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St Maarten/St Martin |
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ISLAND
NEWS
Trip report:
We flew out on a 19F
morning, getting up at 6AM, shutting down the house, and leaving for the airport
by 8M. No problems through two plane changes and we arrived essentially on time
at 11:15. Add in in immigration, baggage claim, and car rental and we
got to Sapphire at about midnight. We give a large thank you to
Timothy Young who met us at the airport to deliver the car from Esperance Car Rental at that
late hour. Our experience in immigration is not much of an indication of what
Saturday timeshare-turnover will be like, but we moved swiftly. We had no
trouble getting the cat out of the US and into St Maarten. There are rules about bringing
in animals and getting them back home, but basically you have to get a bit of
paperwork that nobody ever looks at.
Petite Favorite: while wandering
around Grand Case, we happened upon this new building between Le Cottage and Le Maëva. It houses some of
the production from Perfect Ti
Pot and Gary, (a clay
artist), AIA
Massage, a clothing shop, and a restaurant. There is an artist's studio on
the second floor and usually someone is there making something. It certainly
provides an interesting diversion if one arrives early for dinner. We have a
lovely set of plates and a large platter from Celine at the Ti Pot and the unit
next to ours is decorated with many things from Gary.
Sailing: Neil on Celine has set up a charter on
the Saturday of the Heineken Regatta (5
March 2005). At $75 per person, it includes a complete day on the sea with all
food and drink. It is a long way off, but the island gets pretty crowded and the
charter boats fill up. If you want a front row seat for the action, go to Neil's
website, check out the regatta page, and send him an email
reservation.
Photo feature:
There are some new photos in a secret location not posted here. Subscribe to the newsletter to get the location. They featured views from Cliffhanger,
a view of a rainbow from our balcony (and the Orient Express construction
site), an iguana crossing the road, and some Camembert outlawed by the
US.
Driving: The middle of the afternoon has
been getting pretty difficult from Philipsburg through Simpson Bay. It took us
1.5 hours from Cost-U-Less to our home in Sapphire last week, most of it on the
hill out of Philipsburg because of the backup from the turnoff in Cole Bay. The
Cakehouse Road shortcut is now paved and one way from Philipsburg to Cole Bay,
but you still must fight your way to the bridge and there is only one. Our
advice, go to the beach early, have lunch, and stay late Bridge openings are now
Dutch side 9:00AM, 11:30AM, and 5:30PM, both ways and the French side 8:15AM,
2:30PM, 5:30 PM, both ways.
CONTEST
The contest for the $100 gift
certificate at Rainbow Cafe was won
by Donna Lott. The previous newsletter was a bit early
because I rather doubted that I'd be able to get my internet access
sorted out in one day. I actually drove to Philipsburg the day after we arrived,
paid CaribServe.net, and got a new CD worth of drivers for my new laptop and was
online later that afternoon. Nonetheless, I'm having issues with FTP access
to some of the websites so not all of them reflect the fact that that contest is
over and Chez Pat/Tropical Wave is sponsoring
the new contest, running from 16 December to 6 January. Just click their
name to go to their website, find the link to sign up for the SXM-Info
newsletter and contest, click it, sign up, and you are entered. Obviously
everybody that is getting this email is already signed up for the newsletter,
but you are not automatically signed up for the contest. You
really do have to go to their website and click the email link to show you
visited their site. Just tell me you are already on our mailing list, and I'll
leave you signed up for the newsletter and just add your name to the
contest list. The prize is $100 off a day at the beach: food, drinks,
chairs, windsurf lessons, etc.
Here is the list of future sponsors.
We urge you all to sign up ONCE for each contest. Our clients want you to see
what they have to offer. Go to their websites at the appropriate time, click the
link, and you could be a winner. Look for future gift certificates
from:
Marci's Mega Gym - 7 January to 27
January 2005 - a week of gym usage for two
California Restaurant - 28 January to 17 February 2005
Escargot
Restaurant - 18 February to 4 March 2005
Hot Tomatoes - 5 March to 26 March 2005
Hot Tomatoes - 5 March to 26 March 2005
The Horny Toad Guesthouse - 27 March to 24 April 2005 - seven low season days for
the price of five
Celine Pub Crawl - 25 April
to 5 June 2005 - two tickets on the Lagoon Pub Crawl
Escapade Restaurant - 6 June to
17 July 2005
WINE TASTING
We went to Vinissimo on
late on Wednesday and tasted some Bergerac Sec, Savennieres, and a 2001 Cote de
Beaune Villages, buying a mixed case for $158. they gave a 1.30 exchange rate
which is better than I can get from my credit card company. The Bergerac comes
from an area in the east of Bordeaux. Sylvain had found it this summer and
thought it was quite nice in a Semillon/sauvignon blanc way ($13). The
Savennieres comes from the Loire Valley between Anjou and Nantes ($11). The
Cotes de Beaune Villages comes from several villages in the hills to the east of
Beaune ($14).We found it to be a pretty good Burgundy for only $14. We
returned the next day for the regular Thursday tasting and went through too many
bottles to remember, but one was a $6 French merlot that was drinkable, quite an
accomplishment in a $6 wine. The two stars of the day were the Segla, the second
wine of Ch Rauzan Segla in Margaux and a Rivesaltes for dessert. The first
wines from Rauzan Segla sell for about $150 per bottle and the
seconds are quite good at a quarter the price. The Rivesaltes is an area on
the Med, almost to the Spanish border. Lots of sun and little rain makes for
grapes with lots of sugar, some of which is left over when the fermentation
ends, producing a sweet wine. Marina said that a major shipment of
Champagne has not made it to the island and the Christmas/New Year's celebration
may not be quite as merry. Don't forget that there is a regular wine tasting on
Thursdays with some cheese, pate, and bread. The website has a coupon good for
10% off and they deliver on case orders.
