I am in Barcelona, Spain right now on a family expedition as part of The Traveling Richters effort, heading off to other parts of southern Spain tomorrow, and then later to Morocco, Portugal, northern Spain, France, and England after that.
For now, I just wanted to note I have blended my review methodology (The Richter Scale) from this site on the other site in reviewing several Barcelona restaurants:
A few weeks ago, my wife Linda and I were fortunate enough to have been invited to participate in a regional gathering of one of the organizations we belong to, the Chaine des Rotisseurs, a gastronomic association devoted to the enjoyment of fine food and wine. The regional gathering, known as a “Confrerie de la Chaine des Rotisseurs”, was organized by the Atlantic Caribbean Assemblage in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
The Bonaire Bailliage of the Chaine des Rotisseurs, to which Linda and I belong, is actually directly under France, and not part of the Atlantic Caribbean region of Chaine, which is part of the United States Chaine. Nevertheless, we were invited because we are in the Caribbean and knew Drs. Marcelo and Virgen Oben, two of the organizers, whom we had met at a Chaine event in Curacao three years ago.
In sum, the long weekend entailed an evening with eleven of the best chefs of San Juan at a “Taste of Puerto Rico” dinner, an amazing wine tasting the next day, followed by a black tie French Gala Dinner Dance. On the final day we had a wonderful brunch. Linda and I also took an extra day to visit the famous Bacardi rum factory and go shopping. We had a very nice and relaxing time, made some new friends, and ate and drank very well.
Kudos to the Chaine Bailliages of Puerto Rico who hosted us and did an absolutely incredible job organizing and running all these events!
Instead of boring you with more written details, I will instead point you here to my photo gallery of our time in Puerto Rico at the beginning of November.
Every year since 1986 we have had a big party at our house, where ever we happened to be living at the time. It started as the “Wing-Ding-A-Thon” (due to my affinity for Buffalo Wings), then evolved into the “Yeah! It’s Summer! Party” (held sometime during the summer), and then into the “Yeah! It Feels Like Summer! Party” here on Bonaire (held on January 1st each year).
The party - whatever it’s called - is a potluck event. We supply the BBQ, a vast number of racks of ribs in my special Indonesian-style BBQ sauce, 30 pounds of marinated BBQ’d chicken, cases of beer and wine, lots of non-alcoholic refreshments, and a place to gather. Our guests provide the rest. And the party is open to one and all - it’s been a great place and time to make new friends and see old friends too.
So, that said, should you find yourself on the island of Bonaire on January 1st of any year, come join us. The potluck BBQ party starts at 3pm and goes until whenever.
Last night we took advantage of a gift certificate a friend had given me for my birthday, and took the whole family to Bistro de Paris, a restaurant run by Patrice, a French master chef. While we have eaten there before several times, and always enjoyed our a la carte meals, Linda had read recently that Patrice had started offering “grill stone” tableside cooking and thought the kids might like that.
As we expected the meal to be big, we did not order any appetizers, although Linda did order some of Patrice’s excellent French onion soup as her main meal, while the kids and I committed to cooking our own food on the stones.
While we waiting for our meal to come out we were given bread with a sun-dried tomato spread - tasty. Patrice also brought Linda and I each a glass of Kir - a drink made with one part Creme de Cassis liqueur and two parts white wine (a Kir Royal is made with champagne instead of white wine). He explained that Kir is a drink named after the mayor of Dijon, Canon Felix Kir, who mixed his white wine with black currant liqueur to cut down on the wine’s acidity. Always nice to learn a little bit of history over dinner! It was a nice aperitif in any event.
Soon after, three plates loaded with thinly sliced beef, bacon, chicken, and pork as well as slivers of courgettes (small zucchinis), onions, and asparagus were brought out, followed by two alcohol-based burners and two very hot slabs of stone. Looked like granite, but I could not tell for sure. I should note we had to sit outside, as there was concern that smoke from the cooking could cause problems inside.
Patrice liberally sprinkled salt on the hot stones and explained that would prevent the meat from sticking (it did help a bit) and showed us how to best place the meat on the stones to cook. Accompanying the dish was a tray of sauces (a pink sauce similar to Russian dressing but without pickles in it which Patrice called “cocktail sauce”, a yummy garlic sauce, and sour cream) and a bowl of nice little potatoes seasoned with herbs and sun-dried tomatoes.
The stones cooked the meat very quickly, but even so, it took us the better part of an hour to cooking everything we had, and even them we took home ample left overs. The kids enjoyed the meal as well. And Linda polished off her soup too.
As it was getting late and both kids were tired, we skipped dessert, vowing to return to get some at a later date.
Cost for the meal was about $63 before tip, including 5 soft drinks. Very reasonable.
