Close, but No Cuba Libres

If Fidel’s there, smoke is in the air. That was certainly the case last week when Twin Palms in Fashion Island Newport Beach held a smoker night dubbed Big Trouble in Little Havana.

For the most part, few seemed to find much trouble at the restaurant. It was a pretty tame crowd--even the man masquerading as Castro (Jay Wright) in fatigues and chomped-down cigar was more interested in mingling than in politics.

Each in the crowd, which numbered a couple hundred, picked up a packet of three cigars and a lighter at the front desk--courtesy of Newport Tobacco--and hit the martini tables, where bottles of flavored Stoli, lined up like soldiers, soon fell.

The food was Italian--so much for continuing the theme--but everyone seemed pleased with chef Tony Zidar and his filo duck. Anyway, guests were pretty busy playing backgammon or chess, or listening to the cha-cha and mambo coming from the Latin band.

In a nod to the Caribbean island’s heyday as a party paradise, women stepped into the back of their closets to pull out clothes that were all ‘40s--sleek Rita Hayworth-style pantsuits and Joan Crawfordesque hats. Most of the men didn’t reach so far, sporting weekday suits or dressed as grown-up cabana boys in Hawaiian shirts.