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St Maarten/St Martin |
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ISLAND NEWS
Weather and Beach report:
Saturday was lovely, a bit hazy, but very warm and sunny. Sunday was
more of the same until 3 PM. Monday morning was still overcast and drizzly.
Tuesday and Wednesday were windy, but warm and sunny for the most part. Thursday
was very hazy and totally overcast with drizzle at times, but also had some nice
sunny breaks as the trade winds pushed the clouds away. Friday was the same.
Saturday morning is looking much better.
Orient: We drove into Orient Park to get to
Bikini
Beach on Sunday. We caught some nice Jazz from Round da Pond
and a sample of Elisa's green tea. It is sweetened with fructose (fruit
sugar) which is sweeter than sucrose and has fewer calories. Black tea is
fermented before being heated and dried. Green tea skips the fermentation
process and is the favored tea in much of Asia. Both increase the body's
antioxidant level by up to 45% and are said to have antibacterial powers to
combat cavities and gum disease. It tastes pretty good and at 120 calories for a
half liter, it won't do too much damage to your waistline. We then along
the beach to Pirate Beach
Bar. It was crowded with parked cars but the "road" along the beach
isn't bad. BTW, there was more sand in the middle of Orient (the beach shacks
from Cool Corner to Pedro's)
than I have seen in years.
We then drove out the southern end past Club O and turned
toward the Butterfly Farm, Bayside Riding, and the defunct animal shelter, to
get to Chez
Pat. The road is passable, but no treat. We were amazed at how calm
it was on Galion Beach and how Windy it was at Orient. Finally, we headed out
and went up to the "highway". The part from the turnoff to Club O and the
highway is the worst. We made it to Paradise
View for a Mango Madness and watched the gray clouds cover the
beach. It had been a wonderful morning, but we could see clouds off to the NE
and with the wind coming from that direction, we knew it wouldn't last.
Dolphinarium: It looks as if it will get
approved. The government was given a petition against the affair with
few thousand signatures and as the Daily Herald has a policy of
printing almost any letter and press release they receive, there has been
at least one letter per day opposing it.
Construction: We have posted a feature on
construction on the island. there's lots of photos and lots of info on who is
building what, where. If you're interested, have a look.
Dutch Carnival: The carnival village opens
on 14 April and the grand final parade is on 2 March this year.
Regatta: 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. We start with a champagne
breakfast as we exit the lagoon on the 9:00 AM opening. Chicken and ribs will be
available for lunch. We return late in the afternoon after a great day on the
water among the boats. 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. As his email is frequently lost in cyberspace, I have included my
address there, and I see him frequently. Currently there are 18 confirmed
signups and four maybes for a trip that is being capped at 20 participants.
Jimmy Cliff is the headliner at Kimsha Beach this
year.
Photo feature:
This week's feature has a shot of the
new welcome signs that the Dutch side is putting up. There's another of Round da
Pond playing some nice jazz at Bikini
Beach on Sunday afternoons, a shot of St Barts from our table
at Chez Pat,
some photos from Grand Case
Beach Club, and a couple surprises at the end. The link only goes to subscribers.
CONTEST
Escargot
Restaurant is sponsoring the contest that runs from 18 February to
4 March 2005, giving $100 toward a dinner
for two. Just click their name to go to their website,
find the contest code and the link to our new signup form, fill
it out, click send, 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.
