Susan & I had a wonderful time in St Martin, 10 - 17 November. We stayed at Green Cay Village [Linked Image], rented a Mazda from Marius of St Louis Car Rental [Linked Image], and didn’t see too many naked people north of Pedro’s after 9:30 a.m.<br>    Rather than repeat so much of the good information already available here, I will concentrate on my experiences as a vegetarian diner on the island. My goal was to have a great restaurant experience each night, both for myself (someone who eats dairy products but not meat or fish) and for my wife (who enjoys all food). By paying close attention to posts on this board for several months (especially slowhand’s recent poll), reviewing the archived trip reports, and also checking out the Fodor’s, Frommer’s, and Lonely Planet guidebooks, I developed a list of 27 restaurants I might want to visit. To make this list more manageable, I eliminated all restaurants outside of the Cul de Sac or Grand Case areas, leaving me with 16 restaurants to investigate.<br>    I realize that almost any good restaurant will prepare a special vegetarian plate upon request, or remove meat from a pasta dish, or promise that their salad is very filling. I also realize that many chefs are disdainful of vegetarians. For this reason, I only wanted to patronize restaurants where I could order a satisfying meal directly from the menu, or whose menu (as in the case of L’Auberge Gourmande’s) clearly indicated a willingness to accommodate the vegetarian diner.<br><br>Saturday<br>An all-appetizer restaurant is a great idea, and Le Piccolo Café in Cul de Sac is a great restaurant. Robert is the perfect host: warm and funny, daring his diners to go in for lamb brains but understanding when they don’t. We chose this for our first night, in order to eat light after a long day of travel. It didn’t work out that way. An early foray into his wonderful crousti breads (cheese for me, smoked salmon for my wife) set the tone for a dinner that would be surprisingly filling. I enjoyed a Greek salad, vegetables sauteed in olive oil, and a vegetable pie. Made of potatoes, sweet potatoes, and assorted baked vegetables, I hadn’t intended this to be dessert. But it ended up that way. Dinner for two with a half liter of wine was $55.<br><br>Sunday<br>Sunday evening Susan and I walked the length of Grand Case Boulevard, reading the menus and, with regret, crossing several more restaurants off of the list. We settled in on the narrow patio at L’Auberge Gourmande, and watched Grand Case go by (often very fast!) I enjoyed a cheese and fancy lettuce salad, followed by a hearty portion of potatoes au gratin surrounded by a selection of tasty vegetables. Dessert was the Concerto of 3 Chocolates: mousse, cake, and the French verison of a brownie. Everything was excellent, and this restaurant reminded us of our favorite special occasion restaurant at home, except with better food. Service was flawless, although rather surprised when Susan told our waiter she could debone her own fish. Was this a faux pas or are people just not supposed to know how to do this? After she had accomplished this, one waiter summoned another to see.<br><br>Monday<br>We stopped and made a reservation at Sol e Luna on our way home from Pinel Island. This was the only reservation we made all week, and we only saw diners being turned away at L’Auberge Gourmande (where people were told there was a 10 minute wait, and didn’t wait).<br>    Here I enjoyed an endive, cheese, and olive salad, and delicious cannerolles for my main course. Dessert was an incredible warm chocolate cake, filled with chocolate mousse. Later, when our charming server (the proprietors’ daughter) asked if there was anything else she could get for us, I wondered if I could have another dessert. She looked puzzled, thought a moment, and her face brightened as she decided, [color:ff6666]“Is possible!”</font color=ff6666> I was only joking, but would be happy to have the chance to enjoy this same dessert later in the week.<br>    Sol e Luna is an outstanding restaurant, and also a value leader. Check for dinner here with a bottle of wine was exactly the same as for L’Auberge Gourmand without wine.<br><br>Tuesday<br>Rainbow Café in Grand Case is beautiful. The restaurant is beautiful, the view of the spotlighted beach, shimmering water, and twinkling lights of Anguilla is beautiful, and the food is beautiful. Here I enjoyed a walnut, cheese and baby lettuce salad, and an excellent 3 cheese (one of them goat cheese) penne. Rainbow has several vegetarian appetizers, any of which can be supersized (not their term) to a dinner-sized proportion. Dessert on the upstairs terrace was protilifieres, surrounded with slices of citrus fruit. Rainbow was the only restaurant we visited to include the 15% service charge in the bill. At all of the others we left the tip in cash, even when paying the bill with a credit card.<br><br>Wednesday<br>We had intended to eat at Le Mango, inside the Alizea Hotel, based on Fodor’s recommendation of its vegetarian dishes. Finding it closed for the season, we couldn’t bring ourselves to drive past Sol e Luna to go anywhere else. So we didn’t. Here we had the same young server as on Monday, excited tonight because the new Beaujolais wine had arrived [color:ff6666]“here, in France, Aruba, and everywhere!”</font color=ff6666> The wine was fruity and the dinner was once again outstanding: my eggplant terrine appetizer was the single most delicious food I enjoyed in St Martin, and the fettuccine primavera was an incredibly fresh and lively version of a dish that is usually very boring. For dessert? The warm chocolate cake, once more. (I know it’s not polite to eavesdrop, but the lady at the next table actually said to her companion, “It’s only ten million dollars. Why not?”)