ISLAND NEWS <br>Beaches: Cupecoy was hit with big rollers on 24 Jan, making the beach unusable to all but surfer dudes. The noise from crashing waves was very loud in the villas at the shore and noticeable in our unit six stories up. The good news is that the air was so clear we could see Saba, Statia, St Kitts, and Nevis from our balcony. <br><br>Traffic: The bridge is moving along. On Saturday, 18 Jan, the new wider bridge opened above the new wider channel and Limitless at about 320 feet, owned by The Limited Corporation (Victoria's Secret, etc) moved on into the lagoon. It's homeported here and the scuttlebutt is that the owner complained that there was no place in the Caribbean that he could dock a ship of this size. He paid 10 year's of docking fees up front ($3.5 million) and the marina owner used that to finance the marina and pay for half the costs of widening the channel and lengthening the bridge. Presumably, the government will pick up the other half. The roadway was repaved on 26 Jan and at this point the construction is in cleanup mode. Let's hope they remove the speed bumps. <br><br>We used the new road off the new rotary at the top of Cay Hill on the way to Antoine's Restaurant on Front Street in Pburg. It goes past the Belair Beach Hotel and Great Bay Beach Hotel to arrive at the foot of Front Street. Add in valet parking and the trip from Simpson Bay to our table took about 10 minutes at 7:30 PM. <br><br><br>ACTIVITIES <br>On Wednesday 22 Jan we went out on the America's Cup 12-meter yacht races in Great Bay off Pburg. These are the actual boats that raced in the 1987 race, the last race won by a monohull. The 12 meter designation does not mean that the boats are about 40 feet, but that the result of some complicated formula of hull length, width, waterline, phase of the moon, and a few more esoteric criteria comes out to be less than 12, presumably with units of meters. the winner of that race, Stars & Stripes, competes against True North, the Canadian entry. There are a couple other boats, if more people show up (at $70 per head). It all starts on the dock with a pep talk from one of the staff explaining procedures and giving a brief history of over 150 years of America's Cup competition. <br>I'll leave the history lesson to them, but the magic formula ensures that the boats are closely matched, and in this case, as they are all owned by the same company and fitted with identical sails, they are more closely matched than they were in 1987. Thus, it is the crew that makes the difference. Obviously, the captain and his two helpers are important, but everybody else has a job, from timekeeping, to bartending, to grinding. On a beautiful day with a good breeze, it's great fun. After a 90 minute race, more drinks are passed out and recreational sailing in Great Bay begins. http://SXM-Activities.com<br><br>We stopped in at Everyt'ing Cool to listen to the band one afternoon. Ronald was on lead guitar and Nacio was on bass. Ronald used to play at Portofino with his wife Bea. Ronnie said that the upstairs bartender at Portofino was going to take it over and reopen it soon. We noticed that the tables and chairs were removed from the dining room as we passed on 30 Jan. (http://Philipsburg-Info.com/EverytingCool) <br><br>RESTAURANTS <br><br>The Euro is currently worth about 7% more than the dollar. We have made the conversions on French prices to dollars, although they really are Euros in the restaurants, and subject to currency fluctuations. <br><br>On 15 Jan, five years after we were married in Pburg, we went to Rainbow Café (http://Rainbow-Cafe.com) in Grand Case, one of St Martin's longest running restaurants. We started with two flutes of champagne and the sesame crusted tuna sashimi with wasabi, soy sauce, and ginger. It was absolutely prime melt-in-your-mouth tuna. Next, we moved to a 99 Pommard Refene premier cru for only $45, an excellent price for one of the finest red wines in the southern burgundy region. This wine was chosen to accompany the lamb tenderloin with chorizo polenta fries and mushroom sauce, spaghetti squash and broccoli ($29) and the veal chop with green peppercorn sauce and garlic mashed potatoes ($31). All three plates were specials and photos are on the website. We had a nine o'clock table on the water and lingered until about 11:30 enjoying cognac, the view, and restaurant gossip with Fleur, one of the owners. For much of the evening a heron fished in the waves that lapped the shore beneath us. <br>On Thursday we went to Hot Tomatoes (http://HotTomatoesSXM.com) again. We tried Mario's at the last minute, but they were booked until 10PM. We had just finished a website for Brad, Tekki, and Gabe (late of Sunset Beach Bar, now owners of Hot Tomatoes), so we wanted to show them the site, anyway. I had an excellent pizza (again) and Martha ventured to the brisket, a rather odd menu offering for the Caribbean. Brisket requires long cooking and as we live in the cold northeast, it isn't much trouble to keep a pot stewing all day, but the heat and humidity are hardly necessary down here, so one sees much more grilled food. Our friend, Neal, had the Cuban Langousta Mariposa, a local