As has become our pattern these days at Beachside Villas, this time we almost never went out to breakfast or lunch, and had several dinners ‘in’ at home at Beachside. This is not from any conscious effort to save money or anything else, but merely a function of how ‘at home’ we feel there and particularly during the day, if we didn’t have an appointment or if we didn’t have to go to the grocery store <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />, we spent our days at Beachside Villas. Looking at this beach




…and with our own fridge and grill and drinks right there, on what we think is the best beach on the island, why go anywhere else???

So, for some details—

We brought a few things from home, in a mini-soft-sided cooler that fit inside our carry on bag, but we also spent a ton of money at Le Grand Marche , usually the one by Mark’s, which is our favorite, even though the one in Cole Bay is now quite a bit faster to get to over the Causeway from Beachside.


We also bought wine a couple of times at the Gourmet Grand Marche in Simpson Bay and our first night we bought some wine and cheese at the Maho Market , since we arrived at 9:30 on a Sunday night. We bought our wheel of gouda to take home with us at Cost U Less. We don’t do much elaborate cooking on island, but we do a TON of grilling. On island, we bought hamburgers, chicken and steak kabobs, and ribs, which you have already seen here!




Everything we bought in terms of meat on island was good quality. We bought a standing beef rib roast, which was substantially more than here in Florida, but it was for our Christmas dinner and was really a wonderful piece of meat. Probably the most crowded conditions we saw anywhere on island during our trip was at Grand Marche and at Cost U Less on Christmas Eve. Both stores were packed, of course! We left the GM about noon and our cashier said the night before they had been open until midnight, and expected to be open well past their anticipated closing time of 6 PM on Christmas Eve. We cooked in for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, even though there were many restaurants open, as we hated to make someone work on those days.

Breakfast
We got some ham and cheese quiche from Le SUCIERE one morning and we met our great good friend Peter for breakfast one morning at THE HIDEAWAY . We enjoyed French toast and sausage and eggs and bacon and some lovely conversation with Peter, along with the fabulous view!






Otherwise, we had breakfast in, with eggs, omelettes, ham, bacon, etc., with Santo Domingo coffee and toast and good old Florida’s Natural Orange Juice (made 10 miles from our house in Florida), along with the not-so-good-as the French strawberry jelly from Grand Marche. We did bring home a jar of the good French jelly though! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />





LUNCH
For lunch, we went to the YACHT CLUB on our first full day. I had a burger and Eric had a buffalo chicken sandwich, both with fries. Both were good and hit the spot since we hadn’t had any breakfast and had just arrived late the night before. Sorry, no pictures.

Our only other ‘lunch’ out probably shouldn’t count as ‘lunch’, so much as an ‘afternoon’, which we spent with our great friends Bob and Lyn at DREAMS . We were there on a Sunday, which is one of their busiest days and the restaurant was full, including some fairly large tables. We were seated and brought menus, etc., and when the waiter first approached us, we were still too busy talking to think about ordering anything, so we shooed him away. We spent a long, lazy afternoon, having a lovely time. Eric and I shared the soup in a puff pastry




Followed by the Bo Bin Salad (sp!!!) for me..



And the rib eye steak for Eric

Bob and Lyn shared the foie gras platter




….Followed by tuna tartar for Lyn and the burger for Bob. Oddly enough, everyone made a grab for Bob’s fries, which were out of this world! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />




We enjoyed just a lovely afternoon with great food and great company! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/toast.gif" alt="" />


DINNER
Our first dinner out, we went to FIG , which we had SO enjoyed in June. We arrived at 7 and while we had made a reservation, we didn’t need it. I did not take the camera, so sorry, no pictures.. Eric had the special appetizer, which was garlic nan, a type of a spring roll, a sweeter version, served with a sprig of mint—unusual, but tasty. I had the special broccoli soup, which was good, but suffered from some rather large broccoli pieces inside. Eric ordered the mahi mahi for his main, which he said was very nice, and moist. I wanted to save room for dessert, so ordered a grilled shrimp salad with peanuts, pea pods and an Asian sauce. It was good, although a bit heavy on the sauce. We shared a carrot cake dessert and coffee, along with a complementary kind of eggnog rum drink, which was very tasty. Afterwards, we talked to the owner for a while, discussing the state of the world in general and the evils of the internet.. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Smile.gif" alt="" />

Our Christmas Dinner was served at che’ Hill, standing beef rib roast, with horseradish, baked potatoes, salad (sorry, didn’t think to take a picture of the rib roast!), served with a nice merlot and some lovely desserts, purchased from Le Suciere.

