St. John VI restaurants

[Smithy]

Oh, I need this virtual trip! Thanks for the gorgeous photos!

[Smithy]

Suppose you wanted to make shellfish fritters in an attempt to approximate conch fritters. How would you go about it? And what sort of dipping sauce would you use?

[KennethT]

7 minutes ago, Smithy said:

Suppose you wanted to make shellfish fritters in an attempt to approximate conch fritters. How would you go about it? And what sort of dipping sauce would you use?

First, find the rubbery-est seafood you can find.  Second, grind or chop it into small chunks and mix with a thick batter...  sorry, kidding... I couldn't resist.

 

Seriously - I think you could make a good version with shrimp.  Dipping sauce is usually mayo based.  You could also use like a tartar sauce.

[heidih]

41 minutes ago, Smithy said:

Suppose you wanted to make shellfish fritters in an attempt to approximate conch fritters. How would you go about it? And what sort of dipping sauce would you use?

A recipe is in An Embarrassment of Mangoes - I'll see if I have it on my shelves or if it is unfortunately boxed and trapped in garage,

[heidih]

35 minutes ago, KennethT said:

First, find the rubbery-est seafood you can find.  Second, grind or chop it into small chunks and mix with a thick batter...  sorry, kidding... I couldn't resist.

 

Seriously - I think you could make a good version with shrimp.  Dipping sauce is usually mayo based.  You could also use like a tartar sauce.

 

I'd go in the direction of calamari steaks as the seafood. More along the conch texture line.

[heidih]

@Smithy It was in The Spice Necklace. Conch referred to as lambi. Must be well pounded and then  chopped into bits as she was told it swells up if not pounded even though chopped in bits and messes up your fritter. My wording of her recipe:

1 lb. conch tenderized and chopped finely

2 green onions finely chopped

1 T fresh thyme minced

1 clove garlic minced

1/4 to 1/2 Scotch bonnet or other hot pepper minced

1/2 small green bell pepper (ackk)

1 T cilantro minced

 tsp grated lime zest

2 T lime juice

Mix above and proceed to dry ingredients:

1-1/2 c AP flour

1T baking powder

1 tsp salt

black pepper as you think

Combine and mix into wet ingredients

Batter:

4 eggs separated

Beat the yolks with 1/4 c white wine and 1/4 c water

t

Mix into the seafood

Beat whites to soft peak stage.  Mix 1/4 of it into the seafood and then fold in the rest (like souffle technique)

Drop by ample T into hot oil until nicely browned. Drain and serve with hot pepper sauce She offers the alternate of using cooked shrimp or lobster

 

 

[liamsaunt]

On 1/16/2022 at 11:22 AM, Smithy said:

Suppose you wanted to make shellfish fritters in an attempt to approximate conch fritters. How would you go about it? And what sort of dipping sauce would you use?

We make them at home with chopped sea clams sometimes. You want a chewy texture.  It usually comes with a remoulade style sauce. Some people serve the clam cakes with tartar sauce but I do not like that. 
 

Sunday got derailed because I came down with some sort of 24 hour stomach bug. I gave up and went to sleep around 4pm and did not wake up until Monday morning! I felt well enough to go to a later dinner last night. My husband rescheduled Sunday’s dinner to Thursday.  I am blaming drinking the cistern water. We were told it was triple filtered but have switched to bottled water anyway.

 

We did get to the beach for a while yesterday afternoon. The swell is up so snorkeling is not great right now. The water was nice, though a rogue wave stole my sunglasses haha 

 

 

 

Last night was the full moon. Rising across the bay from our house:
 

 

We let my niece choose dinner so of course she wanted sushi. We let her pick everything and she basically only likes the tuna and salmon dishes, so not the most exciting. Plus it was very dark. 

 

Cocktails for husband and sister

 

chopped tuna with garlic

 

 

chopped tuna with avocado and dynamite sauce

 

 

salmon roll

 

 

Spicy tuna tempura roll

 

volcano roll

 

 

tempura lobster roll

 

 

coconut cake for my niece

 

[weinoo]

On 1/16/2022 at 10:32 AM, KennethT said:

First, find the rubbery-est seafood you can find.  Second, grind or chop it into small chunks and mix with a thick batter...  sorry, kidding... I couldn't resist.

