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ANNOUNCEMENT: On Wednesday, April 18, John Mariani will host a book signing dinner at Via Vanti restaurant at 2 Kirby Plaza in Mount Kisco, NY.  Five-course meal at $85 per person, including signed copy of How Italian Food Conquered the World.  Call 914-666-6400.

St. Lucia and the Cuisine of Jade Mountain
by Marcy MacDonald

NEW YORK CORNER
Del Frisco's Grille
by John Mariani

    Although Columbus may have discovered St. Lucia in the late 15th century, it was the French who named her and the English who fought for her. By 1814 the island had switched sides so often (seven wins and losses, each) that she was known as the "Helen of the West Indies.”
    Pirates loved Castries, now the Capital City.  Early adventurers, however, went to the west side of the island and found sulfur springs above Soufrière (where the future Empress Josephine bathed while still a girl from Trois Islettes in nearby Martinique), and the remains of a volcano that is now a 'drive-through' attraction, still the only of its kind anywhere. Unlike her Caribbean neighbors, St. Lucia is more mountainous than most of the other volcanic islands. The highest point may be Mount Gimie, at 3,120 ft above sea level, but two other mountains, the Pitons -- Gros and Piti -- form the nation's most famous landmark.
       After St. Lucia's independence half-a-century ago, architect Nick Troubetzkoy and his wife, Karolina began to visit the island -- and tried to take the view with them.  "Nick had been collecting antique jade mountains for 35 years before he saw the Pitons," she affirmed, "But what was
meant to be a brief stint in paradise turned into a lifelong passion for the island and its people." He felt the best view of the Pitons could be had from a few of the rooms at the nearby Anse Chastenet resort, and began negotiations to buy it.  That accomplished, Troubetzkoy designed and crowned the hill above it with his expression of “organic” architecture. "Nick was finally carving his own Jade Mountain, perhaps a little bigger than those in his collection," his wife continued.
    He used local workmen to create an über-luxe resort where open-air “sanctuary” guest rooms feature 15- foot ceilings, an ever-changing view and (often) a horizon pool.  He used recycled glass pool tiles to reflect the resident koi fish and glass lighting squares (that would be high and mighty lighting structures if local nesting birds hadn't designated them their preferred habitat) that create an atmosphere of a super posh home-away-from home.
      More than 20 species of tropical hardwood are found in each room) and include Snakewood, Etikburabali, Futubali, Purpleheart, Locust and other exotica.    Now, a gazillion hardwood stairs and wooden ramps  connect the levels of Jade Mountain, each artistically obscured by massive bursts of green; a secret spa; a little bar or two or three; a shop around an unexpected corner; another glass of island cheer; an outcropping of flowers, a selection of mad hats; an art gallery; a fitness studio; unexpected details, details, details and giant, economy sized bottles of sunblock.
     As the architect and his wife realized their artistic 24-room dream, they began to shop for a chef.  Their favorite was Allen Susser (below, left, with Exec Chef Jonathan Deardon),  formerly proprietor of Chef Allen's in Miami, who took one look at the architectural plans and designs, followed by a wander through Farmer John's Anse Mamin and Emerald Gardens began to plan his 'ideal' "Jade cuisine" menus.  He also stocks an excellent wine cellar. "The Jade Mountain plantation provides the resort with most of the fruits, vegetables and the cacao we use in a variety of dishes here," he says, and guests are invited to tour the Farm.  The chefs are forever experimenting--in full view of guests. "There was a time when we just sent all of our cacao pods up to Hershey, Pennsylvania for refining,” said the chef. “But there were so many cacao trees on the plantation here that we began to produce our own chocolate a couple of years ago. What's amazing is the process, the time it takes to harvest the cacao bean from the pod to produce a tiny sliver, the nib -- about the size of a fingernail tip -- essential to chocolate-making." 
    Although St. Lucia officially speaks English,  Antillean French Creole is used in literature, music and menus. As for Nobel laureates: the island has more per square inch than any other country in the world: Derek Walcott (for Literature, 1992) and Sir Arthur Lewis (Economics, 1979). The culture is gaining official acknowledgement, particularly by the Chastenet family whose latest generation has provided the young nation with its current Prime Minister, who is said to still have a penchant for the spicy, East Indian cuisine in the Apsara Beachfront dining room at Anse Chastenet (it runs about $100 for two), though he makes himself at home in Jade Mountain’s 14-table restaurant (open to non-guests by reservation only for about $170 for two) for Chef Allen's famous Spices of the Caribbean Culinary menus.
     These special gastronomic adventures are packaged as 'all inclusive' weekend and week-long events.   Generally, the only items not included in the price are the special daily cocktails, champagne (but at $130 per, the bottles of Moët are considered a bargain), cognacs, rums and malt whiskeys.    Guests who book these special foodie events are welcome to dine almost anywhere on the property (including their private sanctuaries). 
     Each Major Domo provides superb and subtle service: Teddy-the-Perfect-Butler will worry himself sick if he doesn't see you enjoying your meal.)

