La Case Créole in Sandy Ground has closed, but the Bridge, also serving<br>Créole cuisine is going strong. It's newly painted and lit up like a<br>Christmas tree on the canal into the lagoon.<br><br>The Raddison at Oyster Bay is no longer a Raddison. They claim it would<br>be better this way and that it was a mutual decision. They said the same<br>when Raddison branded the Oyster Bay Resort about a year ago. In a<br>supposedly unrelated story, the now Oyster Bay Resort announced that<br>they were closing their inhouse restaurant. Mario, from Old Captain<br>(http://www.Philipsburg-Info.com/oldcaptain), not Mario's Bistro, will<br>be renting the space and serving Asian food.<br><br>The Ocean Club is seeking to reclaim its Gold Crown status by building a<br>larger restaurant behind the current one. It's unclear if this will get<br>them a gold crown, but it will certainly block the view for several<br>timeshare owners.<br><br>The middle of Cupecoy Beach has headed out to sea again after about one<br>good week, not even long enough to report that it was here, before the<br>waves took it back. Even the far NW end was nothing but wet sand. Diving<br>has been pretty bad as the rough surf carried sand out, limiting<br>visibility.<br><br>The really big news late last week was that Steve Calamari Sayre, a<br>major Hollywood producer/director for Somesuch Studio, was here about to<br>start casting for his major new mega-blockbuster: "America's New War".<br>The really big news in Monday's paper was that there was an outstanding<br>warrant for his arrest in the US for running a pump and dump stock scam<br>for Somesuch Studios. The carib was a haven for pirates in the 18th<br>century. Some things never change.<br><br>I found this other big news in the Daily Herald's week in review email:<br>QUOTE<br>------------------------<br>http://www.friendlyisland.com<br>------------------------<br><br>Battle for creditor votes dominates Mullet Bay case<br>UNQUOTE<br><br>The article goes on to explain how the owners of the units trashed by<br>Luis in 1995 are still trying to get some of the money from the<br>management. No luck this time. The daring juxtaposition of the web<br>address and the story of the fierce legal battle is, at least, ironic.<br>As I may have mentioned earlier, the carib was a haven for pirates in<br>the 18th century. Some things never change.<br><br>On to more pleasurable pursuits: Monday (28 Jan - full moon) found us at<br>Sol e Luna in Mont Vernon (http://www.SoleLunaRestaurant.com) for a<br>wonderful dinner. It is a long drive from almost anywhere on the Dutch<br>side, but it was voted the most romantic restaurant on the island. As it<br>is facing east on the east side of the island, it is even more<br>spectacular when a full moon is rising over the landscape. We started<br>with a crab, cucumber, avocado, and wasabi salad and moved on to the<br>shrimp and scallop dinner and the sashimi-grade tuna dinner. The shrimp<br>dish contains a mere three shrimp. Sounds light? These are 6-count<br>shrimp, ie 6 to the pound. Thus, there may only be three, but it is a<br>half pound of shrimp, plus scallops on a bed of risotto. The tuna rivals<br>the best I have had in Japan and the preparation on a bed of braised<br>endive in a soy-based glaze is sublime. <br><br>I first encountered endive in a restaurant in Holland in the mid-70's. I<br>liked it enough to ask what it was and was told it was witlof or just<br>plain lof. Wit indicating white, which is to say they mound the dirt<br>around the leaves driving out the chlorophyl, turning the leaves white.<br>This labor-intensive process is the reason that it is so expensive, and<br>the reason why the mid-western farmers hooted in derision when Michael<br>Dukakis advocated that they switch from soybeans to endive to solve<br>their monetary problems. In Mike's defense, he at least had been to a<br>grocery store and knew what this stuff costs. Probably even knew about<br>supermarket scanners, unlike his presidential opponent (a close friend<br>with whom I exercised at the China World Hotel in Beijing - close, in<br>this case, merely means physically - he was on the rowing machine in<br>front of me). But I digress, after finding out what it was, I went to<br>the local green-grocer and using my very best new-found Dutch, asked for<br>some lof. He handed me two and as I was walking out it dawned on me that<br>I actually would have to take this back to my apartment and cook it. I<br>encountered a Dutch woman and proceeded to discuss this problem as best<br>as my limited Dutch would allow. In the movies, she would have been a<br>beautiful, young, curvaceous, multi-lingual chef, who would have offered<br>to come over and prepare a gourmet meal before we retired with brandy<br>and coffee to the ... but I digress and as this is a reality-based<br>newsletter, her limited English plus plenty of pantomime convinced me<br>that it was unlikely that I would do myself serious bodily harm, so I<br>cooked up a couple. Christian does it better, so go there.<br><br>Where was I? The wine! A bottle of Drouhin's Chablis 1999. Drouhin (and<br>others) have stated that Chablis has changed. In the 80's, as the<br>Chablis and Brie crowd took over America, the peaceful quietude of the<br>sleepy town of Chablis was sundered by the sounds of bulldozers and farm<br>equipment increasing production to slake the thirst of the insatiable<br>masses of yuppies in the US. What used to be an austere, flinty wine<br>grown about 100 miles NW of its nearest Burgundian neighbor, a wine that<br>could bite through the oiliest of fishes and cleanse the palette,<br>morphed into a kinder, gentler wine. Drouhin and the other growers claim<br>that they are doing nothing different, ie they didn't make the wine more<br>approachable so it would appeal to a larger crowd, but that the weather<br>or the soil (or, as I believe, the planting of more marginal land) has<br>caused this change. This is not to say the wine was bad, in fact, most<br>people would say it is better than it was previously. There still is the<br>acid that cuts through the fish oils but now there is a more rounded,<br>buttery taste rather than the flinty bite.