 

Seriously - I think you could make a good version with shrimp.  Dipping sauce is usually mayo based.  You could also use like a tartar sauce.

 

The problem, of course, is if made with shrimp it might actually taste good.

[KennethT]

1 hour ago, weinoo said:

 

The problem, of course, is if made with shrimp it might actually taste good.

I love a good conch fritter!!!

[Duvel]

1 hour ago, liamsaunt said:

dynamite sauce

Dynamite sauce ?!

[heidih]

2 hours ago, Duvel said:

Dynamite sauce ?!

Around here it is just mayo with some sriracha mixed in. 

[gfweb]

On first glance I always read "St. John VI" like its a pope

 

[TicTac]

On 1/16/2022 at 11:08 AM, heidih said:

 

I'd go in the direction of calamari steaks as the seafood. More along the conch texture line.

Good idea.  Amazingly we can get live conch here (Canada eh!?).  My suggestion as a substitute if you can find it would be arctic surf clams.  VERY similar in texture. 

 

edit: @liamsaunt already offered this suggestion, clearly I should read the entire thread before replying!  Oh well, great minds and all that jazz...

Edited January 18, 2022 by TicTac (log)

[rotuts]

 BTW:  John VI ( 701 - 705 ) was not a Saint .

 

and yes , I had to look it up

 

Popes in this era were a Motley Crew.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Idiots-Guide-Popes-Papacy/dp/0028642902

[liamsaunt]

On 1/18/2022 at 1:07 PM, gfweb said:

On first glance I always read "St. John VI" like its a pope

 

 

I stuck that there because there is also a St. John Antigua. People confuse the two often.  In fact this trip at the airport the ticket agent questioned why my sister did not show her passport since we were traveling to an international destination (no passport need for here but yes for Antigua). This summer my niece’s approval to enter was held up because they thought she was somehow coming from St John Antigua! 

Yesterday’s beach

 

 

 

The setting for yesterday’s lunch

 

 

Niece’s johnnycakes

 

 

More conch fritters. We are firmly in the “love them” camp

 

 

Crunchy fried grouper sandwich

 

 

West Indian fish fry plate.  My niece filched one of my plantains, the bugger.
 

 

 

[Smithy]

I've never had (or seen) Johnnycakes, but from a New England contact I thought they were much flatter than what you show! Can you describe the Johnnycakes in your last post more thoroughly? What was a the exterior like? Was there a filling?

[liamsaunt]

6 hours ago, Smithy said:

I've never had (or seen) Johnnycakes, but from a New England contact I thought they were much flatter than what you show! Can you describe the Johnnycakes in your last post more thoroughly? What was a the exterior like? Was there a filling?

At home they are more like pancakes made with cornmeal. Here, they resemble fried dough or fry bread. They are deep fried and there is no filling. They are served with melted butter and honey. The exterior is crunchy and the inside is soft and fluffy.

 

Last night, we had dinner at Zozos at Caneel Bay. Caneel still has not been rebuilt since the hurricanes in 2017, but one area near the beach has been redeveloped for the restaurant. You have to park at the outer gate to the resort and take a shuttle down to the restaurant—you cannot walk though the grounds.  You also still cannot walk down on to the beach as debris has still not been cleared. It was really sad to see the remains of the resort and the damage to the one beach area we could see (there are seven beaches on the property). My husband and I made many happy memories there over the years. I am still hopeful that it will eventually reopen one day. 
 

The dock is still standing, though it is closed to the public. You can be dropped off if you have a dinner reservation, but not to visit the beach or grounds.  This was our view when we sat down.  

 

 

The menu is a four course prix fixe, and it starts with a shared antipasto

 

 

Next course was a choice of salad or pasta. We all chose pasta. Niece got the carbonara

 

 

Everyone else had the wild mushroom pappardelle

 

 

At this point we saw a lovely sunset. An egret on the beach

 

 

 

Peach sorbet palate cleanser. This was really intense and delicious. 

