I've no experience with Dutch cuisine and would like to try a few specialties on my upcoming trip. What are everyone's favorites?

The food on Bonaire is only Dutch influenced. Most people go for the Cabrito Stoba and Keshi Yena, which is pretty much local to the N. Antilles. Don't miss the Tuesday night get-together at Gibi's. Also, browse through the Dining thread for comments about the various places to eat. You will have a hard time finding a poor meal. You can even get KFC, Subway, and burgers at Wattaburger, if you want U.S. food for a change. The Chinese food at China Noba is great and you can get Indonesian food at the Olde Inn.

Kroket, frikendel, french fries with mayo, stampot (mashed potatoes with greens mixed in), rookwurst, red cabbage as a side, pannekoek (cross between a crepe and a pancake), bitteballen, oliebollen (fried dough with raisins, sprinkled with powdered sugar), salty black liquorice, BBQ pork ribs

from the Surinam/Indonesian influence:
Bami Goreng (fried noodles with grilled meat), Nasi Goreng (fried rice with grilled meat), meat satay with pinda saus (skewered meat chunks with spicy peanut sauce), Rijstafel (you just gotta experience this selection of foods), Gado Gado (green beans with peanut sauce)

check out http://www.godutch.com/windmill/recipes.asp?id=all
for Dutch food recipes. This should give you an idea of what the various dishes are and what is in them. Some recipes are in Dutch, but enough of the ingredigents are named similarly to English for you to figure you the main items.

Real Dutch food is this:

Daily dinner of:
100 grams of not-too-expensive meat, cooked potatoes, cooked vegetables and (lots of) gravy.

Hey Kitty, that sounds almost like New England food except ours is without the gravy. We add in bread with butter. Must be why I always find the Stampot so warm and homey feeling.

Kitty, that's standard Kansas/Missouri food, I grew up on that plus buttermilk biscuits or dumplings, and warm rice with milk and sugar for dessert and for a real treat, raisins were added.

meat, potatoes, and veggies...yuck! ;) ...i was gonna blame it on ohio but i see we may have picked uo the "tastes" elsewhere;)

...well, the phrase "comfort food" i suppose applies...

;)

Yep. Now you Ohio, Kansas/Missouri and New England guys know where it all came from.... ;)

But the real Dutch part of it all is the not-more-than-a-100-grams-of-meat-per-person part.

I'm glad my mother didn't like that type of food either....

Well, it also sounds like food from farms in the SouthWest (Arizona and Colorado) where my family originates

We (Mango's) had a Dutch master-chef train our local staff to make "Hete Blixen" (there's no English translation-so I've named it "Sleeping with the Fishes.") It's sauteed sea bass (we use whatever fish is available though), "sleeping" on a "bed" of pureed potatoes, green apples, fresh saurkraut & onions, "swimming" in a creamy white-wine mustard sauce.

Mmm. sounds good, Ruth.

I had it once at Mango's.
Extremely delicious! I would order it again in a heartbeat.

mmmmmm...Rijstafel

Aquaman

Thanks for all the info. I can't wait to try a few things. Mmmmm, frites with mayonnaise....

Hete Blixen sounds awesome Ruth! I've gotta try it! At Mango's, eh?

Yes, Mango's at Sand Dollar. I don't think the Colonel would consider this 'original recipe' in his style. ;-)

Well, being Dutch I can tell you that it's actually called "Hete Bliksem" which means "Hot lightning". I always thought it was a mixture of applesauce and potatoes - never really had the guts to try it myself, it sounded so awful.
We do have some nice things though (see Linda's very informative post): frikandellen, Nasi Goreng, kroketten, saucijzen, 'boerenkool met worst' (green cabbage with mashed potatoes and smoked sausage), pea soup, etc. However, all this typically Dutch food is mainly geared to really cold weather....