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St Maarten/St Martin |
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ISLAND
NEWS
Apologies: While we are at it, apologies go
out to the people who got an extra copy of the newsletter last week. We had
guests last week and were celebrating his 50th birthday for the
entire week. It appears I got up and went to the computer one morning
before I woke up.
Weather and
Beaches: Saturday was pretty good, a bit cloudy, especially later
in the day. Sure enough, on Sunday the island was covered with grey clouds and a
couple waves of tropical storms sent the tourists working on their morning
tans scattering. By 10AM blue sky appeared and we spent the afternoon on
Cupecoy watching six foot rollers eat away at our beach. Pretty cloudy on
Monday, but warm. Tuesday and Wednesday were more of the same, but by Wednesday
it was mostly sunny and quite warm. We did go out to Orient and were impressed
with the amount of sand in the middle of the beach (near Pirate). Thursday and Friday were great beach days. Friday at
Cupecoy found the waters clear and calm for great snorkeling. Saturday has
dawned fairly clear.
Photo feature: There are some photos of
the gardens at Sapphire at a secret location not posted here. Subscribe to the newsletter to get the location.
It has been a fairly rainy and warm winter so they are beautiful.
Wines: The Thursday wine tasting at Vinissimo has faded, much like
the tourist population. Sylvain and Marina are still happy to offer a few
samples to customers, however. Print out the coupon on the Vinissimo website and stop in.
Groceries: We went to US
Import at Magasin du Pont in Sandy Ground to get some cheese and pate for
lunch. The Cheese
Primer by Steven Jenkins says that Chaource, a cow's milk cheese from
the Champagne region, is similar to brie in recipe and butterfat, and
in its aged state is quite creamy, but so fragile that few importers
bring it into the US. We found some from Hugerot, a favored producer, in the
case at the rear of the store. We also found three round wheels, about 2 inches
in diameter, of St Marcellin. Both were great at lunch, but Jenkins
recommends the Chaource with Champagne. For our birthday boy guest, we got some
duck breasts for dinner with a 96 Volnay from Bouchard, but before that there
will be Chaource with Champagne. The combination was fabulous, but we suggest
you don't wait until your fiftieth birthday.
CONTEST
Temptation Restaurant is sponsoring
the current contest, which will run until 16 May. Just click
their name to go to their website, find the link
to sign up for the SXM-Info newsletter, click it, sign up, and you are
entered. Obviously everybody that is getting this email is already signed
up for the newsletter, but you are not automatically signed up for the contest.
You do have to go to their website and click the email link to show you visited
their site. Tell me you are already on our mailing list, and I'll leave you
signed up for the newsletter and just add your name to the contest list. You
could win a $100 toward a great meal at Temptation.
Here is the list of future sponsors.
We urge you all to sign up ONCE for each contest. Our clients want you to see
what they have to offer. Go to their websites at the appropriate time, click the
link, and you could be a winner. Look for future gift certificates
from:
Vacation Suites - 17 May to 30 June - prize: 1 free week over the summer!
L'Auberge Gourmande - 1 July to 15 August - $100 off a meal for two
Sunset Café - 16 August to 30 September - $100 off a meal for two
Montmartre Restaurant - 1 October to 15 November - $100 off a meal for two
Sealine Charters - 16 November to 15 December
Chez Pat/Tropical Wave - 16 December to 6 January - $100 off a day at the beach: food, drinks, chairs, windsurf lessons, etc
Vacation Suites - 17 May to 30 June - prize: 1 free week over the summer!
L'Auberge Gourmande - 1 July to 15 August - $100 off a meal for two
Sunset Café - 16 August to 30 September - $100 off a meal for two
Montmartre Restaurant - 1 October to 15 November - $100 off a meal for two
Sealine Charters - 16 November to 15 December
Chez Pat/Tropical Wave - 16 December to 6 January - $100 off a day at the beach: food, drinks, chairs, windsurf lessons, etc
Marci's Mega Gym - 7 January to 27
January 2005 - a week of gym usage for two
California Restaurant - 28 January to 17 February 2005
Escargot
Restaurant - 18 February to 4 March 2005
Hot Tomatoes - 5 March to 26 March 2005
Hot Tomatoes - 5 March to 26 March 2005
The Horny Toad Guesthouse - 27 March to 24 April 2005 - seven low season days for
the price of five
Celine Pub
Crawl - 25 April to 5 June 2005 - two tickets
on the Lagoon Pub Crawl
Another contest:
Hot Tomatoes has a contest
on their website to kick off their combination lagoon cruise/dinner
package. You can now take sunset lagoon cruise on White
Octopus and follow it up with a dinner at
Hot
Tomatoes. They are giving away a two pizza dinner
with a bottle of red, but you have to go to the website, click the comments link, and
send in some comments. Somebody's going to get two pizzas with a
bottle of red just for saying something that tickles our fancy. I talked to Brad
last night and we're looking for 25 entries. As soon as we get 25, we'll post
them, and pick a winner. While you are there, look over Brad's site, check out
the coupon, and take a look at the White
Octopus. We have almost
enough entries, but there is room for a few more.
