Denny's opens first Dominican restaurant in Santo Domingo airport

There are a good number of American restaurant chains in the Dominican Republic. Of course there is McDonalds and Burger King. There is also Tony Roma's and Chili's. And now there is a Denny's. The chain just opened a restaurant in the food court at the Las Amercas airport in Santo Domingo in cooperation with franchisee Grupo Nahas.

This is Denny's first airport location and a Denny's executive said they are excited to be opening in such a "unique location."

Yes, it is certainly a "unique location." The Santo Domingo airport is kind of an adventure. It is only 20-30 gates and there is very little retail or restaurants in the public area currently. There is more shopping within the secure area for passengers, but it is surely not a "destination" airport.

The Grupo Nahas comments made more sense. A Nahas exec said that the restaurant is an "exciting new choice" and that they will become "the best restaurant option."

Well, that is not hard to do. Currently there are maybe one or two options, consisting of fast food and cheap convenient stores.

So, the Dominican Baseball Guy will probably be eating there the next time he passes through the airport, for sure! Love me some American breakfast, and it is hard to find in the Dominican Republic. Wish they would open one more centrally located because the Santo Domingo airport is thirty minutes or so from the city.

Denny's restaurant to open at Santo Domingo airport

Dominican Beer and sleeping pills: Ozzie Guillen's cure for recovering from a beating

The Marlins and manager Ozzie Guillen got beat down 15-5 on Wednesday by the Boston Red Sox.  The Marlins have had a pretty average year after some big signings this off-season, including the signing of Guillen.  It is a wonder that they are hovering around .500 when they are in the bottom third of MLB in most team statistics.

It has been a tough year for Guillen.  Guillen gave The Palm Beach Post his cure for recovering from such a beating:

"Seven Presidentes and a sleeping pill and be ready for the job tomorrow."

Presidente is THE BEER in the Dominican Republic.  Interesting that Guillen chooses a Dominican beer, being that he is Venezuelan.  I do not have statistics, and honestly I doubt they exist for Dominican beer, but I would estimate that Presidente has at least 70% of the market share on beer in the Dominican Republic.

Presidente is ubiquitous in the Dominican Republic to say the least.  Every single colmado or grocery store that sells Dominican beer has Presidente.  Really the only imports you will see at a standard convenience store in the Dominican Republic are Corona (Mexican) and Brahma (Brazilian).  Even Bud Light is hard to find.

Most countries have one or two flagship brews.  Think Bud Light in the States or Heineken in the Netherlands.  Presidente is that flagship brew when it comes to Dominican beer.  Dominicans will tell you that Presidente is the best beer on earth.  But that has to be just a tendency towards nationalism, because Presidente is virtually indistinguishable from Bud Light, or any other light lager.  

Presidente is owned by the Cervecería Nacional Dominicana and the Dominican beer is produced at their breweries in the Dominican Republic.  However, AmBev which is owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev bought a controlling stake in the company in 2012.  So, basically Budweiser is making the Dominican Republic's most prized beer.

With these two caveats mentioned, it is a dam good beer when cold and it is still technically made in the Dominican Republic, even if the imperialist Americans, Budweiser, now own the company.  So, the Dominican Baseball Guy will continue to down as much Presidente as possible, especially when watching Dominican baseball games.

THE DOMINICAN BEER, Presidente, photo by Erik Cleves Kristensen on Flickr

Lima time: Deceased Dominican pitcher Jose Lima had 6 kids by 6 different women

Deceased Dominican pitcher Jose Lima was one of the most entertaining and flambouyant pitchers during his time in the majors. His name is back in the news because he had six children with six different women and they want money from his estate.

The Dominican Baseball Guy followed the entirety of Lima's entertaining life and baseball career. His best year came with the Astros in 1999 when he was fourth in the Cy Young voting and won 21 games. That seemed to be his one elite year. He held on as a mid-level starter with several teams until he was released by the Mets in 2006.

But he was not done. The Dominican Baseball Guy saw him pitch in 2009 in the Dominican Winter Baseball League when he was a player/coach for his hometown Aguilas de Santiago.

In addition to his baseball career, Lima was a noted Samba musician. And he had an affect on his teammates, fans, and the media. People just loved the guy. Jim Rome says that the signed ball from Lima's no-hitter is one of two items of memorabilia that he owns.

It seems that the circus of Lima Time has even followed him in death, as his former girlfriend, Dominican model Dalla Leclerc, wants more of his estate to help raise their daughter. She is requesting money from the MLB Players Association, but they have refused since the two were not married.

Apparently Lima had ongoing relationships with some of his exes, and his children by different women secret to his current love interests. He had a child with Melissa Lima whom he was married to from 1996-2005. And the child with Leclerc was born while he was still married to Melissa Lima, although Leclerc claims she did not know he was still married.

At the time of his death he was living with his latest girlfriend, Dorca Astacio. No word if they had any kids, or if any of his other baby's mamas want a part of his estate.

Confused? You know what they say? Life immitates art, and in Lima's case it seems his on-field frantic personality carried off the field to his love life and family.