Based on this meal and past ones, I give Bistro de Paris an 8.5 out of 10.0 on The Richter Scale.
Bistro de Paris is located at Kaya Gob. N. Debrot 46 (that’s the road between downtown Kralendijk and the northern resorts). Phone is +599-7 17-7070, and e-mail is info@bistrodeparis.com.
We seem to be eating out a lot (or perhaps I am just writing about it more), but two nights ago, Linda and I were invited by a visiting friend of ours to enjoy a dinner at Capriccio, our favorite fine dining restaurant on Bonaire. Capriccio is run by two Italians with a passion for food and each other - Lola and Andrea (male chef). Both worked in the Los Angeles restaurant scene until about 10 years ago when they moved to Bonaire and started their restaurant here.
Capriccio has won numerous awards for their wine cellar, which has been labeled as one of the best in the entire Caribbean by Wine Spectator magazine, incidentally. I find that the number of wine choices is too great for me, so invariably I have Lola pick a bottle for me. And she never fails to find something interesting and perfect for the meal.
The menu at Capriccio is Italian, featuring a wide range of appetizers and entrees - traditional and non-traditional alike. For those with less adventurous palates a very nice thin crust pizza is available, as well as a variety of home made pastas. For those with broader tastes, a number of special entrees are available, in addition to things like the beef carpaccio appetizer.
My absolute favorite thing at Capriccio (in addition to the warm and personal service and great wine selection) are the desserts, ranging from a delectable tira misu to panne cotta and wonderful homemade ice creams and sorbets.
For our meal, Linda ordered the osso bucco, while I had the duck in a balsamic glaze. Our friend Kitty whose treat dinner was, had a carpaccio appetizer followed by a variant on penne paesana. Linda’s and my entrees came with salad, and we, as we always do, asked Lola to switch our garden salads for Caesar salads with extra anchovies. Hands down, Capriccio has the best Caesar on Bonaire, and anchovies which are just right - flavorful and not mushy in any way.
All of our dishes were excellent, and well presented. With dinner Linda and I enjoyed most of a bottle of a 2003 Morellino di Scansano from the Lohsa vineyard, which Lola explained in great detail to us as a trendy red wine from Tuscany which is made from grapes closely related to the Sanvgiovese grapes used to make Chianti. It was an excellent match to our meal. We took the bottle home with us as we could not finish it all without hurting ourselves.
I should mention that Kitty lived on Bonaire for about two years, and the last meal we had with her and her now ex-husband Marc was at Capriccio the night before they moved back to Holland. Amazingly, Lola remembered what Kitty’s favorite dish was and what she drank (apple juice).
After dinner our children joined us for dessert (a wonderful friend dropped them off after their school Christmas party), and as we were unable to decide what we wanted to have for dessert, Lola made us a “Grand Dessert”, which in this case (and much to our surprise) included one of every dessert on the menu. It was heavenly, but too much for three adults and two tired children. But we did well - there were only a few small portions left on the tray.
I honestly have no idea how much dinner was since it was Kitty’s treat (thanks again Kitty!), but do know that typically Linda and I will spend between $100-120 for the two of us at Capriccio’s for dinner, and feel that it is worth every cent.
On The Richter Scale, I give Capriccio’s a 9.0 out of 10.0. It’s a must when visiting Bonaire, and make sure to tell Lola that Jake sent you.
Capriccio Restaurant is located at Kaya Isla Riba 1 near the water front in downtown Kralendijk. Phone +599-7 17-7230
Last night, my wife and I had occasion to enjoy a meal at Le Flamboyant - one of our favorite restaurants here on the island of Bonaire. We had not eaten there in many months due to my extensive travels off-island.
At Le Flamboyant one can dine indoors or outdoors in a secluded courtyard. As we seemed to be rain free for the night, we opted to enjoy the open air. Mosquitos (due to our recent rains) were definitely present, but we wore long pants and sock and that thwarted most of them.
We found the menu had changed completely since our last visit, but still with many tantalizing items to choose from, and with a decidedly French flair. The owners and operators or Le Flamboyant are Govert Strootman and Veronique Badet. Govert is a Dutchman, and Veronique is French, which certainly explains the French influence on the menu.
As we were heading to a friend’s engagement party later that night, we opted to eat lightly - no multiple courses, although it still felt like we had a lot of food. We started with a glass each of a Chilean Sauvignon Blanc (Santa Rita) - inexpensive, but tasty and crisp.
Linda, my wife, opted for the Penne Flamboyant - a tasty pasta dish with chicken and mushrooms, while I selected a salad and soup as my meal.
The tomato soup I ordered was garnished with fresh basil and whipped seasoned butter, and was perfect. Rich without being overbearing, and very flavorful without being overly spiced or salted.
