The "SXM: Meals With Caribbean Flair" Story

Crystal talking with us at her restaurant Le Piment

It was an ordinary day.  Talking with Crystal who owns, along with chef Sylvan, Le Piment.  It is the restaurant that we head to on our first night on the island of St. Martin.  Always have the same meal which is a Prosciutto salad and Lasagna.  

Pe Piment is located in Orient Village, St. Martin

One salad and one lasagna is more than enough for the two of us.  And, to top off the meal is the usual shot of Ma Dou Dou banana-vanilla rum which is formulated on the island.  This year we spent many evenings at the restaurant in part because the food is remarkable and also because the restaurant is one of a few within a manageable night-time driving distance.  Over half the local restaurants are still battling renovations due to Hurricane Irma which hit the island a little over a year ago.  I have posted photos from a few of our evenings with information about the meal as well as restaurant where we had the meal.  Hope you see something that may look tasty.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "Special" board at Le Piment.  Hand written in both English and French every night by Crystal.

A Le Piment favorite Beef Stew.  The beef is marinated in wine for a few days before being served.  My favorite part of the meal is the small container of potatoes that has onions in it with a cream sauce.  

Spaghetti Carbonara with raw egg.  Delicious. 

My spinach ravioli meal made special just for me.  Carol makes ravioli for me with a butter and sage sauce which is excellent.  I asked if they could duplicate the meal for me instead of their usual sauce.  They didn't have any sage, but did substitute garlic for the sage.  Good, but not as good as my wife's ravioli.

We had a fantastic meal at Al Dente Ristorante one evening.

Very tasty lasagna with small salad.

Carol had the Penne Pasta.

Al Dente has some of the neatest ceiling lights made by the owner.  This one features dishes of various sizes.

This light is made from glasses.  All lights work and give off quite a bit of light. 

This light had to be close to eight feet long and was made from wine bottles.

We had one meal at Chesterfields in Philipsburg.  Carol and I both had the Mahi Mahi stuffed with crabmeat.  The photo shows a great meal, which it was, but showed no special skills as did most of the other meals.  It was just food!

La Plantation opened for business while we were on the island.  We visited one evening.  They used the old signage which was evidently damaged during the hurricane.  

Started the meal with a mango smoothie.

I once again had ravioli with a cream sauce.

Carol had pasta with vegetables.  Carol really wanted the pork mignon, but they didn't have pork.  We also wanted pina coladas, but they didn't have any coconut juice.  We knew they had just opened after a year of getting ready, so we didn't say much.