SAMPLING THE CUISINE:
THE SPICES OF THE CARIBBEAN WEEK

     Chef Allen's innovations begin at breakfast,  often as experimental in the dining room at Jade Mountain as it is traditional in the restaurants down mountain at Anse Chastenet.  Breakfasts  include items like local smoked bacons and sausages to fried Creole baked goods and accra morning fish cakes with sweet chili sauce.  Guests who are already addicts of Theresa Henry's bakery shack in nearby Soufriere still wait to go to  breakfast until they can smell the fragrant bread being delivered to the resort each morning.      Ask for Jade Mountain's pulled-pork sandwich on her baguettes for one of the best taste treats on the island.
    Each day of the Spices of the Caribbean Week may feature another tour of Farmer John's acreage for Chef Allen's top ten spices: cumin, black pepper, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, allspice, nutmeg, coriander, star anise,  turmeric, ginger and vanilla.
     On the day of arrival, Friday,  guests are toasted by Chef Allen's Jade Spiced Rum cocktail that combines sustainable local exotics from the Emerald Gardens and the local rum for a good start to the gourmet days ahead.   If guests select from his Spice Menu, a seven-course nightly offering, the bill will about $85 per person per meal (plus a 10% service charge and 8% government tax) on their all-inclusive plan. One starter might be the Emerald vegetable wrap in rice paper features, with  spiced pumpkins and green bell peppers in a cumin raita.
    For the second course, coriander seared foie gras with compressed pineapple and raspberry sea salt. Passion fruit and sesame-glazed shrimp looks like the more recognizable of the two early courses, but add melon mojito salsa with a Campari foam. The third course may feature two entrees, the almond-crusted goat’s cheese, served with local greens, tomatoes, lightly grilled onions and sun-dried tomatoes, or the organic mustard greens, grilled and lightly dressed with a cucumber-mustard seed vinaigrette).  For the Intermezzo: a passion fruit and raspberry sorbet.
     Line-caught kingfisher steak is paired with lentil and green banana sauce Lyonnaise, over which a nice, crunchy celery salsa complements the purple long beans. Next, garam masala grilled pork tenderloins with spiced sweet potato and ginger, bok choy and barbequed papaya. If you have an inch left for desert, there are several to share: cardamom-spiced crème  brûlée, spiced chocolate truffles and  a black rice spring roll.
    Cooking classes are limited to those  afternoon foodies who really want to duplicate their favorite tastes from the Chef's Spice Menu.  Nor is Chef Allen a stranger to Chocolate Weekends, (even entire Chocolate Months) on the island where some of the best and tastiest end-results in the Caribbean are produced.  You can spot the liquid chocoholics every May during the island's famous jazz festival napping under the cacao trees.

HOW TO GET THERE -- AND BACK:  Jet Blue flies from the New York airports; American Airlines flies from Miami; Delta wings in from Atlanta; Air Canada and West Jet carry passengers from Toronto, as well as British Airways and Virgin Atlantic from London. Although rental cars are plenty, almost all of the resorts have 'meet and greet' people at the airport to organize transport. 
    Nothing is cheap, but you definitely get more than you pay for.  For reservations call 800-223-1108 or contact ANSE CHASTANET RESORT at Tel 758-459-7000, Fax 758-459-7700, e-mail jademountain@ansechastanet.comwebsite: http://www.jademountainstlucia.com/758-459-7000: always ask for whatever the seasonal 'deal' is: often both Anse
Chastanet and Jade Mountain offer free days for longer bookings.

                                                                                                                                               

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NEW YORK CORNER

by John Mariani

Del Frisco's GRILLE
50 Rockefeller Plaza
212-767-0371
www.delfriscosgrille.com/new-york

