St. John VI restaurants

[Shelby]

Loved every minute of this!  Hope you got/are getting back home safely in the snow.  

[liuzhou]

6 minutes ago, liamsaunt said:

Thanks for looking.

 

Thanks for posting. A fascinating glimpse into a part of the world I knew nothing about.

[rotuts]

what a wonderful blog.  thank you.  takes the edge off Bad Weather .

 

Ill imagine the Food Pics later when Im outside in the blizzard.

Edited March 14, 2017 by rotuts (log)

[bonkboo]

3 hours ago, liamsaunt said:

 

 

Cinnamon Bay is in the midst of a major renovation.  The tents will now be larger "eco-tents" and the cabins are being expanded too.  Details on exactly how that is going to work are fuzzy--they cannot change the footprint as per National Park rules, so it sounds like they will be going up--with a lofted bedroom and possibly even a private bath.  Prices will rise accordingly of course.  My husband flat out refuses to camp, or even to glamp, so we won't ever be staying there.  I agree that Cinnamon is a gorgeous beach.  We did not visit this time because the North swell was up, but I'll be there a lot this summer.

 

 

 

 

I've been out to Reef Bay but not this time.  My husband is dealing with a pulled tendon in his ankle which would have made hiking down there impossible.  Fatty Cue is long gone.  It was actually called Fatty Crab.  I ate there around four times, but it never caught on with the locals.  My island friends thought it was funny that the restaurant was called Fatty Crab but they never served any crab there :-)  Skinny Legs is still going strong.  I am not a big fan--I don't eat red meat so my options there are pretty limited--but will probably go there this summer anyway.

 

I've been trying to track down a copy of Grandma Raised the Roof for quite a while with no luck. I know the story though.  Her house is still there!

 

Last meal....we headed back to Caneel Bay to take the ferry to the airport. We did not have a lot of time, so opted for some more sushi.  A repeat of the delicious yellowtail koi

 

 

A repeat of the tuna island salad

 

 

Tuna tataki

 

 

and tuna-crab wontons

 

 

and then it was time to go...

 

 

I'll pick this report back up again when I return this summer.   There will be a lot less fine dining and a lot more casual food and villa cooking, so you will get to see some new places.  Thanks for looking.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

@liamsaunt, thanks for the update on all things St. John.  As for Grandma Raised the Roof, my mother originally copied all the pages out of the local library.  I very unexpectedly found it on some rare book site for $10 and immediately scooped it up.  My mother had spent many years (pre search engines) looking to no avail.  Good luck.

[liamsaunt]

I'm back on St. John for two weeks, so will continue to update this thread.

 

 lunch at High Tide.  A blue drink, because why not?  It's vacation

 

 

conch fritters

 

 

Nachos

 

 

Taco salad

 

 

Fish tacos

 

 

 

fish and chips

 

 

Breakfast at Jakes with my niece.  Banana pancakes

 

 

Tomato, onion, and mushroom omelet

 

 

The bay we are staying on has wild peacocks.  They are beautiful but very loud!

 

 

Edited July 24, 2017 by liamsaunt (log)

[KennethT]

Love conch fritters!

[liamsaunt]

23 hours ago, KennethT said:

Love conch fritters!

 

We are making it a point to order them at every restaurant that offers them.  Battle conch fritter!

 

We are currently waiting out a rainstorm so I thought I would post an update.  Lunch at Shipwreck Landing

Cocktails

 

 

Conch fritters

 

 

My nephew's burger.  He can't have the fries here due to his crustacean allergy

 

 

Blackened mahi quesadilla

 

 

Key lime pie

 

[KennethT]

Love the conch fritter battle!

[liamsaunt]

Last night was one of our two planned fine dining experiences for this trip: Zozo's at the Sugar Mill.

 

Antipasto

 

 

Prosciutto-wrapped cambozola cheese

 

 

Meatball

 

 

Scallop Rockfeller

 

 

Burrata and melon

 

 

Bacon ravioli

 

 

 

Lobster dumplings

 

 

Wild mushroom paparadelle

 

 

Pistachio crusted mahi mahi

 

 

The best swordfish I have ever eaten-it was like butter

 

 

Banana nut semifreddo

 

 

Today battle conch fritter continues.