My salad was the Scallop and Parma Ham salad, and featured six small scallops tastefully arranged around a small green salad topped with crispy parma ham - almost like bacon but not so greasy. The scallops were exquisite, and the saltiness of the parma ham provided a nice counterpoint - in flavor and texture. The lettuce and vegetables in the salad provided balance between the scallops and ham.
We did splurge (stomach-wise) for the Petit Grand Dessert to finish the meal with (we did share it though). The Petit Grand Dessert featured a taste of every dessert on the menu, in miniature. There was a scoop of mango sorbet, a sliver of a rich chocolate cake, a piece of cheese cake, and some other chocolate-oriented dessert I could not expressly identify other than to say that it, and the other samples, were gone in a couple of minutes, accompanied by lots of Mmmms! and Aahhhs!
Without tip, the bill ran to approximately US$40.00. Well worth it.
On The Richter Scale, I give Le Flamboyant a 9.0 out of 10.0, and will add that it remains one of our favorites here on Bonaire. We were definitely not let down.
I would like to mention that Le Flamboyant also sports a cute gift shop inside the large interior space with all sorts of ecletic items, including hand made purses, fresh grind spices and seasonings, art work, and a variety of other unique items. So, in addition to a great meal, you can also do a bit of souvenir or gift shopping there.
Le Flamboyant is located at Kaya Grandi 12 - right in the heart of Kralendijk. Phone +599-7 17-3919.
Last night we opted to dine out and try a newly opened restaurant here on Bonaire - it goes by the name Bambu and is owned and operated by Joyce, the proprietor of La Guernica, a one year old restaurant about a half mile north of this one.
With a name like Bambu we expected Asian or Asian Fusion fare, but instead found an eclectic blend of original continental fare and some variations on old favorites.
After being greeted with a bit of proscuitto wrapped melon as a welcome treat, my wife opted for the day’s menu, which consisted of a salad featuring warm apples and bacon wrapped goat cheese. The main course was rack of lamb in a yummy roasted garlic sauce with a haricort vert (thin green bean) bunch wrapped with bacon (and sauteed) and cheesy potatoes au gratin. Dessert was a chocolate brownie accompanies by a coffee and a home made chocolate bonbon (filled with a marzipan/coconut filling). Total price was NAF 57,50 (approximately US$32) for this menu. Everything on the menu was excellent (I was given samples of it all), even for someone like myself who does not particularly care for lamb or goat cheese.
My son opted to move straight over to dessert and had the lemon sorbet - two portions of it actually - one for his entree and another for dessert. He enjoyed it, and the small taste I stole was very good.
My daughter and I shared an appetizer of a duo of puff pastry - one filled with shrimp and the other with goat cheese. It was tasty - the goat cheese was mild, but the filo dough crisp. The shrimp filling was okay - more saucy than I expected.
For our entrees, my daughter had seafood fajitas as the bolletin of chicken and orange was sadly not available, while I had marinated tuna with salad from the appetizer part of the menu as my main course. The seafood fajitas were tasty and of decent size (and they made great leftovers too!), and the accompanying guacamole was excellent. Lacking was some sort of tomato salsa or pico de gallo, but in speaking with Joyce she promised to look into adding this to the presentation in the future.
My marinated tuna was marinated in olive oil, rosemary, dill, and perhaps a few other herbs I could not discern by taste. By itself the marinade was just there - but when eaten in conjunction with the so-called accompanying Caribbean salad, it was an excellent combination.
We ended the meal with desserts for all - the aforementioned chocolate brownie for my wife, the second helping of lemon sorbet for my sun, an orange creme brulee for me, and my daughter ended up with a berry laden coupe with vanilla ice cream. Again, all very delicious.
Portion size were just right in all cases - leaving us sated but not gorged. The presentation of all the dishes was artful and inspired - not something you usually see on Bonaire. And outside of the very minor nits I mentioned above, the flavor and taste of each dish was wonderful.
Total cost of the dinner, including several frozen fruit shakes for the kids, and a couple of Barcardi Lemon and Cokes for my wife and I, worked out to a bit over US$100 without tip, which is quite reasonable.
I give Bambu an 8.5 out of 10.0 on The Richter Scale. Well worth a visit if you have the time when next visiting Bonaire.
Bambu is located at Kaya C.E.B. Hellmund 17, in the location of where the Mai-Mai restaurant used to be, just south of downtown Kralendijk along the oceanfront promenade towards the Divi Flamingo Resort. Phone +599-7 17-4167.
Being on a low-carb diet has some drawbacks in terms of foods you may have been used to eating for pure gastronomic pleasure, but can no longer enjoy because of their high carb counts. For me that includes french fries, tortillas and tortilla chips, bread, and ice cream.
