San Diego\u2019s Mystery Caf\u00e9 is a downtown dinner theater that mixes one of the local\u2019s best-kept secrets with wit typically set aside for Warner Bros. studio lots. On the menu this month is “Shotgun Wedding Anniversary,” a recycled Mystery Cafe original that serves up slapstick comedy with a side of double-stuffed potatoes. Hosted at the Imperial House Continental Restaurant, the Mystery Caf\u00e9 performs two nights a week, leaving time for its actors to tackle day jobs at Legoland or SeaWorld. The steakhouse favorite has red leather booths and high-back chairs resembling classic days long forgotten, but it\u2019s the perfect place for “an interactive theater comedy show \u2026 with an emphasis on comedy,” said Bud Godown, owner of the San Diego Mystery Caf\u00e9 franchise. “We\u2019re a nice four-course meal with a fun comedy show.” The Mystery Caf\u00e9, located at 505 Kalmia St., has been performing since 1991, one of the longest-running Mystery Cafes in the country (it\u2019s a franchise out of Boston). Situated in the back of the restaurant, past the inescapable bar, with a placard all its own, the Mystery Caf\u00e9 is a vulgar-free, innuendo-rich entertainment experience. “There\u2019s nowhere else in town, in my opinion, that works to what we do,” Godown said. The show begins before you\u2019re even seated. Actors, already in character, act as maitre d\u2019, ushering guests to their tables before the first course is served. Ensembles include anything from a wedding dress to a white suit and neon-striped tie. The family-style meal is served inches away from the performance. “It\u2019s all playful humor. We kind of plot ourselves as Warner Bros. cartoons with a ton of innuendos,” said Godown, who first auditioned as an understudy and labels himself as today\u2019s producer\/ director and “chief bottle washer.” “Shotgun Wedding Anniversary” follows the anxious bride-to-be and her fianc\u00e9, but takes a turn when the groom, a wealthy aristocrat who is constantly berated by his family, is gunned down at the ceremony. Instantly, the plot turns into a “whodunnit” case, complete with a Sherlock Holmes, several more victims and one guilty guest. Diners aren\u2019t just members of the audience, but rather guests at the wedding and part of the show \u2014 a few vocal patrons are spotted out in the crowd early and get picked on for the rest of it. “There\u2019s a control factor that makes us different than other dinner theaters,” Godown said. “We get people involved without embarrassing them completely to where they have to act out the show.” Such is the case with “Shotgun Wedding Anniversary,” where actors make note of the audience and adjust their level accordingly. Ticket prices, depending on the day of the week, typically range from $49.50 to $59.50 each. For more information, call (619) 460-2200.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
San Diego\u2019s Mystery Caf\u00e9 is a downtown dinner theater that mixes one of the local\u2019s best-kept secrets with wit typically set aside for Warner Bros. studio lots. On the menu this month is “Shotgun Wedding Anniversary,” a recycled Mystery Cafe original that serves up slapstick comedy with a side of double-stuffed potatoes. Hosted at the […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11556","_seopress_titles_title":"Mystery Caf\u00e9 serves up marriages, murders and meals","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11549,11556,11593],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-294446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-downtown-news","category-no-images"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=294446"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294446\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=294446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=294446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=294446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}