Hello All- And a happy Tuesday to you! We just returned from sailing Asante back from Grenada and have arrived home to see so many new things happening at some of our favorite establishments. It’s always wonderful coming back this time of year to see new growth and change and excitement about what is on the horizon line for the season. So, I thought maybe I should take some time to share some of these exciting happenings with you today! (The above photo is St. John on the horizon after three days at sea~ Isn’t she beautiful?)
First off, Sam & Jack’s! The beloved deli re-opened their doors this past weekend in the same location on the third floor of the Marketplace. In addition to their regular menu items (Yes, you can still get ALL of your favorite sandwiches, cookies and chips!) they have added homemade pita chips, dips, flavored cream cheeses and a rotating selection of take away meals and daily soup specials to their offerings. Their current hours are 8AM-4PM Monday-Friday, 8AM-3PM Saturday and closed on Sundays. Stop by and wish the team at Sam & Jack’s congrats on their re-opening and enjoy some of your old favorites…And maybe try something new too!
Closer to the sea, the Beach Bar has added a third meal of the day to their repertoire. That’s right, they are now serving breakfast seven days a week from 7AM-11AM! I have not had the chance to test it out yet, but I did check out the menu while we were having lunch the other day. And it looks AWESOME. Build your own burrito or breakfast bowl or try something a bit more local with Johnny Cakes and Pate. Oh, and there are grits! One of my favorite southern breakfast offerings that are not available anywhere else on island!
It’s nice to have new option for breakfast in Cruz Bay with some unique offerings that you can’t get elsewhere. Other great options for breakfast on island include Love City Cafe in Coral Bay, Colombo’s Smoothies and Mid Way Hot Spot on Centerline, High Tide, Cruz Bay Landing, Sun Dog Cafe, North Shore Deli, St. John Provisions and Sam & Jack’s in Cruz Bay.
It sounds like there is some serious movement going on at one of my favorite hideaways on St. John! Banana Deck has ordered a gigantic umbrella for their lower deck seating and are awaiting the arrival of a generator which means no more shut downs for them in the event of rain or a WAPA blackout. This is awesome news. B-Deck has one of largest guest capacities on island and, in the event of a downpour, a lot of the seating areas are not able to be used. Both the generator and the umbrella are currently en route to St. John. So, with shipping a mess ALL OVER the country, their installations will be pending. But, eventually, the expanded coverage of the deck, combined with the new generator should minimize the limited hours and availability of our favorite steaks and salads…and Caribbean Chicken 🙂 They have a tentative re-opening date of November 11, pending that all updates and maintenance items have been wrapped up!
In the same neighborhood, Lovango Rum Bar is going back to six nights a week starting November 1 with an extremely talented chef that you may recognize and some fun musical events on the horizon! Beginning next week, they will be open Monday-Saturday from 4PM-11PM (kitchen closes at 10). And the chef that started over the summer is wow-ing patrons with his ninja-like pizza making skills. Joseph Hardin, former pizza mastermind at DaLivio’s, was originally a consultant for Lovango Rum Bar before their doors opened…Learn to make the pies from the best, right? Well, he returned to the restaurant in June of this year. But, this time as their Executive Chef, and has been escalating the already fantastic dining experience at Lovango Rum Bar ever since.
Also, in addition to their nightly sunset musical offerings, Lovango Rum Bar will be hosting some special events surrounding the Thanksgiving Holiday. On Wednesday night, November 24, local funk/rock band, Mother Goat will play a special set from 8PM-10:30PM in the space. And on Friday of that same weekend, traveling artist Travis Riddle will bring fun acoustic favorites for happy hour from 4-6PM and local super star Jon Gazi will play from 7-10PM. It’s going to be one long and fun holiday weekend of music with craft cocktails and delicious pizza offered throughout.
Speaking of holidays A LOT of you have been wondering about Thanksgiving Dinner options. My response to that is this…A lot of places have just opened their doors after being closed for the off season and I haven’t seen much in the way of posting about the turkey day offerings yet. But, I’ll be gathering that info over the coming weeks and will update you here! However, Halloween is this weekend. And I’ll be posting about where you can find some Halloween fun on island in just a few days…So, stay tuned.
In other restaurant news, we have all been anticipating the re-opening of renowned Cruz Bay restaurant, La Tapa, at Chef Alex’s new location on the Cruz Bay waterfront. She and the team have been busy working on the space that once housed Waterfront Bistro and had originally set a date of November 1 to re-open. I just spoke with her and it seems that we will all have to be patient with that re-opening date as she deals with the nationwide problems caused by shipping delays. She is very positive about the push back to mid-January as a new horizon for opening and assured me that it simply gives them more time to get everything just perfect. 🙂
One more tidbit of info to leave you with. Chef Shaibu will not be re-opening his Garden Oasis this fall. I don’t have a ton of info on the reasons behind that, but I did speak with him yesterday and he confirmed that the restaurant will remain closed for the time being. He was, like Alex, very positive about the changes on his horizon lines…Owning a business on St. John REQUIRES flexibility and a positive outlook! I will have more information for you on the closure at some point in the future.
But, in the meantime, you can find Shaibu’s AMAZING lunch offerings at his Grab & Go Cafe on the second floor of the Marketplace, just around the corner from St. John Hardware. OR, hire him to come prepare a meal in your villa or cater your holiday dinners! Check out his catering page for more details on dining options.
Whew- That’s all for today in restaurant land! Thanks so much for following along everyone and I hope you are having a stellar week, wherever you are in the world.
Lots of good info here. Makes me miss St John. Cannot wait for February!
Thank you so much! Coming back to St.John in February and it’s nice to hear what is going on with the dining Scene. I’m excited about La Tapas new location. I haven’t heard much about the restaurant that opened last year at Caneel. Is that still there?
How do you get TO Grenada? lol