 

 

my niece had a braised short rib with cabbage and polenta

 

 

My sister and I both got branzino with white asparagus, lemon risotto and chimichurri

 

 

And my husband had lobster panzanella

 

 

For dessert my niece opted for the chocolate cake (of course)

 

 

Everyone else had the coconut mango  panna cotta

 

 

I need to go for a very long beach walk today to work off this meal! 

[Smithy]

Thanks for the explanation about the Johnny cakes; I'm glad to know my memory of the New England version wasn't off. Thanks also for these beautiful and inspiring photos. So many interesting and delicious combinations of food! Coconut mango panna cotta! Now why didn't I think of that? Chimichurri with fish! Why haven't I thought of that? and so on. I need to come to topics like this when I'm looking for inspiration.

[Dr. Teeth]

I’m not working from home with my kids who are home on a snow day and super jealous or anything.

 

Grouper sandwich was what put me over.   Looks fantastic.   Thank you for sharing.

[BeeZee]

Between this thread, and the thought of a co-worker en route to Scottsdale...I'm hating the winter just a little bit more (as I sit here at home in my sherpa fleece lined sweatpants).

[Dr. Teeth]

On 1/16/2022 at 10:22 AM, Smithy said:

Suppose you wanted to make shellfish fritters in an attempt to approximate conch fritters. How would you go about it? And what sort of dipping sauce would you use?

Scungilli is conch, if I’m not mistaken.    I use canned for seafood salad.   La Monica brand is fairly good, I’m sure it would work in a fritter.

[liamsaunt]

I do not have any beach photos from yesterday because we were lazy and stayed at the house. We usually do at least one “villa gravity” day on our trips. It is nice to just sit out, look at the view and read books.

 

I did go down for a couple of shoreline walks as the day went on, so here are some views from that.

 

 

 

My niece really enjoys steak, and my husband heard about a newish steakhouse in town, so we decided to try it. It was empty when we got there but filled quickly

 

 

Shared cheeseboard

 

 

My husband and I shared some coconut shrimp with chipotle aioli.  The menu said it had local salad greens with it. I guess that lone leaf counts haha. This was really tasty. 

 

 

My sister and I do not eat red meat so got fish. She had a special of coconut crusted mahi mahi with lentils and chimichurri

 

 

I had local tuna with coconut brown rice, Thai shrimp sauce and mango chutney. This was excellent.

 

 

My niece and husband got rib eyes, plus some truffle mac and cheese and a salad to split.  My husband added a local lobster tail to his order as well. 
 

 

niece wanted dessert so we got two to share, a pineapple apple crumble and an orange crème brûlée with chocolate cookies.

 

 

 

The ocean swell has been up all week so we are driving to the other side of the island to see if we can finally snorkel on our last full day. I am coming back with just my husband for two weeks in May-June so if it does not work out today I will not be too upset. 

[liamsaunt]

Last installment for this visit. We went to the furthest point of the island to go snorkeling

 

 

It was good but we were not able to stay out too long because my wetsuit is too large for me now and I got cold.  I need to get a smaller one when we get home. 
 

lunch was back at the same place as earlier this week.

 

 

 

fried plantains

 

 

more conch fritters (of course)

 

 

crunchy grouper sandwiches all around

 

 

Afternoon beach time

 

 

later that night we went to Longboard for some light bites. Drinks for husband and sister

 

 

fried calamari

 

 

wahoo seveche

 

 

torched salmon crudo

 

 

Vietnamese rice noodle bowl with local tuna

 

 

salmon poke bowl

 

 

tropical poke bowl with more tuna

 

 

mahi mahi sliders

 

 

and that concludes this trip. I am heading home to a broken heating system 😞. Nest tells me my house is 45 degrees 😑☹️  Luckily my mom is meeting the heating company for me in a few minutes and hopefully it will be fixed before we get home.  
 

Final picture: one of the two rescue kitties we are transporting back to Boston on my flight.  My niece is lobbying hard to adopt them!

 

Edited January 22, 2022 by liamsaunt (log)

[kayb]

I add my vote for adoption to that of your niece.

 

A lovely break from the cold. Thanks for taking us along!

[rotuts]

wonderful trip

 

thank you for taking us along

 

its wonderful two kitties are going to have fine

 

forever homes.