 

Edited July 26, 2017 by liamsaunt (log)

[Shelby]

One word:  YUM.

[KennethT]

Were the lobster ravioli made from Caribbean (spiny) lobster (with no claws) or "Maine" lobster (with claws)?  I loved the caribbean lobster when I had it down there especially when they were just pulled out of the water!

[kayb]

Oh, my. Lovely. Just lovely.

 

[Okanagancook]

DROOLE 

[liamsaunt]

On 7/26/2017 at 9:22 AM, KennethT said:

Were the lobster ravioli made from Caribbean (spiny) lobster (with no claws) or "Maine" lobster (with claws)?  I loved the caribbean lobster when I had it down there especially when they were just pulled out of the water!

 

Everything is made with the spiny Caribbean lobster.  I've seen quite a few while snorkeling.

 

Wednesday we had lunch at Mis Lucy's. Drinks

 

 

Johnnycakes

 

 

Conch fritters (of course!)

 

 

Grouper reuben

 

 

Quinoa-mango-coconut salad

 

 

Crunch fish sandwich

 

 

Burger

 

 

Yesterday we hired a boat.  Fruit in the morning

 

 

cheese in the afternoon

 

 

We stopped for lunch at a beach bar

 

 

View

 

 

Lionfish sandwich

 

 

grilled lionfish

 

 

mexibowl with beef

 

 

chicken tenders and fries (yes, this was one of the teen's meals)

 

 

 

Fried lionfish

 

 

We ordered takeout pizza for dinner from Pizza Pi, which is a sailboat anchored in Christmas Cove.  They deliver your pizza to your boat via dinghy.  It was pretty good pizza.  Plus pizza from a sailboat is cool.  Pesto

 

 

Pepperoni

 

 

 

 

Edited July 28, 2017 by liamsaunt (log)

[Smithy]

That looks wonderful - the food, the weather, the view....

 

When I see seafood dishes done like that, I wonder why I didn't think of it.  Mind you, I don't have ready access to scallops or lobster, so an attempt at scallops Rockefeller or lobster ravioli might be terribly expensive with little payoff - but oh, what a triumph if it works!

 

I thought lionfish were venomous, so i assumed they were not edible.  Is there more than one type of lionfish, or is this the sweet revenge of knowing how to kill and cook them with no ill effect?

[bonkboo]

Hungry and jealous!  Where is the beach bar?  Looks quintessentially St. John from my days back.  Love it.

[liamsaunt]

On 7/28/2017 at 4:44 PM, Smithy said:

 

I thought lionfish were venomous, so i assumed they were not edible.  Is there more than one type of lionfish, or is this the sweet revenge of knowing how to kill and cook them with no ill effect?

 

Only the spines are venomous, so those are removed while wearing special gloves and then the fish can be eaten.  And yes it is a sweet revenge.  Lionfish are horrible.  Beautiful to look at but they eat everything around them!

 

21 hours ago, bonkboo said:

Hungry and jealous!  Where is the beach bar?  Looks quintessentially St. John from my days back.  Love it.

 

Water Island.  

 

Last night was our final dinner out since we moved to a new, more remote location today.  I don't like to drive in the dark and this house is at least 20 minutes from restaurants so it will be lunches out only for this week.  More conch fritters :-)  We went to La Tapa.  Bread with various dipping sauces

 

 

Charcruterie plate

 

 

Cheese plate

 

 

Caesar salad

 

 

Mozzarella salad

 

 

Pork belly

 

 

Tuna

 

 

Passion fruit cheesecake

 

 

Bread pudding

 

 

We had to be out of our old house by 9AM and could not get in to the new one until 3PM so we went to breakfast at High Tide.  Coconut pancakes

 

 

Egg sandwich

 

 

Spinach mushroom and cheese omelet

 

 

Then we went to the beach for a while

 

 

And eventually ended up at Caneel Bay Resort for lunch.  My nephew was so excited because he could eat the fries here.  His crustacean allergy coupled with his love of fries can be a little challenging down here, but they cook all of the fish and shellfish in a separate kitchen here.

