Saturday night’s dinner at Crave was excellent. We went early, and were able to find a parking place along the road across the street from the restaurant. We were greeted by a very friendly young lady and chose to sit outdoors. Even though the outdoor seating area is right on Welfare Road, they have bordered it with potted palms, and you hardly know the traffic is there, unless of course, someone blows a horn. We ordered cocktails, and they were presented with a complimentary hummus appetizer, which was creamy and delicious. The cocktails were also quite good; David’s Cappuccino Martini had an orangey flavor, and my Morrocan was filled with fresh ginger and lime. We then decided to try the Eggplant Dip appetizer; about the time we ordered that the winds kicked up big time, and we decided to move inside. The ambiance outdoors is definitely better than indoors, but we were concerned that a shower might develop, and it was too windy for the awnings to be rolled out. The eggplant dip was fabulous; it was obvious that the eggplant and tomato had been cooked for a very long time, as the flavors were quite concentrated. Both the hummus and the dip were served with just the right number of fresh pita wedges, as both dip and bread ran out at the same time. We then ordered entrees, I had the Gheyma-Polo, which is a delicious stew filled with chunks of tender beef in a flavorful sauce. David’s Aaloo-Polo was a chicken stew flavored with plums and apricots. Both were served with basmati rice and a tomato and cucumber salad. While we were enjoying our entrees, a nice gentleman (the owner, perhaps?) came by and suggested that we combine all three items, stew, rice, and salad, into one bite. We followed his suggestion and the flavors of each were enhanced. We both enjoyed our meals very much, and will definitely return.
Saturday was a Kakao day, and for our lunch we were happy to learn that they had fresh fish. The whole sea bass was stuffed with garlic and fresh herbs before being grilled to perfection. These were then presented whole, filleted tableside, and served with saffron rice, assorted vegetables, and a delicious lemony burre blanc. Accompanied by a bottle of delicious Sancerre it made a fabulous lunch. Complimentary shots of banana vanilla Ma DouDou ended the perfect meal.
After lunch we took a walk up to Club O, and arrived in time for happy hour at the Perch. It seemed appropriate that we have a BBC for dessert, so we did. David noticed a guy across the way wearing a UNC hat..this will be important later.
The winds have really picked up. Kite surfers abound, and it’s fun to watch them zipping across the water, many times getting lots of air and performing tricks. Of course, there are also some crashes involved. On Saturday there’s a sailing school, and the little ones really know how to handle those cats.
Saturday evening we walked down to Buccaneer Beach Bar to enjoy Ronny and Amin. We had not heard them play together before, and it is a real treat. We met Bill and Elaine there, and later Dave, Adrianna, and Tequila arrived. Tequila is really growing, and he’s such a well-behaved little puppy.
We enjoyed listening to the music and even danced a little (a cha-cha, Joyce), and shared a Pirate Pizza, and nice conversation with the Millers. As the evening wore on a group of folks appeared at the bar, and David recognized the hat from the Perch. This resulted in a nice conversation with fellow North Carolinians.
Sunday dawned cloudy and breezy, with a rain shower as I was having my morning coffee on the balcony. The weather looked kind of iffy, but around 9 it cleared up. I was able to talk David into a second Kakao day in a row because Wind Guru is forecasting strengthening winds later in the week.
After arriving, settling into our chairs, and taking our morning walk, we noticed that a sailboard race was in progress. We picked our favorite (the blonde guy with the orange circle on the top of his sail), and cheered him on. Of course he won, at least we think he did. It’s hard to know as they all just kept going around and around! Another short walk and more chair time, and it was time for lunch.
Today’s specials were Osso Bucco and a filet with chanterelle mushrooms. David chose the veal, and I the filet, and both were perfect. My steak was served perfectly medium rare, and accompanied by deliciously creamy potatoes au gratin, nicely seasoned red cabbage, a zucchini round stuffed with a savory mousse (either sweet potato or winter squash), sautéed fennel, and a small broiled tomato topped with herbs. The chanterelles were simply sautéed in butter, and added such nice flavor to the steak. David’s Osso Bucco was served with a generous portion of tagliatelle to sop up the delicious sauce. Our meals were accompanied by a bottle of a nice red wine suggested by our waiter, which of course, I can’t remember the name of now. Are you noticing a trend here?
