Star Chefs and Homegrown Heroes – Good eating on Grand Cayman

With its first Cayman Cookout food festival, hosted early this year by über-chef Eric Ripert of Blue at the Ritz Charlton, Grand Cayman, and of Manhattan’s le Bernardin, the island served notice: Once best known for its diving, the isle now deserves equal acclaim for its dining. In recent years, a profusion of foreign-trained chefs has touched down, creating Caribbean-fusion menus that make for surprising and memorable meals. The island’s local talent shines too at several popular restaurants and casual roadside eateries that specialize in traditional Caymanian cuisine.

Calypso Grill

If you judged it solely by its name and location – overlooking the sport-fishing docks at Morgan’s Harbor – you might expect this to be one of those typical island fry houses that focuses more on its rum drinks than its menu. But chef George Fowler takes advantage of all that fresh fish in his backyard to turn out tune spring rolls and Wahoo ceviche appetizers, and entrees such as grilled ginger tuna, and grouper filled with crabmeat and spinach. Nab a table on the deck and linger over the sticky toffee pudding, which justly deserves its island-wide raves. 345-949-3948; calypsogrillcayman.com; average.

The Cracked Conch

This venerable island institution, perched above the sea at West End, has renewed its 25-year-old reputation for fine dining with the arrival of chef Gilbert Cavallaro, formerly with the Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman. Cavallaro puts a fresh spin on the standards, serving up conch chowder with bacon, leeks and coconut milk, and jerk-glazed pork belly on sweet potato puree. Entrees include seared snapper with chorizo potatoes, and green sea turtle (ethically farm-raised on the island), braised with wilted lettuce, onions, mushrooms and coconut rum. 345-945-5217; crackedconch.com.ky; average dinner entrée: $28.

The Lighthouse Restaurant

Ready for Italian-Asian-Caribbean fusion? That’s the mash-up at this Grand Cayman landmark, where owner/maitre d’ Giuseppe Gatta presides over a small battalion of ultra attentive waiters and Indian chef Remy Azavedo puts his signature on dishes like the tea-cured-tuna tataki roll and grouper cooked in a banana leaf with Thai spices. Lobster-and-shrimp gnocchi, classic lasagna and chicken parmigiana pay homage to the Italian side of the equation. 345-947-2047; lighthouse.ky; average dinner entrée $30.

Vivine’s Kitchen

Natie Caymanian Vive Watler holds court in the kitchen at this seaside restaurant beside her East End home. Take a seat on the terrace overlooking Gun Bay and order off the blackboard menu, which offers a rotating variety of traditional dishes, including conch and whelk stews, fish ‘n’ fritters, and curried goat. To wash it down, there’s fresh mango juice or sorrel. 345-947-7435; average lunch/dinner entrée: $10.

Norma Jean’s

No visit to Grand Cayman is complete without a stop at one of the island’s roadside stands. Each Thursday and Friday, starting around 5 p.m and ending when the food is gone, Norma Jean Obando serves serious chicken and ribs with tangy, sweet barbecue sauce from her spot alongside a parking lot overlooking the north end of Seven Mile Beach, with coleslaw, macaroni and cheese, and peas ‘n’ rice on the side. Most folkd do take-away, but there are a few tables, so you can enjoy your ‘cue with a view.  North West Point Road and Town Hill Road, West End, no phone or website; average dinner entrée: $10.

Roland’s Garden

There’s no written menu. A yellow mutt named Sir Alex wanders freely among the tables. If you want wine or beer, you have to brown-bag it. And irascible-yet-lovable chef/owner Roland Schoefer tells his guests: “If you don’t like what I’m cooking tonight, then you don’t eat.” Nevertheless, there’s a pretty good chance you’ll not only like but also be overwhelmed by Schoefer’s copious culinary offerings, starting with appetizers of gravlax, cheeses and homemade sausage; followed by quiche, sauerbraten, pork chops, fresh fruit, scallops in bacon and homemade bread; and finishing with tiramisu, chocolate mousse and coconut rum cake.

Trained in Germany, Schoefer opens the gardens outside his home to guests each Thursday through Sunday night. There’s room for only five or six tables, so reservations are essential. And there’s no bill at the end of the evening; simply leave the amount you think the meal was worth. Think generously. Breakers, 345-926-7670; chefroland.com; typical contribution per person for a multicourse meal is $45 to $50.

CURAÇAO: Ready for its Close Up

For a long time, Curaçao was content to let its beachier Dutch Caribbean siblings Aruba and St. Maarten steal the holiday spotlight – but no longer. Over the last decade, the island has charted a steady course to cultivate its vacation appeal, and now, as the projects come to fruition, is the ideal time to see Curaçao’s charms for yourself. sophisticated capital city Willemstad has more in common with European hamlets than typical tropical hot spots; there are also quiet, sandy bays tucked into indolent coves, a handful of dive sites that rank among the Caribbean’s best, and a wildly cosmopolitan array of restaurants, museums, shops, and casinos.

