WLTN: LATIN CLUBS
We Love The Nightlife: LATIN CLUBSFeel like celebrating Nothing feels more like a fiesta than a night at a Latin dance club, where the music is always high-energy. Even if you don't know how to salsa, samba or machata, just watching those who do (and in New Jersey, they really do) is fabulous entertainment. And the security sangria and mojitos ain't bad, either.
Cuba Libre Restaurant and Rum Bar Located at The Quarter in The Tropicana Casino and Resort, 2831 Boardwalk, Atlantic City (609) 348-6700 Mondays-Thursdays 11:30 a.m.-3 p.m. (lunch), 4 p.m.-11 p.m. (dinner); bar open until 2 a.m. Fridays-Sundays 11:30 a.m.-11 p.m. (lunch and dinner) with a late-night menu available through 1 a.m.; the bar is open to around 4 a.m.There's no better place to experience The Tropicana's Old Havana theme than Cuba Libre.
The two-story restaurant-nightclub is a centerpiece to the resort's entertainment and dining expansion, The Quarter, which opened in 2004. Sprawled over 12,000 square feet, Cuba Libre boasts 36-foot-high ceilings and two-story, three-dimensional facades that recreate the romance of pre-Castro Cuba.After the dinner-crowd splits, if you have the hots for Latin dancing, you've come to the right place.
Patrons can enjoy spectacular floor shows as well as salsa music and dancing spread out throughout the entire venue.Among the offerings at the main bar, hand-crafted in lush, dark antique wood, is the house's own Cuba Libre Premium Brand rum. In addition, Cuba Libre offers a diverse wine list and specialty cocktail menu.
The staff presses hundreds of pounds of fresh sugar cane weekly to extract the sugar cane juice known as guarapo, used to sweeten the bar's signature cocktail, the mojito.Upstairs at The Missile Bar, a tongue-in-cheek wink to the Cuban Missile Crisis, a life-size replica Soviet missile is mounted in the center of the bar. Take care of the bartender and he just might activate the launch sequence, firing up the rocket with smoke effects.
Dress to impress.
A strict dress code is enforced.
-- Anthony VenutoloCrystalsKing's Court Building, 525 Riverside Ave., Lyndhurst (973) 667-4443 Latin Nights Fridays 9 p.m.-2 a.m.; American Club Music Saturdays 8 p.m.-2 a.m. Crystals dance club looks like your typical hotel banquet area.
There are seating areas with tables and chairs, two bars, a lounge area, a DJ booth, a band stage and a dance floor with a large disco ball. Visually, it may not strike you as anything spectacular. The vibe of the place is reminiscent of attending a family party, minus the family.
What will strike you is what Crystals is known for -- the dancing. One look at the dance floor can be more than intimidating. The dancers are spectacular. If you feel a bit inexperienced and want to learn a few steps before hitting the dance floor, salsa lessons by Cultural Explosion are offered from 8-9 p.
m.
Fridays before the club opens for $15 a person. The crowd is mainly older and sophisticated, out for a night of dancing. Crystals is not the place for a quick pickup.
Cocktails range from $7-$9, security shots $5-$6, beers $3-$5 and bottle service is available. The food menu offers Buffalo shrimp, cheese or chicken quesidillas and a chicken Caesar salad ranging from $5-$13.Live entertainment changes every week, but the bands will play traditional and contemporary salsa, cumbia, merengue and bachata.
A DJ is on hand to play typical American Club music and reggaeton in between band sets. Reservations for birthdays and celebrations are available as well as the option of a separate banquet area. Latin Nights are free for ladies until 10:30 p.
m.
The cover charge ranges from $5-$15.
-- Yvonne Lardizabal Club CoCoBongo 429 N. Broad St., Elizabeth 07209 (908) 527-1928 www.clubcocobongo.com 10 p.m.-3 a.m. Thursdays-SundaysIf you don't know the words to "La Mento Boliviano," you might not be able to sing along with the crowd at the prescribed time -- but it won't keep you from having a great experience at Club CoCoBongo.Located in midtown Elizabeth, CoCoBongo is a high-energy, casual dance club that is sure to please even if you can't salsa.