<br><br>Many people ask where they can have a lunch, usually meaning a fine<br>lunch, as Burger King and Subway are always available. There are three<br>answers: the capitals and Orient Beach. In marigot, many places on the<br>waterfront and Marina are open for lunch. L'Oizeau Rare in a beautiful<br>Créole house on a rise at the eastern edge of the harbor serves good<br>good and provides great views. I think they have a website on<br>www.Carib-Vacations.com. In Philipsburg, some of the best restaurants<br>serve lunch: Escargot, Antoine, Da Livio, and Chesterfields. Find them<br>on http://www.Philipsburg-Info.com. Orient Beach has five restaurants<br>that are more than beach bars, in fact, they are more than restaurants<br>in that they have chaise longues, umbrellas, boutiques, massage<br>stations,<br>and water sport rentals. However, they do serve complete lunches in<br>tables spread about the sand and surrounded by palm trees. They are all<br>clustered at the SW end of the beach. We have had fine meals at Kakao<br>Beach and Waikiki, but have heard good things about Bikini, Coco, and<br>Kontiki. Find three of them on http://www.SXM-Restaurants.com/orient. <br><br>Two other answers come to mind: La Samanna for truly high prices and<br>great views and Il Nettuno in Grand Case http://www.IlNettuno.com.<br>Nettuno may even have better views as the pier in Grand Case provides<br>some nearby visual excitement and it is only about three miles across<br>the Anguilla channel to Anguilla. The complete dinner menu is available<br>and a special, lighter menu is available for lunch. We had some pinot<br>grigio as we looked out over the bay and waited for a Caesar salad with<br>chicken, and penne with sea scallops in a light tomato sauce.<br><br>Dinner on that Wednesday was at Saint Severin in downtown Marigot<br>http://www.SXM-Restaurants.com/marigot/stseverin. This really is a local<br>place, but not the native locals, the metropoles, ie the local French<br>from the mother country. St Severin serves bistro fare, not Créole. It's<br>good hearty food in major proportions at reasonable prices. The location<br>is only good in that there is ample parking, no sea views, in fact, you<br>peer out over a sea of cars in the two parking lots on the border of<br>Marigot with Bellvue. Don't expect the finest china and most delicate<br>crystal brought to you by tuxedoed waiters. Do expect tasty food. We<br>started with a salad with a confit of duck gizzards, smoked dry duck<br>breast, and green<br>beans. It was a major mound of greens with a full flavored balsamic<br>dressing that could stand up to the intense flavor in the duck breast. A<br>97 Mercurey started off seeming light, but as it breathed, it gained<br>strength and finally seemed more than enough for the salad and even<br>better with a stuffed veal chop (off the bone, and filled vegetables)<br>accompanied by more young carrots and green beans and a duck breast with<br>foie gras accompanied by an interesting pancake with corn. The duck<br>breast with a large portion of foie gras was only 25 euros, about $23.<br>After dinner we had an Armagnac to die for, as we settled up a tab that<br>came to a mere $81. On the way out, we asked the barman about the<br>Armagnac and he smiled as he shoed us the bottle: a special bottling for<br>Dominique. That would be the owner of St Severin and a childhood friend<br>of the vineyard owner. I don't know how to get any, but I intend to find<br>out!<br><br>Friday night found us in French Cul de Sac at the new Cotonnier. Inside<br>it is much like the old Cotonnier, closed about two years ago. It is<br>still a beautiful century-old Créole cottage done up in turquoise,<br>yellow, and blue and it still serves French cuisine with an accent on<br>Provence. Serge, who was the chef at Tropicana in the Marigot Marina, is<br>now the owner and chef here. As a bonus for making a reservation, a<br>welcome cocktail is brought to your table - a nice thank you for your<br>minor effort, but restaurants do appreciate a bit of advance knowledge.<br>The menu is contained on a large blackboard, about eight appetizers ($8<br>to $12) and eight main courses ($12 to $16). As we studied the menu, a<br>lagniappe of tapanade arrived. Most of the menu was fish, but there was<br>one beef dish. We started with a Thai shrimp and scallop salad in an<br>intense lemon-lime dressing. We only had one and Serge split it into two<br>portions that were more than enough for us. A bottle of Petit Chablis<br>($25) was fine with the starter and with a grouper in bouillabaisse<br>sauce and a mahi-mahi in a creamy, basil sauce. I confess to skipping<br>most of my rice in order to sample a dessert: baked apple with chocolate<br>ice cream in chocolate sauce. My reasoning was related to the 20 year<br>old calvados (apple brandy) being offered for a mere $5. Good<br>intentions, but in order to make the apple go well with the chocolate,<br>it was infused with orange, so much so that any relation to the calvados<br>was lost. However, the dessert was fine and I'll be looking for that<br>calvados. I just won't have them together again! http://www.SXM-Restaurants.com/culdesac/cotonnier<br><br><br>