St Barts Trip Report

July 13 - 21

We are back from another (somewhat busy) week on SBH. The island is working overtime to get ready for the season and I hope for everyone that the road construction wraps up soon (which it appears to be doing). With a few stop lights and one lane roads in St. Jean, SBH can feel as crowded in October as it does in February.

Getting to St Barts:
We arrived on an American flight in SXM as early as we ever have ñ around 12:30. The only problem ñ Winair cancelled all of the earlier flights to SBH until about 2:30 so we had a fair amount of down time in SXM. Made it to SBH by about 2:45.

Highlights of our trip:
As always, the highlights almost always involve the wonderful people we meet or reunite with on St. Barths. It was a blast showing all the restaurant owners a working copy of the book -- everyone was fantastically enthusiastic. We also had the pleasure of having lunch at Andy's (any meal at Andy's is always fun) with LauraB and her husband Josh, who were on their second trip to the island. It was a great time and great to meet them both.

We also had the pleasure, as I mentioned before, of spending time with Susan (of Funny Face Books) and Pascal (of St. Barths Wine Consultants) on a couple of different occasions. We had drinks (we took Pascal's wine suggestions of course) at K'fe massai with both of them the night before we left - K'fe massai has done a lovely job with the interior (and preserved many a palm tree). As I have said before, Susan and Pascal are both incredibly nice people. Susan's bookstore is great - is it is cool oasis (across from Le Select) with a lovely selection of books (and this is a book store with ethics -- there was a novel written recently about SBH that she was encouraged to stock (and pretty much anything down there about SBH is going to be a best seller for her) that she decided not to because it wasn't a book she could recommend.) The point - if you buy a book in her shop you are going to get something great. I urge everyone to stop by - she is a great source of information about the island and truly "living the dream" - making a go of it in paradise with her own business - it is fantastic. Pascal also told us about a new service he will be offering - he is purchasing some fancy, portable wine coolers which he will deliver to villas stocked full of perfectly chilled wine - always a good thing.

We also met, for the first time, Rosita Magras thanks to TMinatra. Rosita (aka 007) is as charming as everyone as has indicated and the "Magras spread" in Colombier (which includes Rosita's lovely villa BAL as well as her sister-in-law's place CLO) is quite impressive with wonderful views of the sea.

On the restaurant front there is some sad news -- Gommier and New Born will be closed this year (with plans to reopen in a year). Also - Kiki Barjettas, the sensational chef and wonderful soul, of La Mandala and Do Brazil, has bought his own place north of Normandy which he plans to open in a few years (his long-time friend boubou will be doing the decorating for him). Kiki will be back, however, for the opening of Do Brazil (the 4th of Nov.) and La Mandala (the 6th I believe) and periodically throughout the season. Boubou has brought in a great Michelin-starred chef from France to follow in Kiki's footsteps.

Speaking of boubou - he told us a great story about flying with Remy de haenen (the first pilot to land on SBH many years back) a while ago to SBH. During the flight, Remy fell asleep at the wheel. Boubou thought he was dead. Not to worry, however, Remy ultimately woke up and all was well (although it was Boubou's last flight with Remy).

As for our dining experiences - the highlight was a lunch at La Langouste. Annie has a new chef from LA (he's French - not to worry) and the food was wonderful and perhaps a bit more elegant than in the past. The goat cheese salad and stuffed conch were real favorites.

Another nice meal was Route des Boucaniers - the price fixe menu for 28 euros includes a sampling of seven (or in my case eight!) different appetizers ñ it is wonderful (albeit a tad filling). The rest of the food (stuffed mahi mahi, octopus stew) was excellent as well.

Andy's - what can we say - we love this place. Great accra and fantastic salad and pizza (not to mention Mr. Hall who is always a true delight).

Au Port - mentioned this before but it is worth mentioning again ñ great escargot tatin.

Le Repaire - kind of disappointing this time - less than memorable food (maybe the time of year)

Chez Joe ñ yep ñ we ate at the airport before catching our flight. Unfortunately, there arenít any speakers to announce the flights up on the 2nd floor and we almost missed it (would that have been so bad?) Food is fine (Better than the plane) but nothing special

Haute Maison - not a restaurant but we ate a few lunches and dinners here (as I mentioned the Match was stocked in a way that is normally reserved for high season - it was great) This villa has a beautiful new infinity pool which we really enjoyed (October is on the hot side) and we found it hard to tear ourselves away.

Ultimately, it was a busy week and everyone is really gearing up for the season (by mid-November everything should be open). There is a real concern on the island given the weakness of the dollar v. the euro but everyone is hoping for a good year (it is nice to know that the folks of SBH are hoping for an increase in the value of the dollar isn't it?). We took a number of pictures of paradise which we'll get up soon.

 

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