Saturday night at Bongo is Latin crossover night with cameras a mix of merengue, bachata salsa, and reggaeton changing over to Latin House around midnight and crossing back over every hour. The dance floor goes from crowded to packed around midnight as owner/manager/unofficial mayor of midtown Elizabeth, Edwin Gomez, or "DJ Eddy G" as he's known, assumes control in the booth. Gomez keeps the crowd at a fever pitch with his calls to the "mujeres" and "hombres.
" When the music stops in the middle of a crowd favorite, the masses have no problem keeping the song going as a chorus sings the words a cappella. The crowd is further provoked with an air gun that showers the club with confetti and when the temperature gets too hot, a loud hissing sound heralds a fog that descends from the ceiling and envelops the dance floor. The fog is frozen CO2 and drops the temperature on the floor almost 20 degrees instantly.
The club has a different feel than most night clubs, in that VIP sections and service are readily available to anyone. Tables are available for groups of four or more and are $25 per person with anything over $100 going towards the tab. -- Dan DePasquale Bliss 955 Allwood Road, Clifton (973) 773-2110 Latin night Wednesdays 6 p.
m.
to 3 a.
m.
; 6 to 10 p.
m.
free hot buffet; 8 to 9 security p.
m.
free salsa lessons; 10 p.
m.
to 3 a.
m.
dancing with $10 cover charge.
Latin Wednesday at Bliss is the perfect way to celebrate hump day. Salsa, reggaeton and other tropical rhythms greet club-goers as you sweep through the dramatic entrance where blue LED lights point the way to the main bar area.Owners spent over a $1 million on the club, which opened eight months ago, and it shows.
The main bar area looks like a set piece from the "Blade Runner" movie. Bartenders serve half-price drinks ($3 to $6) under a blue, glowing halo. Mirrors line the walls; intimate leather couches are available for tired dancers to rest their feet and canoodle.
Against a silver curtain, a free hot buffet is open for happy hour. The salad, pasta, chicken and fried plantains are worth coming for. Arrive early for first dibs.The second half of the club holds the high-tech dance floor.
At the busiest times, expect 500 to 600 patrons to dance the night away. But from 8 to 9 p.m., the club has a more relaxed and intimate atmosphere when instructors from the Passaic School of Dance teach New York-style salsa.-- Sharon Adarlo Fernandes Night Club 164 Fleming Ave.
, Newark, (973) 344-7671 Thursday, free 9 p.m.-2 a.m.; Friday ($5; women free), 9 p.m.-3 a.m.; Saturday ($10) 9 p.m.-3 a.m.; Sunday, ($5; women free) cameras 9 p.m.-2 a.m.If you're looking to bailar toda la noche, Fernandes Night Club is well worth a trip into the deepest Ironbound. Live bands on a stage above the dance floor get the crowds moving.
At the end of each song, while band members banter with the audience, dancers drift back to the bar and to their tables. As soon as the first chord of the next song rings out, new couples surge onto the floor. During popular songs, the floor can become so tightly packed most won't notice if you don't know the steps.
Ages range from just-legal to grandparents, and everyone is prepared to get out on the floor. High heels and floaty skirts and dresses are uniform for women, while even the younger men wear button-down shirts and dress shoes. Lines at the night club's two Spanish-tiled bars are short as waiters weave through the evenly spaced tables littering a massive room, nearly three times the size of the dance floor.
Sangria and beer ($4), are the beverages of choice, with a few cocktails here and there. Parking, usually a challenge in the Ironbound, is a breeze with valet service in the club and restaurant lots. Arrive early to secure a spot and table. -- Tara Oliver Adega Lounge 132 Ferry St.
, Newark, (973) 589-8884 Sundays, 9 p.
m.
-2 a.
m.
; Wednesday-Saturday, 9 p.
m.
-3 a.
m.
No cover, except Sunday after 11 p.
m.
, $5 cover charge for men.
Sunday night is Latin Night at Adega Lounge. If the glass fountain comprising the front window and the narrow light-up dance floor flashing colors to the beat of the music don't say it, the scantily clad shooters girls will: This isn't your grandfather's night club.The space is long and narrow. Beer, $3.50, and cocktails flow; martinis, $5, are favored.
Bottle service is available for parties who wish to lounge in the intimate booths upholstered in dramatic prints without having to queue up at the bar.Adega attracts customers from all over the Garden State. They come dressed to kill and dance like they mean it.
Outrageous flirting is optional, but recommended. Parking is at a premium on Ferry Street, though spots are more readily available Sunday nights.-- Tara Oliver Bamboleo 201 Elizabeth Ave.