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:
Hot Tomatoes - 5 March to 26 March 2005 - $100 gift certificate for two
Hot Tomatoes - 5 March to 26 March 2005 - $100 gift certificate for two
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 -
$100 gift certificate for two
Villas in Paradise - 18
July to 24 August 2005 - $100 gift certificate for two
Thai Garden - 25 August to 30 September 2005 - $100 gift certificate for two
Thai Garden - 25 August to 30 September 2005 - $100 gift certificate for two
WINE TASTING
We went to the Thursday wine tasting at Vinissimo and met some very interesting
people: a couple from Alabama who had flown their own plane onto the island and
a couple from South Africa who had sailed over. They were telling us
the woes of passing through customs and immigration with your own vessel. Those
of us who arrive on regular aircraft don't know how lucky we are. We got
there late and finished the last mouthfuls of a lovely 2002 St Veran "les
pommards" Domaine Denogent (20) that rivalled the
Chassagne-Montrachet from Guy Amiot (25) that we had next. St Veran
is usually much crisper and does not approach the buttery roundness of a
Burgundy from further north. The red wines were a Burgundy from Bruno Clair and
a 2002 Chateauneuf-du-Pape from Saint Benoit that we liked very much,
moreso than the Burgundy - very strange for us. La Moutete rose Cotes de
Provence (around 7) is on many wine lists at very good prices. We can now report
that it is pretty good. 2001 Chateau Bouscasse Madiran from Alain Brumont,
2001 Fiefs de Lagrange St Julien, and 2003 Chateau Gombaud petit bordeaux were
also available for tasting. All prices are in euros and they use a real exchange
rate.
RESTAURANTS
On 19 Feb the euro was at
1.307 and today it is at 1.320. 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 Escapade, Bikini
Beach, Restaurant du
Soleil, California,
Auberge
Gourmande, and La Marine. We
noticed Rainbow
Cafe, Balaou, Santal,
Sebastiano, and Marlin's Cafe were offering the same. Note that some only offer
this rate for cash. 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.
Dining: It certainly looks as if Bombay
Brasserie is no longer with us and it is beginning to look as if Au
Bout la Bas's reincarnation as Senses Garden isn't going to work out. There's a
new island restaurant a couple doors down from Vinissimo. It's called 'D Caribbean. Looks
nice, certainly several steps up from a lolo with table cloths, nice glassware,
etc. The February issue of Bon Apetit has a Caribbean Update that features Temptation, Montmartre Restaurant, and the Hidden
Forest Cafe were mentioned.
On Sunday we spent a lovely afternoon at Restaurant du
Soleil on the water in Grand Case. It was a lovely morning and
early afternoon and the sky and water could not have been more beautiful. Check
out the photos on the site, but you can see the clouds coming in from the NE. We
had a Caesar salad to start and moved on to a lobster bisque in the style of
island fish soup and a fillet of grouper with veg and dirty rice. The lobster
bisque was rather thick and came croutons, grated gruyere, and a garlicky
rouille - quite nice. The grouper was fresh as could be and the dusting of cumin
was an added attraction. There was also a reduction sauce of red wine and
caramel that was very tasty. It was surprisingly busy, but Cedric's service was
superb. Our lunch cost 58 euros, and as they are doing one to one on the
exchange, we had a rather inexpensive lunch given the quality and
view.
On Monday night we visited an old
friend for the first time in a few years: Bistro Nu. When I first saw their sign
about a dozen years ago, I thought that it was a naked bistro, possibly like
Papagayos nude restaurant at the Orient Resort, or possibly an adult club in the
mold of Platinum Room. I read a bit more and
found out that it was a restaurant that served good food, cheap, and late into
the night, attracting other chefs who had finally taken off their aprons for the
evening. Chefs without aprons are not nearly as exciting as people without
clothes, but they ought to know something about food. And indeed they did. The
menu has three pages of traditional, old-fashioned French bistro cuisine and
another page of Creole food. The blackboard has about 25 more aps and main
courses every night. The physical plant suffered a bit in Luis and Lenny and has
subsequently been redone quite nicely. It's still small, but the roof is now
higher and the street has been blocked off allowing them to place additional
tables outside. They are on a side street running back toward the water from Rue
du Hollande on the back side of Marigot near the stadium. Unless something is
going on at the stadium, there is always parking available there. We ordered
water and a Cotes du Rhone Villages from Jaboulet. It turns out this villages
was Beaumes de Venise, an area noted for its sweet white wines, but they are now
making a very good red, especially Jaboulet. Martha had the pig's feet terrine
(7 euros) and I had the sweetbreads and scallop salad to start (11 euros). The
sweetbreads were crispy, the scallops were tender, the tomatoes were good, and
the dressing was delicious. The terrine turned out not to be slices, but the
entire terrine, small, but still about two inches by four inches. A couple
slices had been removed and placed on a bit of salad, some cornichons were
piled nearby, and a small bowl of vinaigrette with chives stood by. Martha
really likes this dish and became very hungry while reading the menu - Bistro Nu
will do that to us. However, there was so much here that I had to help her on
the appetizer course! Our dinners were a veal stew and kidneys. The veal stew
came with a bowl of rice and a bowl of tender veal in a cream sauce. Rather
plain with white and tan colors and no veg in sight, but very tasty. The kidneys
were also large in that it was the entire lobe grilled and salted, with some
broccoli, carrots, a sweet potato puree, and a very tender artichoke heart.