On Saturday we stopped at Magasin du Pont (US
Import) in Sandy Ground for our cheesy French comestibles. While I was buying
pates and ham, Martha spotted a round of Camembert from the Moulin de Carel. We
got some bread from the bakery next door and went home for a great lunch. We
checked in the Cheese
Primer by Steven Jenkins and found that he feels this is the
top Camembert. Unfortunately, it is made from raw milk and is near-impossible to
get in America, so come on down. It's worth the airfare. There is a photo of the
label with this week's SXM photos
RESTAURANTS
On 14 Dec the
euro was at 1.322 and today it's at 1.331, not much
happening and none of it good. French side restaurants with many costs in dollars and many American (or
Canadian) clients have been offering more favorable exchange rates. Some
restaurants offer a 1 to 1 exchange. We got that at California in
Grand Case on Friday and Escapade was offering the same. We
will let you know about other places as we find them. As always, know what the euro is worth, what the
restaurateur is offering for an exchange, and what the costs are on the menu.
Finally, you are here to have fun and fine food, not to do complex financial
calculations, so don't worry about it too much.
Changes: A
drive from Sapphire Beach
Club to Marigot revealed that La Plage in Nettle Bay has morphed into
Boucaniers. A bit further, La Dolce Vita, next to Mario's Bistro, has
closed. We had two very good meals there in it's short run. Roger's has become
Sandy's Barbecue Ranch and Chili's is now the Oasis. It's tough to run a
restaurant amongst the cheapest all-inclusive hotels on the island. Mario's Bistro, Layla's, and Thai
Garden have done it for may years and two newcomers from last year, Rocky's Ideal
Snack and Le Grand Muraille (The Great Wall) are still there.
A tour of Simpson Bay showed that Sitar was indeed gone
and Perroquet was still closed. The Stop and Shop/Yummie terrace across from the
airport has been demolished but Lal's next door, and Café Juliana are
still open, so you can get a cold one as you await your flight. Even
further, Philly Joe's Pizza was still open and even had it's name spelled
correctly this year. We bumped into Neil Rooney from Buccaneer and Pierre from
Pineapple Pete's while shopping at Cost-U-Less in Pburg. They seem to be doing
well. Spartaco in Almond Grove
has closed for renovations and a talk with Spartaco makes me feel that this may
be the rare restaurant that actually reopens after renovations. We hope
so.
Dining: We had lots of shopping to do and
headed for Philipsburg late on Wednesday morning. We got to Pondfill about 11:45
and found that Los
Gauchos was open for lunch. We had a rather tasty burger and a
rib-eye steak. The steak came with a variation on sauce chien (hot with onions,
oil, peppers) and chimmichurri, both good. They serve Argentine beef finished on
grass, not grain, so being lower in fat, it is not as juicy. Order it a bit
rarer than normal. With a couple of cold caribs added to the 15% service charge
and an additional 10% tip, the charge was $33.
We had dinner at Belle
Epoque on the Marigot Marina on Wednesday after a rather liquid
early evening at Vinissimo.