   It seems reasonable enough to ask why a New Yorker,  or out-of-towner, for that matter, would choose a national chain over a local steakhouse in NYC. Why wouldn't you opt for an indigenous place like the original Palm on Second Avenue, or Spark's on East 46th Street, or, if you could get a reservation, Peter Luger in Brooklyn?  The idea of going to a steakhouse that originated in New Orleans (Ruth's Chris), Capital Grill (Providence), Morton's (Chicago), or Del Frisco's Double Eagle (Dallas) seems odd, playing it safe. It's kind of like going to Neiman Marcus rather than  Bergdorf Goodman.
    But the fact is, with a very few exceptions, NYC's own steakhouses have themselves branched out across the country, even abroad, so that while the original Palm on Second Avenue is still first rate, as is original Smith & Wollensky on Third Avenue (still owned by founder Alan Stillman, the rest corporately franchised), the branches are often pale facsimiles. So, too, the BLT Steakhouse chain severed relations with Laurent Tourondel, the chef who gave his initials to the original. Therefore, those "out-of-town" steaks house chains have proliferated based on consistency, each with a different focus--Ruth's Chris with its sizzling filet mignon, Morton's by showing off the uncooked meat, Shula's with football memorabilia--and that repeated style is what appeals to people.  Location, as ever, is crucial to a restaurant's survival (despite Peter Luger being a long, rough ride over the Brooklyn Bridge to Williamsburg.)
    Usually steakhouses put mileage between them, in locations where they might compete with others but not themselves.  For years now the three-story Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steak House has thrived on Sixth Avenue, across from Rockefeller Center, with a snazzier, snappier style and décor of tall columns, tufted leather booths and white tablecloths that contrasts with the clichés of most steakhouses' scruffy, he-man décor. The  restaurant is a big draw for business lunches and dinners, pre-theater meals, and out-of-towners looking for the same food and service they've come to enjoy at the chain's eight branches.
   So, slotting another Del Frisco's--this a more casual Grille--smack in Rockefeller Center, half a block from the skating rink and the skyscraper featured in the TV show "30 Rock," doesn't seem to make much logistical sense. Still, since opening just a few months ago, the Grille has been packing them in at lunch and by six PM the bar (above) crowd is overflowing into the main dining room (right). (There's another Grille in Dallas, with plans for more on the way.) "We feared we might be cannibalizing the one across the street," manager Nick D'Ambrosio told me, "but, knock wood, that hasn't happened." 
      The Grille is a large, rambling space with a long bar and a pizza oven--unusual steakhouse for a steakhouse. The place is handsome, flattering to both men and women, though not as glamorously decorated as the Sixth Avenue flagship;  bare tables and an uncomfortably  high decibel level tell you that they're trying to be more casual here, and prices are, admirably, lower.   The service staff is fleet-footed and amiable, and sommelier Brittany Kirkpatrick oversees a well-selected wine list with more than 600 labels.
    The menu duplicates many items from across the avenue, but Grille Chef Scott Kroener (below) breaks the mold with some terrific appetizers that--no pun intended--go against the grain of the traditional steakhouse menu of shrimp cocktail, tomato and mozzarella,  slab of beef, potatoes, and cheesecake.  For one thing, that pizza oven turns out some admirable flatbreads, including a winner with roasted tomato, mozzarella and basil, along with a white clam version. When I read the words "Cheesesteak Eggrolls, Sweet & Spicy Chili Sauce and Honey Mustard," my mouth dropped and I just nodded, "Yes, yes, yes!" I was rewarded with a really terrific dish that needs no more explanation than what it is.  In the same line are delectable, crunchy ahi tuna tartare tacos with avocado and a well-spiced citrus mayo.  By "Jumbo Lump Crabcake" with Cajun lobster sauce, they mean the crabmeat itself is indeed luscious jumbo lump, though the size of the cake itself was not the largest specimen I've seen on a plate.
    There are several "Big Salads," as Elaine Benes on "Seinfeld" called them, one an iceberg lettuce wedge with ample bacon, tomato, and blue cheese dressing.  As at all Del Frisco's, the beef is USDA Prime, wet-aged for 28 days. I can't say the sirloin would beat Palm's in a blind tasting--the latter's dry aging gives a deeper flavor--but, after Chef Kroener avidly recommend I try the filet mignon on the bone (left), a cut I usually avoid because it tends to lack marbling, I gave in and ordered one "Pittsburgh," that is, charred on the outside.  Like the sirloin, it came impeccably charred and seasoned; having been cooked on the bone, it was very juicy, and its size indicated it came from the best section of the beef carcass, making for an absolutely first-rate filet mignon, whose only competitor in NYC would be Smith & Wollensky's on Third Avenue. We also enjoyed hearty beef Stroganoff on buttered fat noodles in a dark, winy sauce lashed with sour cream.
    For sides, be sure to go for the truffled mac & cheese, the sea salt and Parmesan-dusted fries, and the rich broccoli au gratin, all of which easily serve a table of two or three.
    If there could possibly be any room left in your appetite, share a mile-high slice of lemon layer cake  with the table.
   So.  What Del Frisco's Grille offers is a casual atmosphere, excellent beef, a better wine list than Palm, more interesting appetizers, sides and desserts than Gallagher's, and way better service than at Luger's and Spark's.  I, for one, can't wait to go back to try the hamburger and a few more of those eggrolls.

Open daily from 11 AM till midnight. Starters $9-$19; entrees $19-$45. (For the record, prices at Del Frisco's Double Eagle run $13-$22 for starters, and $35-$93 for main courses.)

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I consider this the best and savviest blog of its kind on the  web. Potter is a columnist for USA Weekend, Diversion, Laptop and Luxury  Spa Finder, a contributing editor for Ski and  a frequent contributor to National  Geographic Traveler, ForbesTraveler.com  and Elle Decor. "I’ve designed this site is for people who take their  travel seriously," says Potter. "For travelers who want to learn about special  places but don’t necessarily want to pay through the nose for the privilege of  staying there. Because at the end of the day, it’s not so much about five-star  places as five-star experiences."  THIS WEEK: AMERICA'S MOST VISITED MONUMENTS.

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