Ok, to continue on my gastronomic tour de force!

Went to Gibi's Dec 19 and was disappointed to see not one BT'er there. Just me and Renee who is a fantastic snorkel guide, and one other couple that are not even from BT. But had a delicious garlic shrimp, very good rice and nice salad. I'm going to give it a go again on Jan 2 and Tribs said she would be going too.

Had lunch back at one of my faves, Bistro De Paris. Had AMAZING conch chowder there! The large bowl was inundated with conch in a tomato based thick broth and had a lovely piece of bread roll in the middle..was a meal in itself! I don't know how I managed to eat a crab caesar salad with it..but I did!

Had dinner at the new Papaya Moon, which is where Croccatinos used to be. I don't know if I would consider them Tex Mex as they claim, but it was pretty good. I was with my friend Joann from Texas and she didn't think their menu sounded Tex Mex either. We had a tortilla chip and queso dip first which was pretty good. For an entree I had the lobster enchiladas which were very good, but had way too much cheese on it which overpowered the lobster and it's sauce. Lotsa lobster..just ask for light cheese is my suggestion. But Joann had the most delicious piece of beef I've tasted on the island. For sure order their mesquite tenderloin...cut like buttah! And the flavor was incredible! She loved the glass of house chardonnay she had with it too. Great service.

Friday night..must be Bobbejans! I got a double order of their ribs and chicken satay so I could have leftovers and I did...for a couple of days! And all for about 30 guilders...like $18!!

Had dinner at Mi Banana which I did lunch at the week before. This is a local joint on the way to More For Less market. Both times I had the whole snapper..they said it's grilled, but it seems more deep fried to me, but not greasy and full of meat! Served with rice and plantains..cheap! Also had their flan...can't remember what it's called...was sooooo good! Food is cheap here...you don't have to spend a lot of money to eat out on Bon if you check around..especially the local snack shacks.

Went back to Cactus Blue on Xmas. Was very crowded so the service was slow....took over and hour and a half to get our meal..but understandable considering the holiday. Had the all inclusive meal with the crab balls appetizer (fantastic!) and the fried calamari (way too thick, onion ring type breading). The main dish was grouper (small and dry) with shrimp (delish!) served with their coconut rice which is so yummy. This was finished off with their wonderful key lime pie.

Went to the Ribs Factory tonight which I have enjoyed in the past, but tonight it took about 50 min to get my meal and they weren't that busy. The server came over and said..how come you haven't gotten your meal yet...and I was like..ummm...you work here, don't you know?? Very weird! But they offered me a free drink to make up for it. But the cajun french fries were cold and I could tell that it had been sitting up there for awhile. Ribs and chicken I ordered were pretty good though..not sure if I will return here.

Mercy, well done.

I was with Mercy at Cactus Blue..one mention in their defense, they were fully booked and took our res at 6:30 PM so squeezed us in at 8 and seated us immediately..thanks Hagen and Corinna and second they had two massive tables which consumed the kitchen's capacity...thanks to Moogie and the accommodating staff, we still had a blast. When dining around the holidays one needs to be flexible as Mercy mentions..

The flan is called Quesilla..YUMMO as Rachel Ray says..

HUGS MERCY...

When one goes out to eat on Bonaire, it's a bit slower then at home, but hay kids, look around at where you are. You are on vacation, kick back and relax, you're not going to miss the last train.

Other then the big hotel restraints, most are small kitchens. Your dish is cooked to order, no pre cooked food. This takes time. But so well worth the wait. I do get bitchy when I get seated and 30 min's go by before I get the menu. I walk at that point.

I try to not be in a hurry when I go out to eat because part of the fun is conversation with whom ever your with and people watching... What iritates me more than anything is when waitstaff does not even acknowledge that you are there - then I would walk to!

I defence of Papaya Moon being Tex-Mex... I work in a Tex-Mex resturant and the owner is from Dallas Texas. Something that he always tells people who do not really know what Tex-Mex is, is that it is Mexican food with a lot of cheese and sauce smothered on everything. I have had people complain to me that there was too much cheese on their entree but that is Tex-Mex for ya.

One of the reasons I rarely eat Mexican food when I travel outside of Arizona, Sonora, and Chihuahua is the overwhelming layers of cheese and sauce. There were a couple of small restaurants in San Jose (California) that served really good Sonoran and Chihuahuan food. I forget the name of the Sonoran restaurant in Cozumel, but they did an excellent job of reproducing Sonoran cuisine.

Tex-Mex isn't really a homogenous cuisine, either. There are variations from city to city, and as for Dallas ... it's the cheesiest!

Janet, Sarah and I are planning on Gibi's Jan 2 also so shouuld be a few BTers...look forward to meeting some of the folks from the board. Also looking forward to Jake and Linda's open house on New Years.

I am hanging out in SJU waiting for the BON flight. My wife Janet and daughter Sarah have been on island since the 24th - 2nd hand restaurant reports are: nice Christmas dinner with Jim and Kathi McPeak at Cactus Blue, which they thought was "good enough for a second trip" if I want to try it; bizarro experience at It Rains Fishes - open, totally empty, told there were no tables available. Went to Rumrunners instead. No details.

Plan for tonight is to raid the fridge; Planning on Patagonia tomorrow. I hope planning on ANYTHING for tomorrow is not tempting the air-travel fates...

David

I LOVE CHEESE!!! It's the other white meat