The guys getting ready to open Cruz Bay’s next new restaurant, the Iguana Grill, are sprucing up their little piece of the block.
“Our property line extends to the street, so we thought we’d create a nice little garden for the school kids crossing,” co-owner Courtney Wright tells us.
The construction workers have been busy in recent weeks too, putting the finishing touches on the new restaurant. We love the bamboo look.
“We hope to be open by Carnival week,” says Courtney.
The St. John Market’s deli is largely up and running, and the best deals are the steaks.
Really good steaks, and reasonably priced. New York strip for $10.95 a pound. They’ve got nice looking fillets, rib eyes and sirloin too.
And fresh chicken. The kind that doesn’t look like it’s been wrapped and re-wrapped a few times.
We’ve always like this store, even if you do need to put on a hoodie and Long Johns if you plan on spending more than a couple of minutes shopping there. The air conditioning works very well.
We’ve watched Sea Shore Allure rise during its three year construction and when it opened we hoped for a tour. Now we’ve had one.
The place blew us away. It’s first class all the way.
Sea Shore Allure is the creamy yellow structure you see off to your left as you’re heading into Turner Bay toward the car barge dock. There are eight units, from one to three bedrooms, each with balconies and each absolutely beautiful.
There is a big pool, a covered outside tiki bar and grill area, a rooftop spa, killer views and plenty of parking. And it’s an easy walk to Cruz Bay.
Sea Shore Allure is owned by two lifelong St. Johnians and business operators and they’re extremely proud of it. They should be. See for yourself, below!
White-tailed deer are not uncommon on St. John, but lately they’re showing up in places where they haven’t ventured as much before.
In this case these guys were fearlessly munching this week at the end of a driveway out in the open in Chocolate Hole, an area not exactly remote or heavily wooded.
Here’s what we read about the introduction of deer on the island on the St. John Tour website:
Gerald Singer has more to say about St. John’s deer population.
We’d love to hear what long-time locals have to say about the deer population, which seems a lot less frightened of the island’s two-legged inhabitants than they used to be, and whether they’re becoming a nuisance, or just one more thing about St. John to love.
Last Saturday’s rained out Wagapalooza has been rescheduled and relocated, and the raffle prize list has grown considerably too.
Waga will now be held this Saturday at the VI National Park ball field. The raffle list booty is up to $15,000, including a just added Kenny Chesney autographed dog life preserver.
Click on the flier above for a look at this year’s prizes.
Here’s the first entry in our new feature, “Lunch of the Week.” Today we stop at Sun Dog Cafe at Mongoose Junction, and enjoy our Sun Dog lunch at the nearby Gecko Gazebo bar with an inexpensive rum punch.
Today’s special is sweet corn and potato soup, with garlic bread for around 5 bucks.
But if you see it on the specials board, order fast. It sells out quick.
They do blow glass – and they make all sorts of things, including the palm tree mugs at The Tap Room – though these were pulled glass. It is a very fun afternoon taught by teachers, Greg Lee and Mariel Bass, who are really in to what they’re doing.
We’ll introduce you to them, and post a video soon.
A cool fact. The beautiful glass creations that come out of these classes enter these classes as trash. They call it Trash to Treasures, and empty bottles provided by their Maho Bay guests account for almost all of the raw materials used, who apparently drink plenty. (Don’t send them any bottles! They say their campers provide more than enough.)
They’ve been turning waste glass into glass art since 1997. We’ve been doing it since Tuesday. We’ll be back soon!
Late breaking news. Wagapalooza has been postponed due to the rain. No kidding!
The ball field is a mud field and the ACC’s big fundraiser, wisely so, will be rescheduled. We hear it’ll be next weekend at a location to be determined. We’ll post an update.
It seems like everybody in Cruz Bay is adding some new goodies to their menus. JJ’s is doing it. The new Cafe Livin’ is doing it. Fatty Crab is doing it too.
Now Cruz Bay favorite Woody’s Seafood Salon is cranking up what comes out of the kitchen.
“We’re adding some new specials and are going to try to have something new on the specials menu every week,” Woody’s manager Dawn tells us. “We’re also going to have a different Beer of the Week.”
The first specials menu included beer battered Monterey jack cheese sticks with marinara sauce for $8, (“they melt in your mouth like a grilled cheese explosion,” Dawn says), Jalapeno burgers with curly fries, $11, and a New York strip and mushroom sandwich for $15. Last’s week’s featured beer was Sierra Nevada Summer Fest Lager, for $4.
“We were slammed on our first day with lunch specials. The jalapeno burgers were a huge hit,” she says.
We told you recently about JJ’s new Happy Hour food menu – a dozen choices at $5 each – and we’ve decided it’s one of the cheapest ways to fill up on the island.
Plan to fill yourself or your kids up early though. JJ’s no longer does dinner. The restaurant closes around 6 p.m. now. Happy Hour food prices start at 3.
Another Happy Hour rainstorm ripped through Tuesday and it was a gusher. The two cup measuring cup on the right filled itself to nearly the top from 4 p.m. to just before 6.
And the glass on the left….which was scientifically and precisely transported from its original location…had already filled itself to the top the previous night.
The downpour had some casualties…like the parking lot at St. John Market…
But we always wanted an infinity edge pool and now we have one!
Pool companies will be busy the rest of this week. (That much rain plays havoc with salt pools and chlorine pools alike.)