It's not fine materials and cutting edge sauces, but it is hearty food, lots of
it, prepared well, and served inexpensively (a bit over $100 for two aps, two
entrees, and our $33 wine plus water).
We had a very fine dinner at Temptation
on Tuesday night. We dined outside, as requested, surrounded by water
walls, but the music of the piano player was piped in, softly. This is the
height of high season, and by 8:30, every seat in the house was taken. Dino
Jagtiani, the chef and owner, has always offered the most extensive selection of
American wines on the island, and we chose a 2000 Villa Mount Eden Grand Reserve
Pinot Noir ($58) from his recently expanded wine list. American pinot noirs
are typically weightier than their French counterparts in the same price range,
and this was no exception. (Some would say they just lack finesse, but
that's not always true.) It married very well with our main course
selections from Dino's menu. While we waited for our first course, our waiter
brought a basket of exceptionally good and varied bread to accompany a dish of
olive oil and mild tapenade. We started with an order of Mussel
Shooters with Wakame, Spicy Tomato, and Coconut Curry ($15), new since our last
visit. On Dino's recommendation, we had glasses of Rockwell Sauvignon Blanc
with the mussels- very nice, especially with the mussels. Each tempura
mussel is presented on the half shell with layers of flavorful toppings. We
liked them very much, and Dino later admitted that he eats a lot of them
himself. Rick chose a duo of venison and lamb loin chops with
boursin soft polenta and peppercorn red wine sauce ($35). The meat was
superb, and well supported by the unctuous polenta and the peppery bite of the
sauce. Martha was very enthusiastic about the tandoori duck breast with
coconut chutney, vegetable biriani, and sweet tamarind sauce ($29). The
duck was flavored--and colored--with traditional tandoori spices, roasted a
tender pink, topped with the chutney, and presented on the
vegetable rice. The sweet-tart tamarind sauce was a lovely contrast to the
complex herb and spice flavors of the duck and rice. We finished with
excellent coffee, a tiny glass of wonderful Grappa di Dolcetto, and a tour
of the new facilities for Rare, Dino's new steakhouse, opening
in April (?).
Dino is using the Greg Spann, the same designer he used for
Temptation, and the location will be the space across the courtyard previously
occupied by Sitar. In fact, one of Sitar's old chefs is responsible for the
tandoori duck that we had just eaten. Greg is producing a curvilinear design for
Rare, contrasting with Temptation's rectilinear solidity. The dining
room is all curved walls and there will be a bit of a peek into the grill
area of the kitchen via a circular opening. Carpet, rather than tile, will
further soften the image. The menu will be the standard steakhouse
menu featuring Certified Angus Prime Beef and all the usual sides and sauces,
but with Dino, that is just the start. The mashed potatoes will come truffled,
boursined, or wasabied. You can get regular russet hand-cut fries, shoestring
fries, or sweet potato fries. So much for standard! While we generally share
Anthony Bourdain's disgust for chefs who go "Bam!" (as mentioned in his Kitchen
Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly), we do like food that
goes "Bam!". Dino's food goes "BAM!"
Dino, Cecile from Chanteclair, Mario from Mario's Bistro, and probably John Jackson from Saratoga will be representing the island in a Caribbean-wide cooking competition to be held in Miami this fall.