, Elizabeth (908) 353-0203 6 p.
m.
-2 a.
m.
(or thereabouts) Friday-Sunday; $15 cover charge.It's all about the dancing at Bamboleo.In a relaxed atmosphere with no dress code, people come here dressed up or in shorts and sports jerseys. Even if you don't dance merengue or bachata, you might find yourself in the middle of the dance floor winging the steps.
And if you still need to find courage to try any of these Latin dances, you might find it at the bar with Bamboleo's sporadic sangria specials. At any given time, they will sell pitchers of sangria for $15 and $20, but that deal could last only 15 minutes, so listen to the bartenders.In general, you will find people in their 20s at this bar, but it's not abnormal to find older patrons.
And don't let the outside of the bar deceive you -- it looks small, but the club extends far back, creating more than enough room to dance.-- Tara Fehr Lancers 459 Ferry St., Newark (973) 344-2662 Friday-Sunday, dinner service at 6 p.m., live band and dancing, 8 p.m. to 2:30 a.m.Driving down to the far end of Ferry Street, you'll see a glow rising above the dark shapes of shuttered businesses.
That would be the neon-decked building that holds Lancers, a venerable salsa club, where crowds of loose-hipped dancers congregate on weekend nights.The size and shape of a catering hall, glossed up with mirrored walls and a constellation of lights over the stage, Lancers is a Spanish restaurant early in the evening, one big enough to hold a fair-sized wedding. But by 10 p.m., when the live house band has really gotten warmed up, no one is eating -- they're too busy dancing.
Couples shaking to salsa, merengue and the occasional blast of reggaeton quickly fill up the dance floor, the nooks in front of the bars, the long aisles between the tables, the corners -- any space large enough for two pairs of feet.It's a friendly, all-ages crowd: Everyone from twenty-somethings in the latest painted-on nothings, to abuelas and abuelos in dressy-casual duds, show off their well-practiced moves. It's almost impossible not to get into the groove at Lancers; stand still on the periphery long enough, and you will be asked to dance.
Unless you come for dinner, there's no place to sit; the tables fill early in the evening. No matter -- leave your drink at the bar, no one will swipe it. In between handing out beers ($5) and pulling espressos, the cheerful bartenders happily offer to stow bags on a back shelf if
Cuba Libre Restaurant and Rum Bar Located at The Quarter in The Tropicana Casino and Resort, 2831 Boardwalk, Atlantic City (609) 348-6700 Mondays-Thursdays 11:30 a.m.-3 p.m. (lunch), 4 p.m.-11 p.m. (dinner); bar open until 2 a.m. Fridays-Sundays 11:30 a.m.-11 p.m. (lunch and dinner) with a late-night menu available through 1 a.m.; the bar is open to around 4 a.m.There's no better place to experience The Tropicana's Old Havana theme than Cuba Libre.
The two-story restaurant-nightclub is a centerpiece to the resort's entertainment and dining expansion, The Quarter, which opened in 2004. Sprawled over 12,000 square feet, Cuba Libre boasts 36-foot-high ceilings and two-story, three-dimensional facades that recreate the romance of pre-Castro Cuba.After the dinner-crowd splits, if you have the hots for Latin dancing, you've come to the right place.
Patrons can enjoy spectacular floor shows as well as salsa music and dancing spread out throughout the entire venue.Among the offerings at the main bar, hand-crafted in lush, dark antique wood, is the house's own Cuba Libre Premium Brand rum. In addition, Cuba Libre offers a diverse wine list and specialty cocktail menu.
The staff presses hundreds of pounds of fresh sugar cane weekly to extract the sugar cane juice known as guarapo, used to sweeten the bar's signature cocktail, the mojito.Upstairs at The Missile Bar, a tongue-in-cheek wink to the Cuban Missile Crisis, a life-size replica Soviet missile is mounted in the center of the bar. Take care of the bartender and he just might activate the launch sequence, firing up the rocket with smoke effects.
Dress to impress.
A strict dress code is enforced.
-- Anthony VenutoloCrystalsKing's Court Building, 525 Riverside Ave., Lyndhurst (973) 667-4443 Latin Nights Fridays 9 p.m.-2 a.m.; American Club Music Saturdays 8 p.m.-2 a.m. Crystals dance club looks like your typical hotel banquet area.
