Cafe Tropical

Cafe Tropical
Originally uploaded by thegreatplotnik.

African music blaring in his ears, The Great Plotnik stares at the photo he took last week at Cafe Tropical in Stiletto City. Plotnik and Ducknik discovered the Tropical when they first moved back to Stiletto City in 1977. It was the site of the first story Plotnik ever submitted for publication, which led to meeting Mistress Domin-nik and then to TIAPOS and relationships with so many wonderful people who have enriched his life.

In the days when Plot and Duck first found Tropical, it was run by right-wing Cuban refugees who had photos of Castro on the walls with a bulls-eye painted on his nose. Now, the old chain-smoking right-wingers have sold out to young left-wing hipsters who have removed Bulls-Eye Fidel and put up a large photo of Che Guevara. And so it goes.

The coffee con leche is still the best in Stiletto City, and the guayaba con queso pastry on the right is better than ever, and so are the little round empanada con queso and the croissant, which is not pronounced 'kwa-sant' but 'croy-son.'

You can probably still get a birthday cake made with plastic Smurfs on the top if you tell the baker that your daughter, with whom you come to the Tropical every Wednesday morning before Pre-School so she can have a huge round cookie with sprinkles plus another for her lunch box, loves Smurfs.

The Great PunkyDunky and The Great FiveHead now live only a few blocks from the Tropical. PD orders in Spanish and helps Plotnik bring the pastries and coffees and fresh squeezed orange/carrot juice to the table.


The world turns, fights break out in one place and are snuffed out in others, holidays come and go and people remember what is truly important, until they get distracted and forget again. A cup of cafe con leche and a guayaba con queso at the Tropical bring it all back to square one, órale Chachito. Life is still flaky, hot and sweet.