DOMINO EFFECT

Posted on Feb 21, 2008 in News and Events | 0 comments

The Miami Herald

February 17, 2008

By JO WERNE Special to The Miami Herald

On Saturday afternoons Shirley and Mario Bello sit at a table near the door of their showroom and play dominoes.

They are entitled to a bit of recreation as they work all week hand-crafting domino tables. Mario builds the tables from pine, with either wood or metal legs that collapse so that the table can hang on the wall like a painting.

Shirley does the finishing, giving the tables the color of mahogany or maple and creating a one-of-a-kind decorative top with vintage posters, photographs or personalized labels. Other tabletops showcase the cigar-themed photography of Manny Iriarte.

The square tables measure 36 by 36 inches, 40 by 40 inches or 42½ by 42½ inches. An ashtray, which doubles as a drink holder, is incorporated into each corner. A “rack” for each player’s domino tiles is shaped like a long cigar.

“This started 2½ years ago,” recalls Mario, 54, who came to Miami at age 13 from the town of Jaruco in Havana Province. “We made an ashtray and took it to a cigar shop. The shop owner didn’t buy the ashtray, but he said he needed a domino table.”

Business at Mario’s five men’s formal-wear shops had fallen off drastically at the beginning of the Iraq war and he closed them. Luckily, he was always fixing and building things, so table-making was a natural.

Shirley, 48, born in New York City to Puerto Rican parents, also worked in retail and was handy with sewing and painting. The couple met in Miami with a ready-made family: Mario had two sons from a previous marriage and Shirley had two daughters.

For the first year and a half the couple made the domino tables in their Hialeah home, clearing out furniture as the project grew.

“It got to be too much,” Shirley remembers. “We had to have fans running all the time because of the polyurethane and the floors were ruined.” In November 2006, they leased space for their workshop and showroom in Hialeah Gardens.

They sell their tables ($200 to more than $800) at home shows around the state. Local clients include cigar/tobacco shops as well as banks, which give them to top employees.

Any game — Bridge, poker, Monopoly — can be played at a Bello table. A $895 table has a removable thick green felt top for poker.

While the map of Cuba is popular, other tables have Panamanian and Dominican Republic themes or palms swaying on a beach.

The El Cubanito Domino showroom has a distinct Cuban flavor. Surrounding Mario’s wood workshop is a replica of a bohio, the thatched roof hut that dots the Cuban countryside. Showroom walls sport a sky and palm mural painted by Mario’s son Orlando.

In addition to their game tables, the Bellos sell imported rustic cow-hide chairs called taburetes for $140 and $150 , and small tables ($99 with ashtrays, $75 without) that match the game tables. They also offer matching domino boxes for $20.

Not for sale is the first table — identified as “Mi Primera Mesa” — that Mario made.

The Bellos seem to have created a niche with their hand-crafted wood tables.

“We sold out at Christmas,” says Shirley, who explains the game as “matching the dots” until the winner uses up all his tiles.

“I always beat him,” she says of their Saturday afternoon games.

“She cheats,” Mario counters.

EL CUBANITO DOMINO

Where: 9500 NW 79th Ave., Suite 7, Hialeah Gardens Hours: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. Contact: 305-519-2104 or www.elcubanito domino.com

Caption:
A CUBA THEME: The tables have ashtray or cup holders and grooves to hold dominoes. Tabletops are decorated with vintage posters, photographs or personalized artwork.

PHOTOS BY ANDREW ULOZA/FOR THE MIAMI HERALD AT THE TABLE: Mario and Shirley Bello display their the domino tables in their Hialeah Gardens showroom. The table legs collapse so they can be hung on the wall.

Copyright (c) 2008 The Miami Herald

Record Number: 466651