The gods smiled on Havana Hideout last night, celebrating its shout-out on the Food Network's Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.
A nasty little rainstorm that pissed down buckets ended just a half-hour or so before the party was slated to begin. And the usual screw-ups with Comcast that pixilated TV pictures at the Hideout and all over the area like a bad LSD trip ended only minutes before the show began.
But in the end it was all cool, just like the beer on ice in giant galvanized metal tubs and the laid-back crowd of 300 or so that spilled out of the Hideout and onto the sidewalk in downtown Lake Worth. At the start of the show, Guy Fieri hopped out of his red Camaro and
introduced the Chrissy Benoit's funky tiki
bar-cum-lounge-cum-restaurant to an estimated 15 million viewers.
And when the show finally went on, the place went nuts, champagne was poured, and people stayed until the hours got small and the food ran out. "It was a great vibe, a great night," Benoit said, which, not to put too fine a point on it, is the way it is pretty much every night at Lake Worth's new favorite dive.