However, in the freezer section of the Super Wal-Mart in Marshall, Texas, I came across low-carb Blue Bunny brand ice cream bars. The one that seemed particularly appealing was that the Butter Pecan Carb Freedom “frozen dairy dessert”.
The package describes these as “Butter Pecan frozen dairy desset dipped in white chocolate and pecan pieces”. At 2g net carbs for each bar, that’s within the limit I of daily treats I allow myself (when not having a pack of Atkin’s Peanut Butter Cups instead - also 2g of net carbs for one package).
Having previously tried a Ben & Jerry’s low-carb ice cream (flavorless - yuck! - 2.0 out of 10.0 on the The Richter Scale) and ice cream bars from Atkins (chocolate covered peanut butter ice “cream” - good chocolate covering but the ice “cream” left a lot to be desired 3.5 out of 10.0 on The Richter Scale), I wasn’t sure I would like these Butter Pecan bars, especially from a company that names itself “Blue Bunny”.
So imagine my surprise when it turns out these Butter Pecan Carb Freedom “frozen dairy desserts” are actually very good (at least as far as low carb sweet things go. I’ve not tried the other flavors from Blue Bunny yet, but the Butter Pecan flavor gets an 8.0 out of 10.0 on the The Richter Scale.
An annual Dutch tradition is the catch of the season’s first herring, a small fish which some consider a delicacy. The first herring harvest, something which typically occurs in May, is called “Hollandse Nieuwe” (means “Dutch New"), and the Dutch celebrate this by event by gorging themselves on the raw (or nearly so) herring, along with liberal amount of Genever (a Dutch gin), and perhaps raw onions and pickles.
Living, as I do, on an island which is part of the Dutch Kingdom, and thus has a lot of Dutchmen (and women) living on it, I’ve been privileged to join in the celebration of Hollandse Nieuwe, and am usually the only American present. This year, the first “haaring” showed up on June 1st at the Mai-Mai restaurant on Bonaire, accompanies by load Dutch music:
To eat the herring, you pick it up by the tail (it has been scaled and deboned, incidentally), optionally rubs it up against the finely chopped onions on the plate (so as to have some adhere to the herring), then tilts your head back, open your mouth and lower the herring into it, taking as big a bite as you can. See my demonstration below:
It’s not nearly as fishy as one might think, and I am sure the fish oils are very good for you. If you eat sushi or sashimi, this is not far removed from that.
More on this tradition can be found here.
I’ve been on a low-carb diet now for three months, and the results are good. I’ve lost about 30 pounds, generally have quite a bit more energy, and am not having troublesome food cravings as I have had on other diets.
That’s not to say I don’t occasionally crave something sweet - I do, but there are lots of decent low carb options out there now.
Among them are peanut butter cups.
I’ve tried two different brands of peanut butter cups, with mixed results.
The brand leader in chocolate covered peanut butter cups is undoubtedly Reese’s (a division of Hershey). Their full carb peanut butter cups are great.
Not so the Reese’s 1 Gram Sugar Carb Peanut Butter Cups, which come two to a package and claim to have one gram of “sugar carbs”. (In the Atkin’s low carbohydrate diet, during the initial 2 week induction phase you should limit your carb intake to no more than 20 grams per day, and can scale up slowly from there).
I tried these both at room temperature and out of the fridge, and politely stated, they are gross. While the chocolate coating is just okay, the peanut butter filling is bland and has a disgustingly mealy texture. About the only thing with a worse mealy texture I have experienced is “uni” (raw sea urchin) or maybe an overdry nectarine.
Brand visibility only goes so far, and with this product, Reese’s has utterly failed in producing a palatable product.
I give Reese’s 1 Gram Sugar Carb Peanut Butter Cups a pitiful 1.0 out of 10.0 on The Richter Scale.
The other product I tried was from Atkins Nutrionals - the Atkins Endulge Peanut Butter Cups. These come three to a package (same weight for three as for two of the Reese’s cups - 1.2 ounces or 34 grams), and claim 2 grams of carbs for all three pieces total, double the number of carbs of the Reese’s product, but still very low.
These peanut butter cups are an amazing contrast from Reese’s. The peanut butter has flavor, and texture-wise, it feels a lot closer to a full carb peanut butter cup. The chocolate coating also tastes and melts like chocolate. While it’s still a far cry from real peanut butter, it’s still a pretty decent substitute.
You can get 5-packs of the Atkins Endulge Peanut Butter Cups for around $6.00 at CVS. I’ve got a fridge full of them for after dinner treats.
I rate the Atkins Endulge Peanut Butter Cups a respectable 7.0 out of 10.0 on The Richter Scale.
