Asian Restaurant at Atlantis Casino has closed. Some people may<br>remember Dino's Restaurant at Caravanserai. Dino trained at Johnson and<br>Wales and returned to open his restaurant when Caravanserai was<br>rebuilding from Luis. The Queen of Holland came for a visit to his<br>restaurant and was followed by Hurricane Lenny, presumably unrelated<br>events. Caravanserai and Dino were swamped again and Dino retreated to<br>the US. His mother says that he will be back to start a new restaurant<br>in the space that Asian occupied. More later, but the talk is upscale<br>Caribbean. He'll be here in a week or two and they are looking for an<br>opening in early May. <br><br>Monday night at http://www.AmandierPlage.com in http://www.Grandcase.com<br>was lovely. Sitting at a seaside table in Grand Case with just the lightest of breezes and<br>the gentle lapping of the waves is quite pleasant. Looking out over a<br>dozen sailboats to Anguilla three miles away is lovely, and when a half<br>a moon casts a pale glow over the calm waters as you enjoy a fine<br>dinner, it can't get much better. <br><br>We started with the foie gras appetizer and a glass of Monbazillac (a<br>sweet wine from an area SE of Bordeaux). It is often called the poor<br>man's Sauternes and like its more famous neighbor, goes well with foie<br>gras especially when the foie gras is accompanied with a bit of fruit<br>(apple, in this case) and balsamic vinegar. For dinner we had two lamb<br>dishes and switched to a hearty Gigondas from the Rhone region south of<br>Burgundy. The first dish was a lamb stew with potatoes and cepes<br>(porcini - Italian, Steinpilz - German, Boletus edulis - Latin) and the<br>second dish was a set of lamb chops with a tasty sauce and an even<br>tastier potatoes gratin. The most famous wine from Rhone is probably<br>Chateauneuf du Pape (The new chateau of the Popes). This was a region in<br>the hills outside Avignon where the French Popes had their summer home.<br>During the great schism, there were Italian Popes in Rome and French<br>Popes in Avignon. The French claimed that the judges (ie, the cardinals)<br>were unduly influenced, etc, etc). Rhone wines can use any of about a<br>dozen grapes to make mostly red, but some white, wines. Two of the best<br>are Hermitage and Cote Rotie (the first wine to be rated 100 by Parker,<br>although previous Pope contests and recent Olympic events cast doubts on<br>any rating system - some things never change). Two good, but lesser<br>known, hence cheaper, alternatives are Crozes-Hermitage from the area<br>around the famous vineyard and Gigondas, nearby. They all tend to be<br>quite sturdy and a bit fruitier than their northern neighbors, the<br>Burgundies.<br><br>On Tuesday we had lunch at L'Escargot<br>(http://www.LEscargotRestaurant.com) in downtown Philipsburg<br>(http://www.Philipsburg-Info.com). The owner, Joel Moreau, said that<br>Pburg has been having something of a renascence after the electrical<br>strike on the French side. That however, was the spark that brought<br>people over, they were happy when they got there because the Dutch side<br>government has done a few things right in Philipsburg. They dredged the harbor, built a new dock that cruiseships can reach, and used much of the dredged sand to replenish the beach. Many restaurants have opened beach bars and several beach operations (chairs, umbrellas, sports, etc) have appeared.<br><br>Despite low tourist figures, L'Escargot has<br>had a pretty good season. Things are tapering off, so come on down and,<br>as we did, enjoy a conch salad or shrimp and crab salad with a bottle of<br>Sancerre in their beautiful Creole house on Front Street. Joel and Sonya<br>have been doing this for almost 30 years and really know how to<br>entertain customers. The staff is efficient, yet friendly, and the food<br>is fine. Joel has about 300 kinds of hot sauce, so be careful when you<br>ask for a something with a bit of heat. I got one called "Endorphin<br>Rush". It required plenty of the quite tasty and quite crunchy garlic<br>bread to put that fire out. <br><br>On Wednesday evening we went to Philipsburg again. This time to Antoine<br>Restaurant (http://www.AntoineRestaurant.com). It's original owner was<br>Antoine Livio whose son Daniel currently owns and manages Da Livio's a<br>bit further along the street and is a part-owner of Mr Busby's Beach Bar<br>on Dawn Beach. Currently at Antoine's, Jean-Pierre runs the front of the<br>house and Pierre-Louis runs the kitchen. They have now owned Antoine's<br>for about 8 years, starting in its original location and moving into its<br>current location after Hurricane Luis took the previous building away.<br>They have taken advantage of the beach and put out tiki huts and a dozen<br>palm trees. It has been a true labor of love as Jean-Pierre claims to<br>have tendonitis from caring for the palms. They were beautiful and as<br>Philipsburg is on the south side of the island, the central hills<br>blocked the wind and the barrier reef calmed the swells. Add in the <br>vast sweep of the bay on both sides of our view and it was a lovely<br>setting.<br><br>The menu is classic French with a hint of island. We had the terrine du<br>chef much like those I've had in France and moved on to a filet mignon<br>with Béarnaise sauce and a shrimp and garlic dish. The filet came with a<br>potato gratin, a purée of carrots, and another purée of turnips(?) - all<br>interesting. We had the 97 Volnay Premier Cru with this ($62 - yikes)<br>and as it warmed up, it was wonderful. Dinner with the expensive wine<br>and a 15% tip added to the bill was $136. Surprisingly enough, there<br>were no Palindrome Day specials on the menu and 8:02 PM passed with<br>barely a ripple.<br><br>We skipped Friday and went to Bistro Nu on<br>Saturday evening. It wasn't full at any time during the two hours that<br>we were there. Part of it must be Saturday night and part of it is the<br>slow season. It's a small place on the outskirts of Marigot on a side<br>street across from the stadium. (It's on the Downtown Marigot map at<br>http://www.SXM-Restaurants.com, but there is no website.) The menu is<br>French and Créole with a specials board and a three course prix fixe<br>dinner at about $20. The prices for everything else are just as good. We<br>started with pigs feet vinaigrette and a scallop and sweetbread salad.<br>Martha remembers her grandfather making this pigs feet concoction for<br>Sunday afternoon suppers. He had to start on Saturday and cook it for 24<br>hours. By Sunday, the skin was the only thing holding the meat around<br>the bone. Maybe I shouldn't go on, but we liked both of our appetizers.<br>Dinners were a Dover sole and veal kidneys in a mustard sauce. The Dover<br>Sole demonstrates that there are some normal dishes coming from the<br>kitchen and the veal kidneys gets one back into the weird meat area.<br>It's a good restaurant for a couple whose tastes don't match as the<br>lengthy menu and specials board contain plenty of "normal" entries, but<br>also plenty of things that are hard to find, even down here. The wine<br>list is small (about 30 bottles) and there's not much above $25. We had<br>a Brouilly from the Chateau de la Chaize (always one of our favorite<br>Beaujolais) and a Hautes Cotes de Beaune (a pinot noir from the hills to<br>the west of the ancient capital of Burgundy: Beaune). The total bill was<br>less than $80.