lobster, butterflied and grilled on an open flame with citrus and olive oil sprinkled with sautéed almonds and garnished with sautéed orange, melon, and pineapple. It's quite a presentation and there is a photo on the site's menu. <br><br>On Friday night we went to Amandier Plage (http://AmandierPlage.com) in Grand Case for a dinner with Timothy and Pat Young of L'Esperance Car Rental and L'Esperance Hotel. Amandier Plage (Almond Tree Beach) lost most of its beach over the summer, added a new tapas bar, and changed its name to Domaine de l'Amandier. At this time a bit of beach has returned. If you are looking for a beautiful way to spend a quiet day at a beach, this is the place. Orient has similar places offering good food, boutiques, massages and a lot more people and action on the water. Grand Case is quieter and Amandier and Calmos specialize in calm days at the beach. The food at Calmos is good, but simpler, and the amenities are fewer. They have a site on http://GrandCase.com. Amandier has a complete kitchen serving fine French food on a deck covered by an awning a few feet above the sand. You can't get much closer to the beach and the grand view across the bay to Anguilla. We started with a 2000 Rully (about $30). It's a poor stepchild to the more famous white burgundies to the north, but it's still filled with butter and a hint of acid to cut through the oil from the fish courses that followed: a pea soup ap with shrimp wrapped in bacon, a tuna steak on mashed potatoes with fresh tomatoes and olive oil, a mahi-mahi and shrimp combo, a tilapia filet with a wakame salad and caramelized onions, and a snapper filet with eggplant fritters. A full moon was rising as we drove over and illuminated the bay as we dined into the evening, finishing with a flute of champagne at 11PM. It was a wonderful evening, but we have had wonderful lunches here also. <br><br>Sunday afternoon we went to Layla's on Nettle Bay for a great lunch on the beach. Pierre and Layla have owned this place for several years and have gradually replanted the area such that it is now a grove of palm trees surrounding a bar and restaurant. The beach looks out to the old Belle Créole Hotel in the distance to the west, across to Anguilla, and off to Marigot harbor and Rambaud hill on the right. It is something of a tradition to come here for Sunday lunch and, by coincidence, we met Joel and Sonya from L'Eescargot Restaurant. We had a bottle of Carte Noir Rosé ($17), the mahi with cajun spices, and the shrimp and scallop kebabs. The fish was fresh as could be, cooked well, and quite tasty with its spices and sauce. The seafood was just as tasty and a bit spicier, especially if one tried the tiny red pepper that Pierre supplied from his garden. He also supplies many of the greens that made a superb salad with a tangy vinaigrette. All in all, it was a lovely lunch for about $50. <br>(http://SXM-Restaurants.com/sandyground/laylas) <br><br>On Wednesday evening, we went to Thai Garden in Sandy Ground just outside Marigot. They actually serve a little bit of Chinese and Vietnamese with the Thai and have some of the best sushi on the island. Thai food usually is based on quickly grilled or sautéed seafood, uses peppers, lemon grass, and coconut milk as the spices, and rice as the starch. All of these things are a result of climate and geography, but over centuries of work, these ingredients have been blended into a tasty body of work. Thailand is the only country where I actually had to ask the waiters NOT to give me the hottest offerings from the kitchen. I have had the hottest that Hunan has to offer in Chairman Mao's Family Restaurant and the spiciest of Sichuan at Deng Xiao Ping's favorite restaurant in Beijing, but the Thais toasted my tastebuds. Vincent, the manager at Thai Garden, doesn't allow the chefs to cook at the farthest end of their ability, so our dinners of Chinese Xiu Mai (steamed shrimp and pork dumplings) and Koung Xuchi Kari Thai (shrimp sautéed with red curry) were no problem whatsoever. The sushi platter was fresh and the extra dollop of wasabi was there to lift the top of your head, but only if you desired. With two sakes, a Japanese beer, and a backup bottle of water, the bill was only $72. (http://SXM-Restaurants.com/sandyground/ThaiGarden) <br><br>Friday night found us at Antoine Restaurant on Great Bay in Pburg. The valet whisked away our Unity Rental Car, a lovely green color, much prized by those unfortunates still roaming parking lots looking for their white rental car. Jean-Pierre greeted us and whisked us to a waiting seaside table (reservations do bring some perks). Jean-Pierre and Pierre-Louis (the chef) have spent quite a bit of money planting palm trees and building palm roofed dining tables on the beach, so the view from the dining room is quite nice: a wide beach with a few boats in Great Bay dead ahead, the new cruise ship dock to the far left, and the Divi peninsula to the far right. The menu is standard French and Pierre-Louis has perfected shrimp scampi in garlic butter, flamed with pernod; baked salmon and red snapper in mustard sauce; canard montmorency (an area in France famed for its cherries), half of a crisp duckling with