With the hope that I haven't now been barred from the board forever, herewith is the final installment of my trip report. Again, just broke it up since I wasn't sure of the size limitation, so please forgive the serial approach. Final part is about dining, along with a few wrap-up comments.
Dining
This is probably the most important aspect of this report for all you foodies out there. Even though we had read quite a bit about the gourmet restaurants that line Grand Case Blvd – both here and in various magazines – it was not the primary reason for visiting St. Martin, and we did not expect it to be the highlight of the visit. Fair to say, the dining experience is now much higher on the list of reasons to go to SXM, and is the thing we’ve talked and reminisced about the most since returning. This is where all you veterans say, DUH! We’re really not big on fancy restaurants and food, here in the US or anywhere else for that matter. And this is from folks who have eaten in Paris more than once or twice. If it’s possible, this was better. Maybe it’s the sea air, the atmosphere and who knows what else, but there is serious good eatin’ that goes on down there! Our choices were not exquisite, and we know there are tons more (and better) options, but here are ours. And these are presented in the order we visited them, mainly since the experience at one sets the stage (and the bar) for the next one.
Friday (arrival night). We had read here that Orient Village is now doing their own little version of Harmony Nights on Friday night. The stores remain open later, there are some vendors with fairly nice wares and a DJ/steel drummer is set up in the middle of the square. Based on that knowledge, we planned to dine in the Village on our first night. Here are the choices that I can recite (mostly correctly I hope) from memory. La Chapelle, Tap 5, Planet Orient B, Pimente, L’Cote Plage, Tai Chi, and another Tex-Mex place whose name escapes me. I’m sure I’ve left one or two out. In any event, we opted for Tai Chi. Got a nice outside table and enjoyed being able to see the goings on in the square. Appetizer was some sort of salad for my wife and duck egg rolls for me. Both excellent, and the waitress instructed us on how to eat the egg rolls by sprinkling them with mint leaves then wrapping it in lettuce. Interesting and delicious. Main course was a chicken dish for Jayme and more duck for me. Both were in sort of a stir-fry concoction which was excellent. Mine had a bit of a spicy kick to it which gave it an extra star in my book (or an extra chili pepper if you measure that way). Jayme’s dessert was basic in that she had a hankering for some good ‘ol ice cream, but mine was a bit more exotic. Keeping in mind this was an Asian restaurant (although I still don’t know for sure which country it represented), dessert was a cross between Mexican fried ice cream and French profiteroles. A warm puff pastry with a little crunch to it, filled with ice cream and drenched in chocolate syrup. Service was very good, although this being the first night, I had forgotten that the check doesn’t come until you ask for it, so we had aperitifs more leisurely than planned. Not a bad problem to have. An excellent start to the trip.
Saturday we dined en suite whipping up the pepper steak we bought at Grande Marche along with garlic mashed potatoes and peas. Complimented the main course with a fresh baguette from Tap 5 and a bottle of French wine that I don’t know much about other than I could afford it. Doesn’t sound like a big deal, but it went down good.
Sunday, February 4th was Super Bowl day. We had read on TTOL that Bikini Beach restaurant and bar was having a Super Bowl party and that reservations were suggested. Reservations at a beach bar?!?! Decided to hold off until we got there and properly checked things out. It did look like the best bet, especially since the “ride” home would be a 200 yard walk. La Chapelle was also having a party, but I could be surrounded by 4 walls in a sport bar atmosphere anywhere, so we opted for a “toes in the sand” Super Bowl. What I found to be a plus both at Bikini and one other place we dined, we got to point out the table we wanted in advance, and actually got it when we arrived. The place was packed, and despite my doubts about their ability to show the game in full, with sound, on a big screen, everything came off without a hitch. We had a variety of bar-type food throughout the game. These weren’t courses, but rather “quarters” considering the event. We really did have a little something different at the start of each quarter, but the star of the show was their ribs. Again, perhaps just ravenous to the point where any food would suffice, but these were serious ribs. I’m sure they’d lose out to those found at the lolo’s, but these were pretty darn good. The owner of the place (again, no name) even made up the obligatory Super Bowl board and sold 100 squares at $5 a pop. We went in for 4 squares and all our numbers sucked canal water. There was some excitement for at least one person when that extra point was missed. Can’t remember the exact score at the time, but it was an odd one once the point was missed. All in all, this was a fun evening not unlike any Super Bowl party you’d have at home. Oh – except for the rum punches, and the sand at our feet, and the sound of the ocean, and the French language being spoken and . . . . . .
