la Catedral, where visitors could find the Havana Club bar, and, since 1950, it houses La Bodeguita del Medio. His parents opened a café but things weren’t going great so he left for Lloret with his mother. He stayed in the village of his ancestors until the age of 13 and then crossed once more the Atlantic to learn the ropes with his father. His big break happened when he started working for his dad’s cousin, Narcis Sala Perera at the small place he operated on the corner of Obispo and Montserrate: El Floridita.
It wasn’t quite yet the trendy place it would become when Hemingway started visiting (in 1932) and praising it to all and sundry but all the same it was one of the finest bars in town. Constante Ribalaigua was already there (he arrived in 1914 and took control in 1918) and he worked with Boadas, side by side, until 1922. Lloret de Mar meeting in Havana! The greatest in the game, working behind the same bar! Those precious few years are still honoured at El Floridita: above the bar, on the right hand-side, close to the kitchen’s door, there’s one photo of the all-star team. Look for it next time.
In 1922, for various reasons, he went back to Spain and he found a wife – in Lloret, of course. Boadas worked in various bars in Barcelona before he finally opened his own place in 1933. He called it… Boadas and it became, for years, the only place outside of Cuba where the Cantinero tradition lived and breathed. One cannot but admire the value of Boadas’ work: it’s thanks to his efforts (and, after him, those of his daughter and son-in-law) that the throwing technique remained a living art – it had disappeared from Cuban bars but it was still alive and kicking in Don Miguel’s small corner bar near the Ramblas…
Boadas’ story deserves a longer tribute. We’ll get to it soon. Today, we just wanted to honour one of the pioneers, one of the cantineros who didn’t wait the arrival of countless Americans to mix great cocktails in Havana. And we know no better way of doing it than raising a Boadas Cocktail.
*
30 ml Havana Club añejo 3 años
30 ml Dubonnet
30 ml Curaçao
Stir in mixing glass or throw the cocktail until ice cold, strain into a cocktail glass and garnish with a cherry.
Constantino was born here, in 1888. Boadas was born in Havana, thousands of kilometres away, in 1895 but his parents hailed originally from Lloret. What was in the Catalonian air 120 years ago that helped produced two of the best Cantineros ever? (Hopefully, you do not expect an answer…)
Boadas came to this world in calle Empedrado, a small street that would acquire mythical status: it borders the Plaza de la Catedral, where visitors could find the Havana Club bar, and, since 1950, it houses La Bodeguita del Medio. His parents opened a café but things weren’t going great so he left for Lloret with his mother. He stayed in the village of his ancestors until the age of 13 and then crossed once more the Atlantic to learn the ropes with his father. His big break happened when he started working for his dad’s cousin, Narcis Sala Perera at the small place he operated on the corner of Obispo and Montserrate: El Floridita.
It wasn’t quite yet the trendy place it would become when Hemingway started visiting (in 1932) and praising it to all and sundry but all the same it was one of the finest bars in town. Constante Ribalaigua was already there (he arrived in 1914 and took control in 1918) and he worked with Boadas, side by side, until 1922. Lloret de Mar meeting in Havana! The greatest in the game, working behind the same bar! Those precious few years are still honoured at El Floridita: above the bar, on the right hand-side, close to the kitchen’s door, there’s one photo of the all-star team. Look for it next time.
In 1922, for various reasons, he went back to Spain and he found a wife – in Lloret, of course. Boadas worked in various bars in Barcelona before he finally opened his own place in 1933. He called it… Boadas and it became, for years, the only place outside of Cuba where the Cantinero tradition lived and breathed. One cannot but admire the value of Boadas’ work: it’s thanks to his efforts (and, after him, those of his daughter and son-in-law) that the throwing technique remained a living art – it had disappeared from Cuban bars but it was still alive and kicking in Don Miguel’s small corner bar near the Ramblas…
Boadas’ story deserves a longer tribute. We’ll get to it soon. Today, we just wanted to honour one of the pioneers, one of the cantineros who didn’t wait the arrival of countless Americans to mix great cocktails in Havana. And we know no better way of doing it than raising a Boadas Cocktail.
*
30 ml Havana Club añejo 3 años
30 ml Dubonnet
30 ml Curaçao
Stir in mixing glass or throw the cocktail until ice cold, strain into a cocktail glass and garnish with a cherry.
By François Monti
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