cherries in a brandy sauce, and lobster thermidor. The NY Times chose his thermidor as the best on the island. We started with coquilles St Jacques Nantaise, sea scallops with white wine, shallots, and butter, such a standard dish that it is named after Nantes, the town in France where it was developed. Again, geography and climate brought cold water for tasty scallops and lovely fields to provide the beginnings of good fresh cream, together with a few spices for a classic dish. Because of Air France, the geography is not as important as it once was, so Pierre-Louis can make a great dish here. We did have the scampi with pernod as a main course and they were wonderful. He had added a special of mahi-mahi with a spicy sauce to the menu, exposing his Créole roots. It was quite good and wasn't too spicy for the Sancerre that we had ordered. Jean-Pierre wears a tie and the restaurant has a refined look about it, but if you get him talking, he can tell you stories about what he and Vincent from Thai Gardens did 15 years ago on the island or what he and Doumé from Kakao did before that in the south of France. Pierre-Louis has certainly learned the classical techniques and recipes, but he also can do a great job when turned loose on his specials. The Sancerre was only $26 and the two meals just crested $20, so the total meal only came to $115 with the added 15% tip. (http://AntoineRestaurant.com) <br><br>After dinner, we strolled on down the street to L'Escargot Restaurant to see the Friday night cabaret. If you have never done this, there are plenty of pictures on the website. Joel and Sonya, the owners, appear as Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers. Some patrons appear, notably one as an Andrews sister, but most of the show is carried by several gentlemen appearing as Tina Turner, Shirley Bassey, Cher, Donna Summers, etc. (http://LEscargotRestaurant.com) <br><br>On the following Monday we went to Auberge Gourmande in Grand Case. It was a pretty busy night. Based on what the restaurateurs were saying everybody stayed home the night before, watching the Super Bowl and now they were out with a vengeance. We hadn't made reservations and were lucky to get a table out on the porch, although we rather like the porch especially when large (and therefore noisy) groups are inside. We've often said that sitting at one of the roadside tables in Grand Case eventually provides one with a view of most everything that the world has to offer - some good, some bad, but almost all interesting. (http://GrandCase.com/AubergeGourmand<br><br>There were three specials and we ordered one of each, saying we would share them all. We started with the conch chowder appetizer. Conch is pretty chewy, but we like it. This chowder was flavorful, a bit spicy with pepper, and definitely not for those on a low sodium diet. We expected to get both the rascasse and duck breast next. However, the ever-thoughtful staff brought the rascasse out as our fish course. An empty plate and appropriate fish silverware (including the prockler) were produced to facilitate sharing. The rascasse, a Mediterranean rock fish, the underpinning of bouillabaisse, had a tangy lime-butter topping and was accompanied by mushrooms, a chestnut purée, a risotto with tomato sauce on a slice of eggplant, and some bulots. Bulot are another shellfish, like conch, but you are expected to use the prockling tool and prockle them out of the shell yourself. They are every bit as chewy as conch. After we finished, Cedric brought along the duck breast and an empty plate for further sharing. The duck came with mushrooms (cepes, in this case), cauliflower, carrots, a very red, very hot pepper,.and a sprig of rosemary planted in the chestnut purée, much like the American flag at Iwo Jima. The purée is quite interesting in both taste and texture, especially after the conch and bulots. I think the hot pepper was more for visual excitement, but I have never met a hot pepper I didn't like, at least at first. We had the Gevrey-Chambertin Premier Cru Estournelles St Jacques 1994 from Antonin Rodet. It was smooth as velvet and full of great pinot flavor, possibly a bit much for rascasse, and not enough for the hot pepper. At $64, it amounted to about half our total bill of $132. We know the gentleman who did the interior design, signage, and the custom china design. He is an architect who had an art shop on the island and he put together a very pleasant place to eat. Add in Christophe, the head waiter, Florence, the wine steward, and Cedric, who does the work, and you get excellent service, even on busy nights, as this was. <br><br>Wednesday we stopped for lunch at Jimbo's Marina Oasis, just outside the Simpson Bay Marina, next to Goodfellas. Jimbo used to have a lolo in Grand Case before Luis leveled much of the island in September 1995. He is now putting out very tasty Tex-Mex in a lovely spot. It really is an oasis stuck between the marina and the car park. Eventually, he hopes to get a new logo and just call it Jimbo's. At that point a website will be put together. Until then, take our word for it that it's a pleasant spot to eat some pretty good and inexpensive Tex-Mex in Simpson Bay.<br>