On Monday we did not intend to dine out, but by now we were in the mood for a little island type entertainment and saw that The Wharf on Simpson Bay had a little combo scheduled for that night. So off we went. I was hoping for more of a reggae/steel drum sound, but these were just two guys with a guitar and a key board who covered a number of familiar songs, and they did it well. As an aside, one of my learnings from this trip is that “island music” is harder to find than I thought it would be. Granted, we didn’t do an all out search, but most entertainment we saw or heard of was more along the lines of anything you’d see in a restaurant or club in the US. Lots of DJ’s playing techno and hip-hop stuff. I guess we were looking for steel drum music in all the wrong places. The Wharf provided us with lagoon-side seating which was lovely. We were sitting right next to what turned out to be the Celine, moored at Skipjack’s right next door. Jayme had grilled tuna steak, and I had scallops. Both wonderful. We skipped dessert that night. Service was good. The Wharf was close to Tai Chi in quality, but just a tad behind in the final analysis.
Tuesday night was scheduled to be the most planned in that Grand Case Beach Club and the Sunset Café were on the agenda for happy hour, sunset, dinner and Harmony Nights. Let’s cut to the chase – this was the winner of the week. Interestingly, as the trip got closer I was hearing less and less about the Sunset Café and began to wonder about the choice, but stood firm. Boy, are we glad we weren’t moved by the lack of recent discussion or reviews. Upon arrival, we got our drinks (2 for 1 until 6:30) and planted ourselves on a little elevated terrace above the restaurant area. An absolutely perfect spot for the sunset. It was spectacular, but we did not see the infamous green flash. This was apparently the night for the GCBC’s “manager’s reception” for guests, so the open area perched on the highest point of the resort was closed off. However, while minding our own business in our little sunset spot, the garcon did stop by to offer up some of the appetizers being served to the guests. A nice little bonus. This was the other spot where we got the table we asked for. By phone we had only asked for a seaside table, which a lot of them are. While refilling the happy hour drinks, I asked the bar maid if she knew where we would be seated. By now (still early by French dining standards), some of the tables had started to fill so I was getting a little nervous that the perfect night might go sour. A couple had planted themselves at a table with their drinks, apparently without permission. The bar maid says, “Those people are at YOUR table! I’ll handle this!” We were still quite a ways from needing the table, but she threw them out (nicely) toot-suite! It was the perfect table, followed by a perfect meal. Jayme went back to chicken (she doesn’t take many chances when dining out), and I went back to breast of duck which was prepared and served in the more typical French way than what I had at Tai Chi. I’m not sure I can come up with the appropriate adjectives to describe this dinner. Exquisite, superb, outstanding, 5 (or more) stars all the way. Service to match. I’m pretty sure we had dessert, but I sure can’t remember it. As for cost, I’ll tell you now that each of our meals out (excluding Bikini) was around the $100 US range. This bill came in at $130, or so I thought. I went to pay it (for some reason at the bar), and the same bar maid/table guard was taking my money. Here, as with most spots, it was 1 to 1 Euro/US $. So I whip out 2 one hundred dollar travelers checks (yes – they count as cash) and she stops me. The bill is in Euros, so I only owed a C-note, PLUS the tab is service compris – tip included. She did not have to tell me any of this, and flies in the face of stories we’ve heard about “rip-offs” in restaurants. Thought it would be nice to share a good news story.
Wednesday was the Celine Pub Crawl, but it doesn’t really count as a dinner to review.
Thursday was another dinner in and consisted of the rotisserie chicken that had kept very well in the fridge.
Friday was our final night on island and our final dinner out. Based on reviews, I had zeroed in on Le California quite some time ago. Additionally, our tour guide Joyce (see Activities and Tours section) had also recommended the place so the vibes were good. Was not our best night out by far. The atmosphere was nice enough, and again we had a seat right on the railing next to the beach. However, the seating was tight as it is in many restaurants US or otherwise with our table for two spaced about 8 inches from the table next to us. That’s a little too cozy under the best of circumstances but as luck would have it, these two were complete boors. It was bad enough that it was clear they had just arrived that day and were celebrating the start of their vacation (don’t you just hate that when it’s your LAST night?!), but they were trying to eat on the cheap, splitting dishes, making rude comments, offering negative critiques of the food to the waitress (“These crepes aren’t like what I have at home.” ARE you at home?!?!?!) and were just plain loud and obnoxious. They were just a bit ahead of us in the progress of their meal, so we decided to order and eat VERY slowly in order to have at least some time without them there. We were excited when they passed on dessert (no surprise), but unfortunately they lingered over their drinks and only left about 15 minutes before us. Clearly, this had an impact on the overall experience here, but they sure didn’t have anything to do with the food. It was OK, just nothing special, and they had a long way to go meet the standard set by Sunset Café a few nights ago. We wondered if we would have thought differently had we been here BEFORE the Sunset Café. I can’t even recall what Jayme had, and I had decided this would finally be the night for some grilled lobster. Again, nothing special about it. I was further disappointed with the accompanying sauces, which were somewhat exotic, but all I wanted was some melted lemon butter. I think I’d take the chance and try them again and give them a chance to own up to all the rave reviews we heard which got us there in the first place. I had chocolate mousse for dessert and Jayme had a sorbet/sherbet assortment. Service was very good, and I swear I saw “I’m really sorry about these table mates” in the eyes of the server.
