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Dining & Nightlife on St. Thomas

By Carol M. Bareuther, RD

Take your taste buds on a tour of the world while visiting the Virgin Islands. There's such a melting pot of cuisines that you can select something different each night of the week. For example, choose from Mediterranean, Chinese, Asian, Mexican, European, Southern Barbecue, American and Caribbean. Many chefs incorporate local ingredients — fresh fish like wahoo, dolphin or mahi mahi and tuna; Caribbean spiny lobster; fruits such as mangoes, papayas and limes; and locally grown organic greens — into their mouth-watering dishes.

No shirt, no shoes, no problem, mon! This relaxed rule applies to beach bars, although locals do appreciate when you wear a bathing suit cover-up to dine. At night, island casual is the "in" way to dress, especially at dinner. So, don your bold-colored print shirt and khakis or tropically inspired dress. Many white tablecloth eateries are set in remote or romantic locales. These range from hilltop hideaways overlooking the sea to the cozy confines of a historic sugar mill and beachside cafés where the sound of the surf serenades your meal. Reservations are not always required, but they are always appreciated.

Nightlife is quiet in the Virgin Islands and best found as part of your dining experience. Many restaurants offer live music — rock, reggae, Latin, soca, salsa, guitar and piano — on specific nights of the week. Some resorts host Caribbean Night shows that shouldn't be missed. These include fire-eaters, Mocko Jumbie stilt-walkers and steel pan bands along with pig roast buffets.

Do seek out a real taste of the Virgin Islands by sampling the local fare. There are many restaurants that specialize in West Indian cuisine. Mobile food vans, and even food fairs and food sales sponsored by community groups, are great places to find and sample authentic island dishes. Here's a primer of what you'll find on the menu:

Bullfoot Soup: This soupy stew is made with bull's feet, as the name implies, along with a medley of vegetables such as carrots, onions, yams, sweet potatoes and white potatoes.

Fungi: Stiff cornmeal mush made from finely milled cornmeal is the best way to describe this side dish. Often flecked with bits of fresh okra, fungi is the sidekick to boiled fish much as French fries partner with hamburgers. Fungi is also served rolled into a ball as a base for kallaloo.

Goat Water: Goat meat is this thick brown stew's main ingredient. Even though the flavor is quite robust, goat water is often enjoyed as a breakfast food.

Johnny Cakes: This deep-fried unleavened bread is a favorite breakfast food. It also makes a fulfilling meal sided up to fried fish and chicken legs.

Kallaloo: Long ago, indigenously-grown kallaloo leaves were used to make this green soupy stew, hence the dish's name. Today, kallaloo is based with spinach that is seasoned with pig tail, pig snout and other pig parts.

Pates: Don't think chicken or goose liver here, instead pate refers to hand-long fried turnovers with a spicy beef, chicken or conch — sometimes even tofu — filling encased in bread-like dough.

Potato Stuffing: Sweet and spicy, this side dish is usually served alongside roast pork, fried chicken or fish rather than used to stuff anything. White potatoes form the base with tomato paste, hot pepper sauce, raisins and olives stirred in for color and flavor.

Roti: The true definition of roti is a tortilla-type flat bread. However, roti on the menu most often means a sandwich where curried meat, poultry or seafood is wrapped inside the bread.

Whelks: A real delicacy, you'll find this large marine snail sizzled in garlic butter tucked into a hearty dish of flavorful rice.

Palate Pleasers on St. John

By Lynda Lohr

With numerous chefs trained at prestigious culinary schools heading south to cook at St. John restaurants, visitors will have no trouble finding delicious cuisine across the island. Cruz Bay has the most variety of restaurants, but visitors will find quite a number in the Coral Bay area as well as campgrounds and hotels.

Chefs seem to vie to see who can have the most imaginative and nicely presented dishes on the menu. The perennial Caribbean favorite, lobster, is served at many restaurants — but diners will also find such creative fare as roasted grouper with a pistachio crust served with a warm goat cheese and arugula salad, or a grilled veal chop dressed up with a pancetta and spinach gratin.

Casual restaurants put their own twists on everyday fare, so you might find your fish sandwich topped with mango chutney or your breakfast French toast with a taste of Bailey's Irish Cream.

It's easy to sample Caribbean food at tiny food stands tucked here and there around the island. Don't be put off by their rather pedestrian décor. You'll find everything from fresh fish swimming in a green pepper and onion creole sauce to that take-away favorite — pate. Pate in the Caribbean is a turnover-like affair filled with spices and conch, chicken or what the locals call meat and what mainlanders term ground beef. The pastry is deep fried and eaten hot or at room temperature.

Save room for dessert — it can be anything from a piece of pie, called a tart at West Indian restaurants, to a wedge of cake with a molten center.

As for nightlife, visitors will find easy listening music at places like Caneel Bay Resort. Folks who want to party will find a number of places in Cruz Bay and Coral Bay.

The crowd in their 20s gathers nightly at Woody's Seafood Saloon, located across from Subway restaurant in Cruz Bay, for happy hour and beyond.

Fred's, by day a very casual West Indian restaurant located across from Lemon Tree Mall in Cruz Bay, rocks several nights during the winter season with some of the island's best reggae bands.

And at the other end of the island in Coral Bay, Island Blues rounds out the nightlife scene with music several nights a week.

THE LIME INN
Lemontree Mall, Downtown Cruz Bay
(340) 776-6425, (340) 779-4199
www.thelimeinn.com
Entrées: $10 to $29
Entrée: Jerk seasoned, pan-seared fresh local whole red snapper cooked to perfection and served with wild blend rice
Wine: Cakebread Chardonnay

MORGAN'S MANGO
Across from the National Park Dock, Cruz Bay
(340) 693-8141
www.morgansmango.com
Entrées: $10 to $32
Entrée: Fresh local lobster and filet mignon served on a sweet potato tower and flavored with a sauce of parsley, garlic and extra-virgin olive oil
Wine: Lo Tengo Malbec

Dining Delights on St. Croix

By Chris Goodier

Savor a spiny lobster in an 18th-century courtyard, sample a saltfish pate from a festival vendor or devour a burger on the beach — St. Croix has palate possibilities to please everyone.

Crucian cooks serve kallaloo (a thick soup of spinach-like greens with bits of meat or crab), stew goat and conch in butter sauce accompanied by starchy favorites like sweet potato stuffing, Johnny cakes and macaroni with cheese. Many families share a Puerto Rican heritage that emerges when roast pork, black beans and plantain tostones are added to the menu on restaurants that cater to locals.

Even chefs who prepare French, Italian or other haute cuisines find a way to incorporate island-made hot sauces, rum and Caribbean fruit flavors. Luscious mangos grow abundantly here — the St. George Village Botanical Garden even throws a festival to honor the fruit each July. Conch turns up in fritters, salads and chowders, and the fresh catch of the day is likely to be wahoo, mahi mahi or yellowfin tuna.

Desserts are considered essential by sweet-toothed West Indians, so indulge in coconut ice cream, rum cake or Key lime pie. If you can find them, try homemade local favorites like crumbly guava-filled tarts and super sweet, many-layered Vienna cake — frosted and filled with preserves.

Even the most elegant establishments are casual so you can leave the tie behind, but bring along a light wrap for air conditioning or cool, breezy evenings. And be sure to make reservations — popular spots fill quickly.

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