There are seating areas with tables and chairs, two bars, a lounge area, a DJ booth, a band stage and a dance floor with a large disco ball. Visually, it may not strike you as anything spectacular. The vibe of the place is reminiscent of attending a family party, minus the family.
What will strike you is what Crystals is known for -- the dancing. One look at the dance floor can be more than intimidating. The dancers are spectacular. If you feel a bit inexperienced and want to learn a few steps before hitting the dance floor, salsa lessons by Cultural Explosion are offered from 8-9 p.
m.
Fridays before the club opens for $15 a person. The crowd is mainly older and sophisticated, out for a night of dancing. Crystals is not the place for a quick pickup.
Cocktails range from $7-$9, security shots $5-$6, beers $3-$5 and bottle service is available. The food menu offers Buffalo shrimp, cheese or chicken quesidillas and a chicken Caesar salad ranging from $5-$13.Live entertainment changes every week, but the bands will play traditional and contemporary salsa, cumbia, merengue and bachata.
A DJ is on hand to play typical American Club music and reggaeton in between band sets. Reservations for birthdays and celebrations are available as well as the option of a separate banquet area. Latin Nights are free for ladies until 10:30 p.
m.
The cover charge ranges from $5-$15.
-- Yvonne Lardizabal Club CoCoBongo 429 N. Broad St., Elizabeth 07209 (908) 527-1928 www.clubcocobongo.com 10 p.m.-3 a.m. Thursdays-SundaysIf you don't know the words to "La Mento Boliviano," you might not be able to sing along with the crowd at the prescribed time -- but it won't keep you from having a great experience at Club CoCoBongo.Located in midtown Elizabeth, CoCoBongo is a high-energy, casual dance club that is sure to please even if you can't salsa.
Saturday night at Bongo is Latin crossover night with cameras a mix of merengue, bachata salsa, and reggaeton changing over to Latin House around midnight and crossing back over every hour. The dance floor goes from crowded to packed around midnight as owner/manager/unofficial mayor of midtown Elizabeth, Edwin Gomez, or "DJ Eddy G" as he's known, assumes control in the booth. Gomez keeps the crowd at a fever pitch with his calls to the "mujeres" and "hombres.
" When the music stops in the middle of a crowd favorite, the masses have no problem keeping the song going as a chorus sings the words a cappella. The crowd is further provoked with an air gun that showers the club with confetti and when the temperature gets too hot, a loud hissing sound heralds a fog that descends from the ceiling and envelops the dance floor. The fog is frozen CO2 and drops the temperature on the floor almost 20 degrees instantly.
The club has a different feel than most night clubs, in that VIP sections and service are readily available to anyone. Tables are available for groups of four or more and are $25 per person with anything over $100 going towards the tab. -- Dan DePasquale Bliss 955 Allwood Road, Clifton (973) 773-2110 Latin night Wednesdays 6 p.
m.
to 3 a.
m.
; 6 to 10 p.
m.
free hot buffet; 8 to 9 security p.
m.
free salsa lessons; 10 p.
m.
to 3 a.
m.
dancing with $10 cover charge.
Latin Wednesday at Bliss is the perfect way to celebrate hump day. Salsa, reggaeton and other tropical rhythms greet club-goers as you sweep through the dramatic entrance where blue LED lights point the way to the main bar area.Owners spent over a $1 million on the club, which opened eight months ago, and it shows.
The main bar area looks like a set piece from the "Blade Runner" movie. Bartenders serve half-price drinks ($3 to $6) under a blue, glowing halo. Mirrors line the walls; intimate leather couches are available for tired dancers to rest their feet and canoodle.
Against a silver curtain, a free hot buffet is open for happy hour. The salad, pasta, chicken and fried plantains are worth coming for. Arrive early for first dibs.The second half of the club holds the high-tech dance floor.
At the busiest times, expect 500 to 600 patrons to dance the night away. But from 8 to 9 p.m., the club has a more relaxed and intimate atmosphere when instructors from the Passaic School of Dance teach New York-style salsa.-- Sharon Adarlo Fernandes Night Club 164 Fleming Ave.