<br><br>Thursday<br>Il Nettuno in Grand Case was our only disappointing dining experience. Perhaps we had been too spoiled by the atmosphere at Rainbow. Here was essentially the same view, but interrupted by waiters shouting orders into the kitchen, and kitschy music that repeated itself before we got out of our salads. We were greeted warmly by the proprietor, who wondered if I was a Washington Redskins fan. I answered, quite truthfully, that I never rooted against them. He liked that, and took our order himself, but after that we never had a waiter of our own, and requests for things like a fresh bottle of water or the dessert menu went unanswered. We are not high-maintenance people, but we finally decided that if we had to go get a dessert menu ourselves we simply wouldn’t get dessert. The poor service was all the more surprising with the restaurant half-empty. My gnocchi dish was OK but not as good as any number of Italian restaurants back home would have prepared. My wife’s lobster and linguine plate was the only meal she didn’t finish.<br><br>Friday<br>Robert got our vacation off to such a great start at Le Piccolo Café that we wanted to return there for our last dinner on the island. He remembered us, and we told him that we’d been thinking about those lamb brains all week. He looked surprised, and explained that he had sold only 5, and his chef had eaten the rest. (Le Piccolo Café has a regular menu, plus seven or eight special appetizers, such as lamb brains, that change every five days.) Robert enjoys reading his menu to new diners, and explaining which appetizer is in first place with his customers, and which ones are catching up to it. His appetizers are mostly larger than regular appetizer servings, and his salads are regular sized. What worked best for us was sharing a salad and then each selecting two appetizers. This time I enjoyed a delicious pumpkin and mushroom soup, and shell pasta in an indescribably delicious sauce. I told Robert that I wanted this sauce to remain indescribable, so that I am technically still a vegetarian. [Linked Image] Dessert was an amazing cinnamon creme brulee. Some restaurants leave you with such a good feeling, both while you are there and long after you leave. Le Piccolo Café is one of these very special restaurants.<br><br>Breakfast<br>Green Cay fed us the first morning, and after a fun-filled trip to the Match supermarket we ate breakfast out of the refrigerator the rest of the week, supplemented by fresh chocolate croissants each day. We never got a bad croissant, and went most often to the little bakery in Cul de Sac which used more chocolate than anyone else. The bakery next to Portofino’s in Grand Case was also excellent, and it felt like an authentic experience to be there early in the morning. Zee Best in Marigot had perhaps the fluffiest croissants, but also the most expensive, and we didn’t see anyone who wasn’t a tourist eating there.<br><br>Lunch<br>Most days we packed a light lunch for the beach. On Tuesday we ventured to Papagayo’s at Club Orient. This was really fun, especially after I remembered not to put the napkin in my lap. [Linked Image] And they made a perfectly good veggie burger.<br><br>Realizing that this report is already longer than it should be, a few other quick observations from a first-time visitor:<br><br>Travel<br>USAir was completely smooth Pittsburgh-Philadelphia-St Martin. Returning was another story, with a crazy disorganized scene and much line-jumping at Juliana airport. But we all got on the same plane at the same time. Only to sit in front of a screaming toddler for 4+ hours. [Linked Image] The parents acted as if they had never seen the child before, and had no toys, books, or familiar objects for him. And didn’t want to hold him. So sad. We arrived in Philadelphia late, and had to navigate long lines at immigration. We only made it to our Pittsburgh flight by literally running the entire length of a concourse to catch the doors before they closed. In different times we might have jumped over things as well as ran, but we didn’t want to get shot. [Linked Image]<br><br>Roads<br>The roads on St Martin are just as good as our roads in rural Ohio. Just more narrow than you would expect in the old towns. People drive fast, but there is also an underlying courtesy. Whenever we were stuck trying to get out of a parking lot or side street, someone stopped, flashed their lights, and let us out.<br><br>Money<br>I would not have any fun spending my vacation monitoring fluctuations in the currency markets, or worrying if I was paying 5 cents too much for a croissant or $5 too much for dinner. So I brought dollars with me, got francs from the ATM, had a credit card handy and paid everyone however they wanted to be paid. This worked well for me.<br><br>Beaches<br>Loved the beach at Club Orient, loved the beach on the far side of Pinel, so didn’t ever get anywhere else. Maybe next time. Maybe not!<br><br>Nudity<br>We were prepared for the black socks, but not for their wives, deposited at Pedro’s and shocked to see a naked person. One day when I went to get a Ting I found one trying to get a cab driver to take her back to her ship, but he wouldn’t go unless she found five other evacuees. I walked the whole beach nude at noon on Wednesday, didn’t see another naked person north of the Adam & Eve store until I reached the rocks at Cocos. Felt some bad vibes at Bikini, but no one else seemed to care. The beach was very wide at LaPlaya, and there may well have been naked people there, but I didn’t see them. <br><br>French<br>Yes, most people speak and understand English, but French St Martin is still French, and on several occasions (at bakeries, at the 13 Labors of Hercules restaurant in Cul de Sac, and in the post office at Marigot) we ran into language barriers. Everyone was always very patient with us, and whenever we got stuck an English-speaking passerby would suddenly appear and help us out.<br><br>People<br>Apart from the hermit living on Pinel Island, everyone was so warm and friendly, and it felt so good to feel so much at home, so far from home. <br>    Thanks to the folks at Green Cay (particularly Emannuelle), the beach crew at Club Orient, and everyone who provided such helpful advice here on TTOL (especially Carol Hill, who put Green Cay Village in our head in the first place) we had a great vacation. [Linked Image]<br><br><P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Administrator on 12/10/01 02:44 PM.</EM></FONT></P>