Lima (right) was one of those people that seemed to really enjoy life on the field and off.  Just as
happy eating Dominican food with friends as he was on the mound, photo by Remolocha.net

Dominican rum: Brugal is your top choice

The Dominican Republic is known for a few things that the country does really well.  Currently the list probably starts with baseball and then cigars, or cigars and then baseball.  Tourism has become one of the top three industries in the country, so the beaches and golf course are also identifying characteristics of the country.

And along with these four things, add rum, and particularly Brugal rum, to the top five things the country is known for.  The Side Dish recently put out an article in that featured Brugal and the production process of the Dominican rum.  The Dominican Baseball Guy agrees with the article, in the sense that Brugal is the most important and most popular spirit in the Dominican Republic.

Brugal is definitely the drink of choice in the DR, along with Presidente beer.

Typically people buy the one liter, cheapest version of Brugal, the white rum. It costs about 5 dollars if I remember correctly. Dominicans head to a colmado (a Dominican convenient store/bar), buy a bottle with 3 plus friends, and sit around in a circle and pass it around, drinking strait from the bottle, typically no chasers.

I tried to buy a Coke the first few times, then started to realize that buying a Coke is two dollars and the rum is five dollars.  Most people do not have the budget to buy the Coke, and would rather spend a little more and just get the Rum.  So, I stopped spending two dollars on Cokes because it seemed like it was almost offensive spending that much in front of someone that may live off $5-10 per day.

I often bought a Presidente after this, just to have something to wash it down a little.  Then my Dominican friends would say I was a drunk, drinking rum and beer back to back.  So, I really could not win in that dilemma.

I would say this process repeated itself four to five times per week over the four plus months I was in the country.  And the process repeats itself a million times over, every day in the Dominican Republic.  Brugal of course is always a good accompaniment for Dominican baseball games too.

Brugal rum IS the rum in the Dominican Republic: ubiquitous and tasty and Dominican to it's core.

The Dominican Baseball Guy drinking the famous Dominican rum, Brugal.  A typical night in the
Dominican Republic: six guys sitting in a circle passing around a bottle of Brugal.

Dominican food: Dominican baseball players offer their Dominican food recipes, Comida Dominicana!

Outside Miami and New York, it is pretty hard to find Dominican food and restaurants here in the States.  Most Americans could not even name what items are typical of Dominican food and cuisine.  The Dominican Baseball Guy recently wrote about cultural differences and adjustments that Dominican baseball players face when they come to the United States.

Along with differences in racial classifications mentioned in the previous blog post, the food is a big change for Dominican baseball players arriving in the States.  A common anecdote heard from Dominican players is that they just order chicken for months, until they learn more about the cuisine and learn the language.  Chicken is easy to order, one of the first "food words" that people learning a new language learn, and you can bet that most places serve some sort of chicken dish.  Also, it is the most common meat in the Dominican Republic, so most Dominican players probably prefer it anyway.

But for Dominican baseball players coming to the States, they want a taste of home.  Those that are not in New York or Miami, the only place to get traditional Dominican food is strait from the source, ie from Dominicans cooking in their own homes.  Vladimir Guerrero's mother is known to make some great Dominican food and share with his Dominican teammates.

And even some MLB Dominican baseball players themselves like to cook up their own Dominican food.  A recent cookbook showcases recipes from 20 MLB players, including several Dominican baseball players and their recipes for their favorite Dominican foods.  Albert Pujols, Hanley Ramirez, and Alex Rodriguez are Dominican players that offer recipes.  Perhaps the most prototypical Dominican food dish, beans and rice OR arroz y habichuelas, is one of the Dominican meals found in the baseball cookbook.

All this talk of food makes the Dominican Baseball Guy miss arroz, habichuelas, and chicken.  Other common Dominican foods are yucca, cabbage, mofongo, and several varieties of plaintains.

Typical plate of Dominican food: rice, beans, chicken, and maybe a salad and noodles if you are lucky,
photo by Puroticorico on Flickr

Vladimir Guerrero ready to strengthen Orioles lineup

Yesterday's post featured the Dominican Baseball Guy's all time favorite Dominican player, Manny Ramirez, and today features the Dominican Baseball Guy's second favorite player all time in Vladimir Guerrero.  While Manny is first in career RBI by Dominican born players and second in hits and home runs, Vlad is third in all three categories.  He is just behind Manny in hits and actually has a better average, an amazing .324 lifetime average.

A couple of recent articles by Brittany Ghiroli tell of the excitement Guerrero is brining to Orioles camp.  This one says how Vlad answers all his fan mail during spring training and how his mother makes plenty of Dominican food for Vlad and his teammates.  According to ex-teammate Michael Young, "his mother has the best food in the league."  Another article talks of Vlad's place in the Orioles lineup as designated hitter and who he will be replacing.

Vlad was on some great talented teams with the Expos in the 1990's.  He won an MVP in 2004, his first of six years with the Angels.  And he was with the Rangers for one year last year.  He has nine all-star selections and eight silver slugger awards, along with the one MVP.

His peers call him "Vladdy."  He is a legendary bad ball hitter, and has never worn batting gloves.  Vlad is from Nizao, DR and has several businesses in his hometown.

Guerrero with the Angels in 2005, no gloves hitting one of his
legendary "bad balls," photo by Rich Anderson on Flickr