[img]http://www.info-res.com/ehill/ttol/bsvdec2014/christmasdessert.jpg[/img]


On Boxing Day (December 26), Eric decided at 7 PM that we should go to Grand Case for dinner. We normally go to SXM in off season, when such a late decision would not have been an issue, finding someplace to dine. We tried several of our favorites, all of which could not serve us for at least an hour, and wound up at La VILLA . We started with a lobster bisque, which had an outstanding flavor, and would have been just heavenly if there had been just a few bits of actual lobster in it.

I had the rack of lamb, which were cooked and seasoned well, and Eric had the tuna.

[img]http://www.info-res.com/ehill/ttol/bsvdec2014/lvrackoflamb.jpg[/img]


The best part of the meal was probably the trio of custards for dessert—a crème brulee’, a DYNAMITE vanilla custard with raspberry sauce and a wonderful crème brulee’ ice cream.

[img]http://www.info-res.com/ehill/ttol/bsvdec2014/lvdessert.jpg[/img]


They had a 50 Euro special of any appetizer, any entre, and any dessert, so we did that, plus one additional entre and a bottle of wine. We paid cash for 1 to 1 and the meal came in at a very respectable price of $130, all in. We had never dined there before and it was very good, and a decent price, with the 1 to 1. I do not think it will replace either Bistrot Cariabe or Ocean 82 in my heart though. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Smile.gif" alt="" />

What WAS totally lovely was the fact that Grand Case was PACKED that night! Every restaurant seemed to be full of patrons. And what was even more lovely was the street was quiet and peaceful. NO motorcycles roaring up and down. NO cars going by with loud music. I saw 6 gendarmes walking the street in one direction. One of them nodded and spoke to me and I tried to keep from salivating, as they are so darned HANDSOME!! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" /> Later, they drove down the street in their vehicle, plus private security was on hand. Such a LOVELY experience, to see Grand Case as it used to be!! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Clapping.gif" alt="" />

As we were leaving in the car, we drove past Bistrot Cariabes and said good evening to our good friends, Thibault and Amaury.

[img]http://www.info-res.com/ehill/ttol/bsvdec2014/thibault.jpg[/img]


One night we went to THE STONE , which is at Simpson Bay Resort. Fort those not staying at the resort, you can park in the gated parking lot across from the casino if you tell them you are dining at the Stone. For those that don’t know, it is owned and operated by Johan Roebert, Neil’s son. We opted to eat inside, even though the outside ambiance was much better, as I am such a mosquito magnet. We started with a cheese fondue, then Eric had a very nice tuna steak, which you finish cooking yourself on the stone.

[img]http://www.info-res.com/ehill/ttol/bsvdec2014/stonesalmon.jpg[/img]


We both took advantage of the menu featuring several smaller plates for entre, for those like me that have a hard time finishing a whole meal and still enjoying dessert. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Smile.gif" alt="" /> I enjoyed a half lobster

[img]http://www.info-res.com/ehill/ttol/bsvdec2014/stonehalflobster.jpg[/img]


We finished with a totally decadent dessert of caramelized bananas with ice cream that was da bomb!

[img]http://www.info-res.com/ehill/ttol/bsvdec2014/stonebananasflambe.jpg[/img]



Local friends on island told us that the week between Christmas and New Year’s is among the most difficult to get reservations at the really top dining spots. We found that to be the case at TEMPTATION . Dino was able to wedge us in at 6:30 on the 29th, since we were only a table for two, as otherwise, we would have been shut out! We started with the simply elegant Temptation salad, accented with pear. This is half of the salad, which they volunteered to split for us, when I said that Eric would just have a bite of my salad.

[img]http://www.info-res.com/ehill/ttol/bsvdec2014/temptationsalad.jpg[/img]



Eric chose the salmon

[img]http://www.info-res.com/ehill/ttol/bsvdec2014/temptationsalmon.jpg[/img]


and I had the totally delicious 5 ounce filet from the Rare menu, knowing that I needed to save room for one of Dino’s delicious desserts. I actually don’t recall how it was described on the menu, but we ended up with the flower pot dessert. I’m sure our reaction was the same as most others, a giggle of laughter!


[img]http://www.info-res.com/ehill/ttol/bsvdec2014/temptationflowerpot.jpg[/img]

What was hidden beneath the brownie “dirt” of the pot was a wonderful mixture of bananas and crème, a delicious surprise beneath the surface! Such a fun, whimsical dessert!

Speaking of the flower pot dessert, while we were there, we purchased a copy of Dino’s new cookbook, which is a fabulous mixture of cooking, photography and poetry, all benefitting two good causes, Be the Change and Art Saves Lives. Dino autographed it for us personally, which is a good reason to buy your copy at the restaurant. The book is available several places on island and is available by mail in the states. I will post a separate note later on about the book.

As always, we enjoyed our dining experiences, and wished we had more time and more ROOM in our stomachs to enjoy the gastronomical paradise that is Sint Maarten/ST. Martin!! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/chef.gif" alt="" />