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.