Previous contest:
Vincent of Thai Garden reports that David Debes, the
winner, sent his son and daughter, who had a wonderful time. Their 15
minutes of fame is now assured by the photo on the site.
RESTAURANTS
On 17 April the
euro was at 1.193 and today it's at 1.188. Still not
much going on there, but it's still heading in the right direction. French side
restaurants with many costs in dollars and many American (or Canadian) clients
have been offering more favorable exchange rates. Some restaurants offer
a 1 to 1 exchange. This list includes California,
Escapade, Balaou, Santal, Enoch's Place, Au Beaujolais,
Rainbow, Oizeau Rare, Pirate on Orient (not Repaire du Pirate in
Grand Case), Restaurant du Soliel, Pedro's (priced in dollars - no conversion
ever), Saint Germain, and Paradise View.
I have taken Petite Auberge des Iles
off the list because I so no sign to that effect as we walked by on our way to
Belle Epoque on Monday. the prices were all in
euros and were all quite good. This is why I say you should know what the euro
is worth. Some places have lowered prices. It appears that this lovely spot on
the marina and Bistrot Caraibes have done so.
Many restaurants will offer you a
better rate than you can get on your credit card, so you can allow them to
convert and charge in dollars. Note that California only offers 1 to 1 on cash
purchases. Some restaurants have lowered their prices. As always,
know what the euro is worth, what the restaurateur is offering for an exchange,
and what the costs are on the menu. Finally, you are here to have fun and fine
food, not complex financial calculations, so don't worry about it too
much.
On Saturday night we went
to Rainbow Café. We hadn't been there
since December and when I called Nori over for a wine consultation he replied
that we had drunk the 2001 Mercurey premier cru Clos Paradis Domaine
Voarick ($40) on our last visit. I do like a good waitstaff and Rainbow has one
of the best. We ordered the wine and moved on to a baked St Marcellin cheese
with greens, tomatoes, and egg; a Caesar salad, and sea scallops wrapped in
bacon with wakame seaweed in a light curry sauce. The first ap (and a similar
one at Escapade earlier in the year)
convinced us to buy the St Marcellin at US Import on Sunday. Sea scallops and
bacon are a classic dish and the addition of a light curry sauce with crunchy
wakame seaweed is great. Our dinners were sea bass on a bed of artichoke hearts
with braised endive and tomatoes with a balsamic
drizzle, sesame-crusted seared tuna with a rice cracker with oriental
vegetables in a ponzu sauce, and veal chop
with grain mustard sauce and garlic mashed potatoes. The quality of the
ingredients was top-notch, absolutely fresh fish and a fabulous piece of veal.
The sauces were wonderful and the accompaniments were very good. The
birthday boy had a bread pudding for dessert while the rest of the table had
cognac and cheered him on. After dinner we repaired to the upstairs deck to gaze
out at Anguilla and enjoy the soft night air with our cognac. A great night with
a bill at about $350 with a well deserved extra tip, but they do offer
$1=1€.
On Monday we went
to Belle Epoque for an inexpensive
night on the Marigot Marina. The wine of the night was a 22€ Cru Beaujolais,
Brouilly. Pretty good stuff and quite good with some marinated mussels and
salmon on a bed of greens. We moved on to dinners of veal liver with a tomato,
onions, olive oil, and parsley sauce and a side of mashed; chicken breast bits
with mushrooms in a cream sauce with broccoli, carrots, and fried potatoes; a
tuna steak with anchoiade (tomato, garlic, anchovy, and herbs) with rice,
carrots, and broccoli; and a four seasons pizza. No complaints all around. The
tuna was sashimi quality and quite tasty in its sauce. The chicken dish was
well-conceived and quite tasty. Beef liver is liver and if you like it, also
quite good. I cannot comment on the first half of the pizza, but it made an
excellent breakfast. The profiteroles vanished before I could have any, so I
must assume that they were well-received. All this with good, though fast,
efficient, but still friendly service in a very busy place. When you sell food
this good in a lively atmosphere on the water (ok, marina) at only $170 for four
with two bottles of wine, you can expect to be busy. Most main courses
hover around the 20€ mark, many below.