, Newark, (973) 344-7671 Thursday, free 9 p.m.-2 a.m.; Friday ($5; women free), 9 p.m.-3 a.m.; Saturday ($10) 9 p.m.-3 a.m.; Sunday, ($5; women free) cameras 9 p.m.-2 a.m.If you're looking to bailar toda la noche, Fernandes Night Club is well worth a trip into the deepest Ironbound. Live bands on a stage above the dance floor get the crowds moving.
At the end of each song, while band members banter with the audience, dancers drift back to the bar and to their tables. As soon as the first chord of the next song rings out, new couples surge onto the floor. During popular songs, the floor can become so tightly packed most won't notice if you don't know the steps.
Ages range from just-legal to grandparents, and everyone is prepared to get out on the floor. High heels and floaty skirts and dresses are uniform for women, while even the younger men wear button-down shirts and dress shoes. Lines at the night club's two Spanish-tiled bars are short as waiters weave through the evenly spaced tables littering a massive room, nearly three times the size of the dance floor.
Sangria and beer ($4), are the beverages of choice, with a few cocktails here and there. Parking, usually a challenge in the Ironbound, is a breeze with valet service in the club and restaurant lots. Arrive early to secure a spot and table. -- Tara Oliver Adega Lounge 132 Ferry St.
, Newark, (973) 589-8884 Sundays, 9 p.
m.
-2 a.
m.
; Wednesday-Saturday, 9 p.
m.
-3 a.
m.
No cover, except Sunday after 11 p.
m.
, $5 cover charge for men.
Sunday night is Latin Night at Adega Lounge. If the glass fountain comprising the front window and the narrow light-up dance floor flashing colors to the beat of the music don't say it, the scantily clad shooters girls will: This isn't your grandfather's night club.The space is long and narrow. Beer, $3.50, and cocktails flow; martinis, $5, are favored.
Bottle service is available for parties who wish to lounge in the intimate booths upholstered in dramatic prints without having to queue up at the bar.Adega attracts customers from all over the Garden State. They come dressed to kill and dance like they mean it.
Outrageous flirting is optional, but recommended. Parking is at a premium on Ferry Street, though spots are more readily available Sunday nights.-- Tara Oliver Bamboleo 201 Elizabeth Ave.
, Elizabeth (908) 353-0203 6 p.
m.
-2 a.
m.
(or thereabouts) Friday-Sunday; $15 cover charge.It's all about the dancing at Bamboleo.In a relaxed atmosphere with no dress code, people come here dressed up or in shorts and sports jerseys. Even if you don't dance merengue or bachata, you might find yourself in the middle of the dance floor winging the steps.
And if you still need to find courage to try any of these Latin dances, you might find it at the bar with Bamboleo's sporadic sangria specials. At any given time, they will sell pitchers of sangria for $15 and $20, but that deal could last only 15 minutes, so listen to the bartenders.In general, you will find people in their 20s at this bar, but it's not abnormal to find older patrons.
And don't let the outside of the bar deceive you -- it looks small, but the club extends far back, creating more than enough room to dance.-- Tara Fehr Lancers 459 Ferry St., Newark (973) 344-2662 Friday-Sunday, dinner service at 6 p.m., live band and dancing, 8 p.m. to 2:30 a.m.Driving down to the far end of Ferry Street, you'll see a glow rising above the dark shapes of shuttered businesses.
That would be the neon-decked building that holds Lancers, a venerable salsa club, where crowds of loose-hipped dancers congregate on weekend nights.The size and shape of a catering hall, glossed up with mirrored walls and a constellation of lights over the stage, Lancers is a Spanish restaurant early in the evening, one big enough to hold a fair-sized wedding. But by 10 p.m., when the live house band has really gotten warmed up, no one is eating -- they're too busy dancing.
Couples shaking to salsa, merengue and the occasional blast of reggaeton quickly fill up the dance floor, the nooks in front of the bars, the long aisles between the tables, the corners -- any space large enough for two pairs of feet.It's a friendly, all-ages crowd: Everyone from twenty-somethings in the latest painted-on nothings, to abuelas and abuelos in dressy-casual duds, show off their well-practiced moves. It's almost impossible not to get into the groove at Lancers; stand still on the periphery long enough, and you will be asked to dance.
Unless you come for dinner, there's no place to sit; the tables fill early in the evening. No matter -- leave your drink at the bar, no one will swipe it. In between handing out beers ($5) and pulling espressos, the cheerful bartenders happily offer to stow bags on a back shelf if
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