Next door, Chanteclair was not terribly full, but Belle Epoque filled up while
we were there. We were rather tired and wanted a simple meal. We ordered the
fish of the day, the pizza of the day, and the wine of the week. The prices were
quite good, portions were large, and the food was very good. The fish was from
the Med, a sarr, sart, or possibly a sare. The waiter spelled it two ways
and a man at an adjoining table spelled it another. The pronunciation would
be similar and they both agreed on the Med. A google search for "sarr fish"
turned up a Jacques Sarr, chef at a fish restaurant in Seattle, and a Ms Sarr
who is in the fish production ministry in Senegal. Even the Schmidt's Seafish seven language fish
translation page failed us. In any event, it was a rather firm-fleshed white
fish, crisped up on the grill with veg and pot. The pizza was a Landaise,
featuring duck breast, mushrooms, and honey on a tomato and cheese base. Seemed
weird to me but tasted great. I even resisted putting the hot oil on it as I
wished to savor the slightly sweet taste. They gave a 1.3 exchange rate and we
ended up quite satisfied for only $78 and had two slices of pizza for lunch the
next day. We have been going to Belle Epoque for about 10 years and feel it
can't be beat for good food at good prices. It's on the marina and the passersby
and waitstaff provide plenty to amuse you.
On Thursday we went to Montmartre for
a dinner close to home. We were still rather tired from all the running around
and still hadn't had enough sleep. We are most grateful for the resurrection of
the Atlantis Casino complex. There are several restaurants in various styles
there: Dino's Temptation, serving
Nouveau Caribbean, soon come his Dare Steakhouse, David Foini's upscale Italian
Gondola, Gille's
Casablanca, and
another pizza/Italian place. Montmartre is the French entry and is quite
authentic from waitstaff through the kitchen. Karen, the owner/manager is
English, but is married to Pascal who shows up almost every night after running
Sunset Cafe and checking on Auberge Gourmande, his two restaurants in Grand Case. Olivier is the head waiter,
possibly the best waiter on the island, and has trained the staff well. We were
feeling a bit better and stepped up to a good Burgundy, 97 Beaune Premier Cru
Champs Pimont. It's wonderful and now that it is seven years old, even better
than last year. It was fantastic with our very flavorful dinners: pigeon with
foie gras sauce that included a rather large slice of foie gras and a favorite
from last year, a capon leg stuffed with porcini and foie gras. Both dishes
included a medley of vegetables, at least a half dozen. Service was impeccable,
the wine was great, the food divine. Even the view is getting better as the
planting boxes are now full.
On Friday night we felt great and headed for Grand Case,
saying hello to Thibault at Bistrot
Caraibes and Olivier at Le
Cottage as we drove down to California.
Alain and ZuZu are from France and the food is from there also, especially the
buckwheat crepes made the old fashioned way, so you can ignore the name. We
ordered a bottle of Volnay Premier Cru Les Cailleret that was very nice and went
well with a first course of foie gras pate with toast points and Alain's
homemade mango and onion chutney. The foie gras was light as a feather and
melted in my mouth as the crunchy toast points and savory chutney added many
more sparkles of flavor and texture. Martha ordered mussels and I had a lotte
(monkfish). Both arrived in enormous boats over a foot long and three inches
high. A cross-thwart kept the lovely mussel broth of creamy garlic, onions, and
a hint of (cayenne?) pepper from swamping the hand cut frites. A similar
arrangement kept my lotte in a creamy curry sauce from mixing with my rice in
the next compartment. Both dishes were a very tasteful blend of textures
and flavors. The mussels ranged in size from peas to lima beans, quite small. It
was a bit of work to get them all out of their shells, but was well worth the
effort as they were the tenderest mussels I have ever had. This dish ranged in
texture from a velvety creamy garlic sauce through the tender mussels to the it
of crunch left in the onions. The hint of pepper showed itself as a final taste
and the fish dish held its own against a very formidable Volnay. Lotte, in
addition to being about the ugliest creature on the planet, is a bit chewy for a
white-fleshed fish. This was quite interesting in the curry sauce and again, the
red wine and the white fish were compatible given the flavors that Alain
brought to the table. It was a very good meal and as they were doing $1 for 1
euro, we paid only $118 (although about 40% was the wonderful wine).
On Monday we went to Bistrot Caraibes. As the first meal at
this fine place this season, we both had our usual: smoked salmon appetizer, sea
bass, and marmite of red snapper. The smoked salmon is still tender as ever with
a deep smoky flavor that is enhanced with a bit of lemon, strong,
crisp onions, capers, and toast points. We added a Rully from Joseph
Drouhin (40 euros) to the mix and had a range of flavors and
textures. The tender sea bass was fresh as could be and was surrounded by
three dollops of a very tasty tomato concoction, each sprouting a stalk of
asparagus. The marmite is a filet of red snapper in a stew laced with
saffron. While no actual mussels were spotted in the broth, we detected their
flavor. We had had a light lunch and were craving chocolate. There is no better
fix than the molten chocolate cake with coffee and a bit of Armagnac. The
bill for the food came to a bit under 80 euros. They had lowered their euro
prices a couple years ago and are using the real euro rate. Ever-helpful
Thibault and Amaury tried to solve the mysterious Sarr problem. they did not
know of the fish, their kitchen had never heard of it, and a book of
English/French culinary terms failed also. The mystery
remains.