 

Trio of dips with breads

 

 

Conch fritters (naturally)

 

 

My nephew's burger.  It was Snake River Farms way.  Not too shabby

 

 

My brother's burger

 

 

The rest of us had sushi.  Tuna Island

 

 

Crunchy roll

 

 

Tuna niashi

 

 

Caribbean roll

 

 

Hmm...I forget what this was.  It had tuna, yellowtail, jalepeno and avocado

 

 

What do you eat for dinner after a day of eating like that?  Cheese and crackers at the villa

 

 

There are seven of us and I don't think we managed half of that plate.  No restaurants tomorrow, we are grilling.

 

Here's our view from the house.

 

 

[KennethT]

That's got to be the fanciest plate of conch fritters ever.

[Smithy]

Thanks for the information about lionfish.

 

No matter what I cook, it won't look as good as what y'all have been eating.  May I sneak into your luggage next time you go?

[bonkboo]

I agree with the difficulty of night driving there. Did it once from Cruz to Cinnamon.  Enough!

 

Guessing your beach shot is Hawksnest.  Yes?

 

Villa on East End?  Couldn't go there back during virtually all my visits.

[Thanks for the Crepes]

1 hour ago, Smithy said:

Thanks for the information about lionfish.

 

No matter what I cook, it won't look as good as what y'all have been eating.  May I sneak into your luggage next time you go?

 

Smithy,

 

I was also aware of the toxicity of the lionfish species I was familiar with through my long ago hobby of keeping fish in fresh water aquariums. I was drawn to many of the beautiful salt water species in the stores, but after finding out they were even more work and expensive to maintain than the freshwater ones, I abandoned my interest in getting a lionfish. I had the same questions you did and went to find out more. I think I read an article about the wildfife management authorities in Florida having a campaign to push for eating lionfish as a means of controlling an invasive species. I can't locate that article, but here is what wiki has to say on the matter.

[liamsaunt]

11 hours ago, KennethT said:

That's got to be the fanciest plate of conch fritters ever.

 

 

Haha I know right? But it's Caneel Bay after all.  :-)

 

9 hours ago, bonkboo said:

I agree with the difficulty of night driving there. Did it once from Cruz to Cinnamon.  Enough!

 

Guessing your beach shot is Hawksnest.  Yes?

 

Villa on East End?  Couldn't go there back during virtually all my visits.

 

No, we are much further out from Hawksnest.  The house is looking out over Francis Bay, which is two beaches further out than Cinnamon.  I've never stayed on the East End. Coral Bay a few times, but East End is so far from everything...

 

 

9 hours ago, Thanks for the Crepes said:

 

Smithy,

 

I was also aware of the toxicity of the lionfish species I was familiar with through my long ago hobby of keeping fish in fresh water aquariums. I was drawn to many of the beautiful salt water species in the stores, but after finding out they were even more work and expensive to maintain than the freshwater ones, I abandoned my interest in getting a lionfish. I had the same questions you did and went to find out more. I think I read an article about the wildfife management authorities in Florida having a campaign to push for eating lionfish as a means of controlling an invasive species. I can't locate that article, but here is what wiki has to say on the matter.

 

There is a campaign to sell Florida Lionfish for eating. My local (MA) Wegmans stocks it from time to time.  The sell it whole, despined of course. It's a very mild, flaky white fish so I could see it becoming popular once people get more familiar with it.  

[blue_dolphin]

I really, really want some conch fritters!

[Smithy]

5 hours ago, liamsaunt said:

There is a campaign to sell Florida Lionfish for eating. My local (MA) Wegmans stocks it from time to time.  The sell it whole, despined of course. It's a very mild, flaky white fish so I could see it becoming popular once people get more familiar with it.  

Thank you, and thanks also to Thanks for the Crepes for that information.  I'll start watching for it in the stores, especially when we travel to Florida.

[liamsaunt]

Yesterday we had lunch at Waterfront Bistro.  It was their last lunch before closing lunch service for the slow season, so they were out of a few things.  Their lunch menu is mostly specialty burgers.

 

Drinks

 

 

Juicy Lucy

 

 

Chicken pistachio goat cheese burger

 

 

Mac and cheese burger

 

 

My nephew's mac and cheese burger.  He can't have the fries due to his allergy so they gave him extra mac and cheese.  This plate was gone in less than five minutes and he claimed he was still hungry.  Have I mentioned that he is 6'2" and a beanpole?  He must have an extra stomach somewhere.

 

 

Tuna tacos