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Douglas Rodriguez brings his new Cuban connection to Alma de Cuba

On June 17, he will be at his Rittenhouse restaurant to host a five-course meal based on his travels.

Fourteen years ago, chef Douglas Rodriguez drew up his Cuban heritage when he and Stephen Starr opened Alma de Cuba on Walnut Street.

Like most other American-born chefs, Rodriguez - by then dubbed the "Godfather of Nuevo Latino Cuisine" - had never been to the island.

Two years ago, with diplomatic relations thawing between Havana and Washington, Rodriguez made his first visit, part of a culinary tour. He came away impressed not so much with the cuisine but with the Cubans' resourcefulness. "Culinarily, it wasn't what I expected," he said.

He said he was blown away with the abundance of organic produce - because that's all they know - and the wealth of ingredients. He never realized, for example, that Cubans grow hearts of palm and use coconut oil. "We're so spoiled here," he said. There also is something to be said for the Cubans' Internet-less, laid-back life. "In Cuba, nobody has to stop to send a text and nobody has to write an email," he said.

Since that first trip, Rodriguez has been back six times, leading culinary explorers on tours; he plans two more trips this year alone.

On June 17, he will be at Alma de Cuba to host a five-course meal ($100 a head, plus tax and tip, 7 p.m. seating), based on his travels. (Menu is below.)

"I know for a fact that if the embargo would have been lifted, I would have been cooking a lot differently," he said by phone this week.

The lifting of the embargo will be a good thing, he said, cautioning nonetheless that while Americans will understand the value of Cuba's vegetables, "the Cuban people are going to end up with all the stuff that we produce, like McDonald's, Gap and Home Depot."