At the end of the meal, our waiter presented the traditional flavored rum digestif. This one, however, was different. It was his brother’s (also a waiter at Kakao) recipe, and he wanted our opinion. It was flavored with mint and a little lemon, and it was just delicious; much less sweet than many of the flavored rums. I sure hope it becomes a regular offering there!
After lunch, we took our walk, stopping to watch some kids skim-boarding in the area between Waikiki and Coco. Sundays have such a different vibe on Orient, and we really enjoy it.
As usual, we were too stuffed from lunch to eat much dinner, so we just munched on cheese and played cards on the balcony until bedtime.
We had already decided that Monday would be a day at home. Usually we go our for breakfast on home days, but David’s not a big breakfast eater and wasn’t in the mood, so I foraged around and came up with bloody marys and jalapeno potato chips for breakfast. Actually not bad….We took a walk around the beach, and when we got back the pool area was already starting to fill up, so I opted to read on the balcony. Lunch was the typical cheese, crackers, and fruit with a glass of wine, followed by more reading. Mid afternoon I got a sweet tooth, so we headed out to the Carousel for some ice cream. I had a scoop of their lemon gelato, and David got the Baileys; both were delicious. It was our first time there, and it’s definitely a nice addition to the area. There was a group of school children coming in as we left; I guess a field trip of sorts. They were quite excited!
Leaving there we headed to the Taste Factory for some sweets for later. I got a meringue cookie and David a slice of a cream filled pie; sort of like a Boston Cream Pie, but lighter and without the chocolate.
I decided I wanted Thai for dinner and were going to Panlaan, but found they are closed on Mondays. After that we couldn’t find the energy to leave the room so David ate my leftovers from Crave and I found some macaroni in the pantry.
Tuesday morning was windy and cloudy, with rain coming and going in the early morning. Around 10 we headed to Tahoma. This is a really nice setting; the entry into the restaurant and beach has been nicely landscaped, and there’s adequate parking in front of the place. We were greeted by the beach boys as we walked though; it was early and they were still setting up. It was extremely windy, even on Simpson Bay beach which is usually calmer on windy days. We had a nice walk along the beach, finding a fair amount of sea glass for the first time this trip. I guess the swells had brought it in. The sand at Beachside Villas is coming back, but the waves were crashing on the foundation and made it hard to walk past, but we managed without getting too wet. After settling into our chairs, we enjoyed a frozen drink made with vodka, lemon, and mint…kind of like a Mojito, but not. It had a name, but the waiter’s French accent was pretty strong and I didn’t catch it. Shortly after, Patty (Sungoddess) joined us, and a little later Wendy (WendyK) arrived for our lunch date. Wendy had just returned from Italy, and I wanted to pick her brain in preparation for our upcoming trip.
We were seated at a nice table in the covered restaurant area, complete with fairly large iguanas wandering around on the floor. The waiters and beach boys are one in the same, and the menu is presented on a blackboard; David and Wendy chose the Thai beef salad, and Patty and I the Warm Goat Cheese Salad. Both David and Wendy said their salad was “just OK”. The goat cheese salad was quite good, with the cheese melting on crisp toast and drizzled with a fig vinaigrette. The greens were relatively crisp, and there were thinly sliced mushrooms and warm bacon throughout. Three of us shared a bottle of Pinot Grigio, and the meal was followed by a complimentary shot of vodka with passion fruit, which was quite tasty.
The conversation flowed freely, and before we knew it, it was well after three and time to head home before the traffic got so bad that we were stuck there!
