El Cafecito - St. Martin

A Spanish named, foreign-owned, international restaurant on the French side of the Caribbean island of St. Martin... diversity is the lifeline of this place.

Searching for a meal at 10pm on this lazy tourist island was getting hectic, as each restaurant kept turning us away and it was our last night on St. Martin... Sara's hunger was multiplying and our patience was running low. When I suggested Burger King, Sara almost lost it.

But she just 'knew' that something was ahead, that soft muted glowing restaurant that we passed several times, but never approached. She always had a good feeling about this place... as my mom taught me very early on: never ignore a woman's intuition

This time, as we approached the restaurant, they invited us in. We passed table after table of hookah and French conversation. Wine glasses were full and laughter was in the air... something just felt right. Even Sara's dress was perfectly coordinated with the pastel interiors of the eclectic decor. The menu was laid out in school composition notebooks with a nostalgic handwritten font. Each page represented a different nation and each nation was brought to life through a palette of signature tastes. We chose France and Spain and all of a sudden, the table was full of amazing morsels of duck, potatoes au gratin, gazpacho, tortilla, serrano ham and chorizo. The French owners were warm and told us about the entrepreneurial adventure which led them to opening this restaurant. Inspiring story, but with dishes that large and diverse we couldn't comprehend how they could ever turn a profit.

Sara and I were already dancing in our seat after the tarte tatin and ice cream dessert... then, they decided to blow us away completely. They had me raising the roof when they came out with shots of flavored rum! Imagine it: strong homemade rum soaked in natural fruits from the island... we tried the bananas foster rum (our favorite), as well as the passion fruit and coconut rum.... El Cafecito, "the little cafe", is a place we'll always remember.