We keep trying to go snorkeling at Creole rock with Sebby
from the activites
desk at Grand
Case Beach Club, but the weather was not cooperating. We saw intermittent
sun and quite a bit of wind as we had a lovely lunch at Sunset Café.
When the mussels are running (Wednesday to Saturday, depending on supply) the
moules in white wine are fantastic. They are fresh and good sized. The sauce has
wine and cream and lots of pepper plus onions that have a bit of crunch left in
them. We had a choice of salad or frites. The national dish of Belgium is moules
frites, and while my ancestors left Belgium for England in 1066 (not exactly
invited guests), I still feel that frites are preferable to salad, especially
when they are small, deeply crisped, and loaded with salt. If the food police
are reading this, please note that I skipped the mayo. Martha had a shrimp and
marinated tuna salad in a phyllo basket. The tuna turned out something like a
ceviche. She liked it so much that I only got the smallest taste. Bouchard's
non-vintage white burgundy at only 17 euros was perfect for a light lunch on a
beautiful deck overlooking Creole Rock, Anguilla, and, if you get the end table
or two, Molly Smith Point at the other end of Grand Case Bay!
On Friday night we went to Saint
Severin on the back side of Marigot. A cargo plane arrives from
France with fresh fish at about 5 PM on Wednesday and fresh seafood appears on
all menus on Thursday evening. Several places feature it with special seafood
menus for the weekend (check the website). We went with another couple and they
started with mussels in white wine, very similar to the ones I had the day
before, and then had fresh sole. The kitchen happily split both orders. Martha
and I split a tuna tartare that was fresh and quite tasty with its mix of herbs.
She then had a squid and pequeno peppers stuffed with crab meat, rice, and
tasty spices. I had the other seafood extravaganza, only avalable on Friday:
Zarzuela, a major bowl of mixed seafood in a tomato based sauce. It contained
shrimp, rockfish, mussels, squid, and a half lobster tail. All good and all more
than I should have eaten. We had two bottles of Cotes du Nuit Burgundy and the
bill came to $200 for four, largely because of a 1.1 to 1 exchange. On Thursday
night it gets very busy and noisy as the locals (both French and Dutch) show up
en masse, by Friday things have calmed down a bit but it was still packed at
some point.
If you like Creole food, there was an interesting article in
the NY
Times recently on New Orleans. You may have to register with them, but
it is free.
BARGAINS
Look on the SXM-Restaurants website for a list
of all restaurants that have coupons
for some freebie or discount. There are several coupons there to make your
vacation a bit cheaper.
L'Esperance Hotel
in Philipsburg is bargain at $75 per night for a 1BR suite
with a kitchen. It's not on the water, but they have a pool.
Turquoise
Shell Residence in Simpson Bay is bargain at
$700 per week for a 1BR suite with a kitchen, all taxes and service included.
It's across the street from the water and they have a pool. Make a reservation
and get a $50 coupon to Ama Jewelers and a $25 coupon to Hot
Tomatoes.
The Banana
Cabana, a one bedroom studio on
the lagoon in Cupecoy, is only $695 for the week all taxes and service
included.
California has two apartments for rent that are right on the water in Grand Case.
The one bedroom, sleeps four, is $750 and the two bedroom, sleeps six, maybe
more, is $1100 for the week. They have just added a villa next door on the
beach, three bedrooms, great views, at only $2800 per week.
Sandy Molloy at Molloy Travel
says that she has negotiated a great deal at Alamanda and has can't beat rates
at Le Petit, L'Esplanade, Maho, and La Plantation. If you like great food, Le
Petit and L'Esplanade are the two bookends on Grand Case's restaurant row. Maho
is in the thick of the action in Simpson Bay and if you're part of the birthday
suit crowd, La Plantation is a lovely place within walking distance of Orient
beach. I've never been in Alamanda, but it's even closer to Orient Beach.
Regards,
Erich S. Kranz
Erich S. Kranz
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SXM-Info newsletter 26 Feb 2005
SXM-Info newsletter 26 Feb 2005