While we were trying to decide between L’Artisinal and Panlaan for dinner, we had a message from Elaine suggesting happy hour at The Palms, so we showered and prepared to head there. Before we could leave, the phone rang, and Bill and Elaine were stuck in traffic at the end of the runway and were turning around. Unable to decide where to eat, we punted, and made Clean out the Fridge and Pantry Pasta. Not bad at all. However, I won’t buy a baguette from Peli-Deli again….pretty tasteless.
While I was cooking David ran to Piece of Cake and picked up a piece of tirimasu and a black forest cake, which we shared for dessert. Both were delicious.
Wednesday morning it’s pretty windy again, and our plan is to go to Karakter. After breakfast in the room we headed over there around 10. When we arrived a huge bus was backing out of the road behind Mary’s Boon. WHAT?? After parking and getting to the beach we found the reason: there was a wedding on the beach in front of Mary’s Boon. We found our chairs and took our walk, and there were three other weddings setting up on the beach in front of various places. It being 12/12/12, there were fourteen local weddings on the island, according to the newspaper. I’m not sure how happy the brides were with their choice of date, as it was extremely windy on the beach.
After our walk we settled into our chairs and ordered a couple of the drink of the day, a frozen watermelon colada. It’s the first drink at Karakter that I haven’t been impressed with; it just didn’t have much flavor at all. Oh well, at least it was cold and refreshing, because in spite of the strong wind it was very hot on the beach. There were a few extremely strong gusts that performed exfoliation treatments and left us coated with sand, but between those it was just windy.
As we headed up for lunch, we saw Jeannie and Marty. Marty had just lost a close friend, and Jeannie, being the good friend that she is, got Marty to go out for lunch. Everyone should have a friend like that!
For lunch we found a table protected from the wind by a short wall, and ordered the Taste for Two, which was even better than the first time we had it this trip. The restaurant was nearly full, and the service a little disjointed, but heck, we’re in Paradise! While we were enjoying our pre-meal frozen vodka lemonades, Patty walked in, and after working the room joined us for a while before she headed down to the beach.
After lunch we spent another hour or so lazing on the beach (the wind had died considerably and the sandblasting had stopped), before we headed back to the barn around 3:30.
We had won a gift certificate to L’Artisinal (formerly Spicy) at the ILMID benefit, and chose to use it Wednesday evening. We left LVB around 6:40 and encountered absolutely no traffic anywhere on our way to Grand Case. I didn’t look at the clock when we arrived, but I’ll bet it didn’t take us 20 minutes to get there! The free lot was full; there was a soccer game taking place in the field behind the lot. We drove up to the pay lot and there were very few cars in there.
L’Artisinal (I think I’ll always call it Spicy) was empty when we arrived, and unfortunately remained empty except for us the entire time we were there. Sophie is her ebullient self, and looks wonderful. She presented the specials board, and we didn’t even bother to open the menu.
We chose a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc to accompany our meals, and Sophie presented an amuse bouche; a warm carrot soup topped with pickled ginger and scallions. It was quite tasty and just the thing to get our appetites working.
I ordered the seafood risotto: mussels, clams, shrimp, and scallops over a delicious Cajun-seasoned risotto. Those of you who know me know that I consider my risotto to be pretty good, and I rarely order it in a restaurant because it’s usually dry and overcooked. This was certainly not the case at Spicy; the risotto was so creamy and delicious, and the rice was perfectly al dente. The seafood was plentiful and perfectly cooked as well.
David also ordered a risotto dish; his was shrimps and scallops with a mushroom risotto. When he said the mushroom risotto tasted like mine, I had to try it, and he was wrong…it was better than mine!
We both cleaned our plates; David even wiped up his sauce with the delicious home-baked rolls. Sophie had stepped outside to speak to some folks outside the restaurant, so Olivier cleared our plates, and we talked about how he made his risotto so delicious. You can see his passion for cooking in how he talks about what he does.
We decided on the homemade tiramisu for dessert, and a couple of espressos. After that, instead of the usual rum shot, Sophie presented two flutes of rose Champagne, which were crisp, light, and delicious.