On Tuesday the birthday boy played golf and
the rest of us had a shopping day in Pburg. We had a long chat with JP and Vero
at Antoine
Restaurant. She had clipped the Front Street
Beautification article from the Daily Herald. They will be planting 300
royal palm trees and upgrading the sidewalks and streetlights from Holland House
to Sea Palace. This is in addition to the extension of the boardwalk from the
Captain Hodge Wharf to the Sea View Hotel. It's all supposed to be finished
before the next high season. The women were shopping so I strolled down the
street and found one of the first casualties of this new round
of Pburg improvement. It seems some landlords are upgrading their
properties and some shops and restaurants will be closed for a time. they
have been offered options on the new improved space, but there are lots of
questions and at least a year with no home.
We all met up back at Antoine
Restaurant and all of us had Salades
Niçoise and a bottle of white burgundy with a large bottle of water on a hot and
muggy day. It's a great way to loaf away the heat of the day, gazing out at the
huge cruiseships on the left and the 12-metre boats zipping by in the
foreground.
That evening we got out to Grand Case for
the penultimate Harmony Night. As usual, we arrived early to get a parking spot
in the lot across from Nettuno and walked down to Domaine de L'Amandier to
watch the sunset and drink a bottle of Bourgogne Aligoté. Cedric assured us that
the sun set behind the wall of clouds and I guess he was right as it did get a
bit darker. That is our signal that the 6:00PM start of festivities, may
actually be happening as the sun sets at about 6:30. There was a pretty good
jazz group at the lolos and Pedrin Pacheco was playing down by La Marine where we picked up
a bottle of chardonnay and plastic cups. As we walked back to our 8PM
reservation at Bistrot Caraibes, we saw The Boys
arriving. That would be spot on time for a Caribbean String Band.
Our table was ready and we sat down to a
bottle of Crozes-Hermitage, a well-mannered Rhone that played nice with the
smoked salmon, frog legs, and goat cheese and smoked duck in puff pastry on
a bed of greens. Our dinners were sea bass, parmentier (grilled sea scallops and
bacon on a bed of mashed potatoes in an aromatic reduction sauce), red snapper,
and lamb chops with crisp butter beans in a reduction sauce. The quality of the
dinner reminded our guests of why this is the only restaurant that they
specifically requested. Another bottle of the C-H was required and dinner ended
with a hot chocolate cake with hazelnut ice cream and coffee sauce and a few
Armagnacs.
The next Harmony Night, 27 April,
will be the last.
We went to Orient for lunch at
Pirate. The tuna salad was only $6, conch
salad is only $8, and two pieces of grilled swordfish with rice and peas and
salad was only $12. Lunch for four on the beach was only $40. good food and a
great view of a rather large beach with Green Cay in the background.
However, it was cloudy and windy, so we passed on the offer of two chairs, an
umbrella, and two drinks for $14.
Dinner on our
friend's final night was at Mario's Bistro. The website is a bit slow in
coming, but the food is still great. They had mussels so the
usual mussel special was available as an ap or a main course: lovely
mussels in a tomato broth with cheese. Martyne told me a while ago that these
are PEI mussels, which goes along with their French-Canadian heritage. We had
four amazing dinners: snapper on a crab risotto with a lemon and butter sauce,
peppered swordfish with braised leeks, scallops with mashed potatoes laced with
crab and drizzled with white truffle oil, and tuna on a bed of gnocchi with a
light tomato sauce. We had a bottle of Drouhin's 99 Pommard ($58) to help
celebrate the birthday boy's special day and tapered off to the Mercurey for the
end of the meal. A candle arrived in his very tasty apple tart as we enjoyed Ch
Fontpinot cognac. With the expensive wine, our bill reached $290, but the food
was great and the service was spectacular.