Miscellaneous thoughts and observations
In conclusion, (finally – YAAY!) I’ll leave you with a few random thoughts. First, the crime situation. I’m tempted to say, Crime? What crime? But I don’t want to belittle what I know is a real issue and has personally affected some who post here. Of course we followed the sound advice of leaving nothing in the car at any time, and generally minded our P’s and Q’s as we would anywhere. It seemed like there was some form of security (how good I don’t know) every place we went. We did not see any official police presence on wither side of the island except on the first day when we saw a gendarme road block on the main road near Grand Case. It was daylight, and cars seemed to be getting pulled over randomly. We weren’t even given as much as a glance. My guess is that since rental cars are readily identifiable, they knew we were tourists and were allowed to pass without being detained. Who knows? We were out at night mainly in the Orient Village area and never gave our security a second thought. There was a guard posted at the reception area of the hotel every night, and there’s a gate that comes down at the entrance to Orient Village each night also manned by a guard. We were never stopped, or even slowed down there, upon returning at night but again, probably due to the rental license plates. Our nights out in Grand Case and around Simpson Bay were uneventful, and we didn’t see anything at all even remotely resembling a threat. None of this means anyone should let their guard down, just that we were fortunate enough to have a safe, crime-free week. I wish the same for all other visitors.
Orient Village is a very cool place in my opinion. It is its own little town with lots or permanent residents, or at least long-term tourists from France and other European locales. Lots of kids on bikes and scooters, and they must be permanent because the days were pretty quiet when school was in session. I do envy the French and their state mandated 6 week vacations.
On the subject of the French versus the Dutch sides, to each his or her own. Each side has its pluses and minuses, but here’s how I’d sum it up. Dutch side leans toward a Vegas type atmosphere with lots of high rises and nightlife, while the French side is very French, much more low key, buildings no higher than about 3 stories and food to die for. We’d stay on the Dutch side if we could pull off a trade of our timeshare in St. Thomas, but if it was our nickel we’d likely go French. I mentioned in another post that the couple who was with us on that tour had very strong negative feelings toward the French in general. They were very vocal and tried to make us feel like traitors when we admitted to staying on the French side. It’s a real shame that people have been made to feel that way, and writing off the French side is their loss. I was a little surprised at just how French the French side is. The French language is very prevalent, but far from a deterrent. I enjoyed blowing the dust off what little French I’ve picked up over the years. Almost all shop keepers and service people are French (as in from France). There were very few of what I would call typical islanders to be seen. We didn’t spend enough time on the Dutch side to make any fair assessments, but we saw enough to know it would make for a more active vacation, and that we’ll try staying on that side some day. We did not get into any casinos or clubs, but I think it’s something we’d like to try.
Traffic is as ridiculous as ever (I guess). Bridge openings appear to have little to do with lines of cars winding their way through Grand Case and Marigot at just about any time of day. I think a lot of it has to do with uncontrolled intersections, and my two cents would say that a couple more traffic lights here and there would do wonders (albeit taking away from the “ambiance” that is St. Maarten).
And finally, I’ve saved the WORST for last – departure day. As departure days go, it wasn’t really a bad one. The flight to Atlanta wasn’t leaving until 4 PM giving us the better part of one last day to soak up the sun and ruminate about the great week we had. Cap Caraibes was kind enough to allow a 1 PM check out (as opposed to 11), so were up bright and early on the beach by 9. We decide to try a departure plan outlined here on occasion, that being to check in at the airport early, check the bags and return with the rental car to Sunset Beach bar for lunch and one last session of plane watching. When we saw the Delta flight land, we would be off. Everything worked like a charm, except traffic to the airport was as bad as ever and we wondering if we’d be able to pull it off. Worked out fine and we had plenty of time even after dropping off the phone with Sharon. The twist-and warning-comes with arrival into Atlanta. We did not realize that the airport there is set up in such a way that once you clear customs, you have to put your bags back on the luggage carousel even if you weren’t traveling onward. We were not, because just like going down, arrival into Atlanta was such that there were no more flights to Salt Lake at that hour (7 PM) so we had planned to spend the night. Not only did we have to claim our luggage TWICE, we had to go through security as if we were traveling for the simple privilege of picking up our bags. It took over an hour from when we placed our bags on the belt in the customs area to when they finally showed up in the main bag claim area. All told, we touched down in Atlanta at about 7 and were in our hotel room—5 minutes from the airport—at 9:45. At least we weren’t stuck in San Juan for 6 hours!
All in all, this was one fantastic vacation. I’m sorry to have droned on so long, but I hope that some of you - especially soon-to-be SXM first timers – found at least some of this helpful. Already counting days until the next visit. St. Maarten really did turn out to be all that you folks made it out to be. Thanks again for all your help, and I look forward to keeping in touch with all of you.
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