We had not been to Spicy for several years, and I’m so glad that we won that certificate which got us back in there. The restaurant’s décor is really lovely, Sophie is a delight, and the food is fabulous. But we were the only people there the entire night. As we drove down the road we looked into the other restaurants, and pretty much every one had at least four or five tables occupied; some were almost full. I think their location hurts them, as it’s down closer to the public lot, and many people take that road at the middle of Grand Case to enter the area, and may not even know the restaurant is there. So…please go!
Thursday is a Kakao day, I hope. As I write this it’s so windy on our balcony that I can’t sit out there.
So we did end up at Kakao on Thursday, and the wind was pretty strong for most of the day, but not as bad as it had been on Wednesday. As long as the sand isn’t blowing I can deal with it, but my sunglasses stayed covered with salt spray all morning. The kite surfers certainly do enjoy the wind, though!
The beach was pretty crowded, with cruise tours as well as folks who just took a taxi over from their ship, but it was a civil crowd for the most part. We went in for lunch around 1 and since the special didn’t appeal to us, we shared an endive salad and pizza especiale. As I’ve described these before, I won’t repeat that, except to say that they were both delicious as always. We ordered our usual Irresistible Rose, and our waiter told us about a new rose that they now have, and that he likes better, so we tried that. It was a really interesting bottle, with a clear plastic “foil”, and a glass stopper in place of a cork. The wine was definitely tasty, a little drier than the Irresistible, which is perfect for our taste.
As we were enjoying our pizza, David said, “I think I know that guy.” This wasn’t particularly surprising, as we know a fair number of people on the island, but this guy was from home! They had worked together for many years before David retired, and he and his wife were on the island during a cruise stop. Unfortunately their bus was leaving at that moment, so we weren’t able to spend any time talking, but they love SXM and have lots of questions about a longer visit.
After lunch we took our usual walk, but stopped short of Pedro’s due to the crowds and beach erosion. The afternoon was so beautiful with the diminished winds that it was hard to leave the beach. The cute little French girl with the beaded anklets was there, and I bought another one before we left. Traffic was heavy on the way home; it took nearly an hour; we never did figure out why.
We decided to spend the evening at home; I tried to see some meteors, but without success. David did see one.
Friday is our last full day, so of course, it’s Kakao. The weather was absolutely perfect; bright and sunny, not a cloud in the sky, and a gentle breeze to keep it from being too hot. In celebration I had a rum runner on the beach after our walk, and then a bloody mary at GP’s bar for breakfast. David and I sat there chatting with GP for a while before we headed back to the beach. Around one we decided it was time for lunch and headed up to table five, which is now “our table”. It’s a nice table with chairs instead of benches, right on the point overlooking the beach. We decided on the special, which was grilled triggerfish filets with a basil burre blanc, saffron rice, and assorted vegetables. The fish was perfectly grilled: it had a nice smoky flavor from the grill but was still moist and tender. Again a bottle of their delicious Sancerre was the perfect accompaniment for the fish.
After lunch we walked up to Club O to find David and Pauline (Modi), which was easy to do with their Maine flag in front of their chairs. We had a nice time chatting with them, and their new friends who were also from North Carolina.
We then spent another hour or so on the beach until we reluctantly headed for home. For dinner we reheated some leftover pasta, and with a couple of glasses of Sauvignon Blanc and a little dark chocolate for dessert, it was perfect.
We watched the news for a while, with the horrific murders at the school in Newtown Connecticut of course being the only story. What a sad and terrible tragedy. After a while I couldn’t take that any more, so I went into the bedroom to read, where I promptly fell asleep by nine.
Saturday morning I enjoyed my last coffee on the balcony, watching cruise ships sail by in the dawn. After packing and checking out, we returned our phone to Sharon’s store. I was hoping to see her, but she wasn’t in. We rode around for a while, more to kill time than anything else, and got a croissant and a drink at the Zee Best location on airport. By then it was late enough to drop off the car and head to the airport…and here I am, sitting in the Souliga Lounge, writing the last of my trip report and sipping on a glass of wine.
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