We used Hot
Tomatoes as our departure lounge. We took our
guests to the airport two and a half hours before their Continental
flight and they whisked through all the lines in about 15 minutes. We
arrived at Hot
Tomatoes at noon, ordered a Hot
Tomatoes burger, a St Maarten strong man pizza (steamed fresh
spinach, roasted garlic, smoked mozzarella, tomatoes, basil, and extra virgin
olive oil), and an Anguillan Piggy Pie with a bottle of the Parallele 45 Cotes
du Rhone. We had the leftover pizza boxed up for breakfast and the $75 bill
paid by 1 PM. We went to the parking lot (ample parking is a wonderful thing
here in Simpson Bay), hopped in the car, and in five minutes our guests were
heading through immigration.
Friday night we had a cocktail
party at Bliss for sponsors of the St Maarten Open Golf Tournament. They get
about 100 golfers from here, other islands, and even a few tourists to compete
for some prizes, but the real deal is that everyone is supposed to bid at a
silent auction for all the things that various businesses have
donated. All the proceeds go to charity. I won't pretend that the finger food at
a cocktail party is representative of the chef's capabilities, so we can skip
the food chat, but this location is spectacular. The beauty of the place is that
they are just a few steps to the water and only a couple feet
above it, with a lovely view to the south and west. Unfortunately, Luis
didn't do the area any favors coming in from the east in 95, but when Lenny spun
in off the Yucatan in 99, this area was a disaster.
After cocktails we dropped in on Montmartre Restaurant. They have several tables
outside and, without reservations, we were quite happy to sit out there. Soon,
the planting boxes will be filled with shrubs and it will be a lovely area. We
merely had a bottle of the 97 Beaune Champ Pimont ($45) and two specials:
capon leg and thigh stuffed with foie gras and liver and a sirloin steak with
oyster mushrooms and Béarnaise sauce. The wine is quite nice, especially after
it warms up a bit from the refrigerated storage temperature. It was great with
the full flavors of these two dishes. Service was good, even though the
restaurant was packed. The two main waiters, Olivier and Arsene, are among the
best on the island and a third (Mark) is in training. There is a bartender and
Karen runs the front of the house. By the end of the evening, her husband Pascal
had come over from L'Auberge Gourmande and
Sunset Café in Grand Case.
BARGAINS
We will be leaving the island
in a couple weeks. Our one bedroom condo will be available for rent until
we return in mid-December. Last year we replaced the microwave with a new GE
Advantium model and this year we replaced the refrigerator and dishwasher. The
unit was painted. New drapes were put in front and back. All the upholstery was
recovered and a new cover was put on the king size bed. We rent it for
$1000 per week and throw in a $50 voucher on a dinner for two at either
Hot
Tomatoes or Sitar. As a special offer for newsletter
subscribers, we'll take another $50 off for any reservations made before we
leave the island on 10 May. The rest of May is lovely and our on-island friends
tell us that June is calm and quiet. July is largely taken already and August is
when the French arrive for their month's holiday, so the restaurants are all
open. September is probably the hottest and wettest month, so many restaurateurs
close and take their vacations. We have been here in October and November and
loved it. By then the restaurateurs are back and trying out new ideas. Go over
to our website, check out the unit and its
fabulous views, check the calendar for availability, and send us an email if you
are interested.
Look on the SXM-Restaurants
website for a list of all restaurants that have coupons for some freebie. There
are several coupons there to make your vacation a bit cheaper.
Vinissimo has added a coupon
offering a 10% discount on all purchases.
L'Esperance
Hotel (www.LesperanceHotel.com) in Philipsburg is bargain at $65 per night for a
1BR suite with a kitchen. It's not on the water, but they have a
pool.
Delfina
(www.SXM-Hotels.com/delfina) charges $135 per night for a double and includes two breakfasts
and evening cocktails. They are in the Cupecoy area, not on the beach, but close
enough to walk and they have a pool.
The Banana Cabana
(www.SXM-hotels.com/index.html#bc), a
one bedroom studio on the lagoon in Cupecoy, is only $695 for the week all taxes
and service included. Flash news announcement: this rate has just increased
$5?
California
(www.SXM-hotels.com/california has two
apartments for rent that are right on the water in Grand Case. The one
bedroom, sleeps four, is $750 (dropping to $550 soon) and the two bedroom,
sleeps six, maybe more, is $1100 for the week (dropping to $900
soon).