ON THE WATERFRONT

Guarding the entrance to Willemstad’s St. Anna Bay, the 183-year-old Rif Fort may never have seen combat, but the site is seeing action nowadays with the addition of a new cruise-ship dock, a resort and a mall. The hub of the development is the Renaissance Curaçao Resort and Casino. A 237-room Marriott hotel with the capital’s first “beach” – a saltwater swimming pool fronting the rock shore, its sandy bottom cleaned by starfish; palm tress and cabanas round out the scene. While many rooms face the ocean, avoid those with a view of the interior atrium unless you want to audit a conference.

Nearing completion on a heretofore undeveloped coastline at the entrance to the natural harbor Spanish Water, the 348 room Hyatt Regency Curaçao Golf Resort, Spa and Marina is the focal point of a new 1500-acre residential community, Santa Barbara Plantation. Surrounded by desert terrain, the resort exterior is draped in marble quarried from Tafelberg, the peak rising above the property. Rooms feature Indonesian teak accents and views overlooking Barbara Beach, now wrapped by a marina and pier. A major draw will be the Pete Dye-designed 7.200-yard golf course, snaking gingerly across the spare landscape. The  $150 million project is slated to open in January.

ALL-ACCESS HOTEL

Curaçao is now home to Caribbean’s first hotel catering specifically to guests with mobility issues. Each of the 19 rooms at Dolphin Suites has oversize doorways, roll in showers, and user-friendly furnishings sporting and inviting, modern black-and-white design. A kitchen or kitchenette fosters a homey environment, and baby-sitting can be arranged. The hotel’s Brucker Biofeedback Center provides therapy designed to improve mobility for people with paralysis, and the Sea Aquarium across the street uses dolphins in programs for children with physical or mental challenges.

The popular Lions Dive & Beach Resort has upgraded its older rooms and added a third restaurant and 25 svelte apartments, each with sliding doors, opening onto broad balconies. The hotel is also now home to what could be the only 50-meter lap pool at a Caribbean resort, an infinity-edged beauty that reaches for the shore.

The historic neighborhood surrounding Avila Hotel continues to spruce up, perhaps spurred on by expansions and improvements at the hotel, now in its 60^th year. The new Octagon wing is sleek and contemporary, its 68 rooms featuring the latest mod cons; the premiere unit is the 1,544-square-foot Bolivar Suite with wraparound balcony. Above the rebuilt main restaurant, there’s a new first-rate gym, featuring a TechnoGym KinesisWall, and the Santai Spa.

CELESTIAL DINING

Perhaps Angelique M.C. Schoop, and island pharmacist, didn’t need a second career, but she found one by opening Angelica’s Kitchen, a cooking school conducted in her childhood home.The 1896 abode has been gently remodeled to accommodate groups that sign up for classes led by Clarita Pieter-Hagenaar. A spoonful of island history and culture goes down nicely with wine and salsa music while the meal is prepared. Across the street, Schoop’s Angelica’s Delight is open all day for pastries (sweet or savory), coffee and champagne; the Sunday brunch has become a fast success.

Although Willemstad lacks a natural beachfront, the sun shines in on the new Moon Beach Club, Lounge & Restaurant. Set in a rejuvenated older neighborhood on the rocky coast, a sandscape surrounds a pool perched next to the sea – 15 guilders ($8.50) buys a cabana or space-age lounge ned for the day. The elegant design eschews tropical embellishments in favor of geometrics – cubes and spheres in white accented with bright yellow pillow. At the restaurant, dig into Black Angus tournedos, Mediterranean vegetable risotto, and oysters with pepper, shallots and red wine vinegar.

GO WEST

New Hempshire-imports David and Sunshine Livingston bought a house in remote Westpunt and quickly realized a Curaçao water bill ran quite a bit more than a New England one. To make ends meet, they opened an informal restaurant. Sol Food, serving grilled meat and fresh fish, salads, burgers and “the best pizza in Banda ‘bou.” The couple happily shares a wealth of insider tips alongside scrumptious brownies.

PADDLE POWER

When Ryan de Jongh became concerned about the financial stability of CARMABI, a local foundation studying and protecting Curaçao’s ecology, the took matters into his own kayak and paddled around the island to help raise funds. His 33-hour, 93-mile voyage raised $67.000. Buoyed by the success, he’ll embark November 1, 2009, on a 22-day solo paddled from St. Maarten to Curaçao, a 977-mile journey hop scotching through the eastern Caribbean. Join de Jongh on his (more leisurely) afternoon Eco Kayak Tours on Wednesdays through the mangroves of Piscadera Bay, next to the Hilton hotel.