Duffy's Love Shack... Red Hook - My neighborhood bar

Is there anything more boring than looking at someone else's vacation pictures?


Like I said yesterday, this week we are entertaining our first guests.  My wife's favorite aunt and her cousin (David and Becky shown above) are giving us locals a chance to be tourists for the week.  Taking the organized island tours, watching them haggle with the vendors (and then we swoop in and get a local's discount for them), snorkeling and sunning have been on my agenda all week... Almost no cooking, and what little cooking I am doing, I am repeating recipes.  So, content for the blog has been light.


BUT, no trip to our corner of paradise would be complete without a stop at my favorite dive bar and grill... Duffy's Love Shack!


Literally, it is located in a parking lot  in the Red Hook area of St Thomas (closest "town" to us).  It is our go to bar for a fun time.

Just so you don't think I have forgotten that this is a food blog...


Blackened chicken nachos (above)... A little of everything (including a few SURPRISE hot peppers!

Some kind of crappy health food salad that my cousin-in-law loved (how healthy can it be with a half cup of sour cream and a cup of guacamole on it???)

Personally... Their Blue Cheese burgers are the best on the island!  A little bacon (of course bacon!) just to set the mood!

But I guess when you get down to it... This is what sets the mood...


The infamous DUFFY's SHARK TANK... 64 ounces of Booze (and a little fruit juice)!   Served in a fish bowl with straws for everybody!

And just in case there was not enough booze in the Fish Tank, Jackie wanted her signature, Lime in the Coconut (which I have spent many nights trying to replicate, but always seem to be just a shade short)...

Have you ever been charged $9 for a strawberry daiquiri?  At least when you order a $9 daiquiri at Duffy's, they let you keep the parrot glass (Jackie's Cousin's Daughter not included)...

Even the favorite aunt gets to go home with a logo beer mug when she ordered a virgin daiquiri...

Yes, they made fun of me for a bit for photographing the food... Then the fancy glasses arrived and everyone was photographing the food...


Even people from other tables were photographing our shark tank...

That is a shark inside our drink...

When in St Thomas, don't miss Duffy's Love Shack... Best dive bar set up in a parking lot I have ever been to!

Coconuts Bar and Grill in Downtown St Thomas

Coconuts is a little hard to find.  It is just a quarter block off of Main street in downtown Charlotte Amalie, tucked in behind a Subway Sandwich shop (what kind of person would go to an exotic location and eat at a fast food franchise restaurant??? But I digress).  But, it is indeed worth the hunt.

Jackie and I went there during her lunch hour.  It was recommended by a local.  Real food, cooked fast served fast and very very tasty... no need for fast food.

I ordered the shrimp scampi, and Jackie ordered a fish (sandwich) and chips.  Came with a little extra bread and it was indeed a fine lunch.

The bar had a nice whimsy look to it, dollar bills with messages from fans were tacked on teh wall near photos and memorabelia for most of the temas in teh NFL and MLB.

Lots of Navy hats tacked to the ceiling and a bookcase full of booze (that is a trend I am seeing down here, been to a few homes and everyone keeps a bookcase full of boose)!

Highly recommended, convenient to shopping, very close to where the cruise ships let out.  Inexpensive (both our meals were under $10 each), made fresh to order and both were exceptionally tasty!

 

 Look close, in the center is the bookcase full of booze.

  

  

  

This is the ceiling.

Click the blue letters to get to  

 Coconuts Bar & Grill's website!

WIKKED WATERSIDE SHACK AND BAR - My Favorite Happy Hour

 

Greetings, and who doesn't love a great happy hour!

Great food, great prices and with Wikked, comes a GREAT VIEW as well.  Wikked Waterside Shack and Bar is located in the Yacht Haven Grande collection of upscale stores and eateries.  It is beautifully decorated in wicker island style, complete with lots of greenery to make you feel comfortable.  For sure, one of the stars of Wikked is the setting.  Easy views of the harbor with lots of private yachts and always a view of the cruise ships that come daily ot ST Thomas.  It is a joy just to sit outside and enjoy watching the "other half" walk sail by.

But just as nice is to relaxe in the cool circulated air of the dining area.

But for me, the star is the happy hour menu served in the bar from 4 to 6 PM.... In specific, their chicken wings.  They offer 4 flavors of sauces,  

RUM & COKE with caramelized onion mojo
PINEAPPLE JERKED with creamy dill
HABANERO MANGO with roasted tomato thyme
W!KKED BUFFALO with bleu cheese buttermilk 

I am addicted to the Pineapple Jerk.  A little sweet, and little heat and a perfect mix,  The wings are perfectly cooked, just a bit crispy.  the happy hour price is $0.75 each (oredered in groups of 5), and well worth the price.  If you are coming to the island, Yacht Harbor Grande is one of those places that everyone gets to.  Plan a trip to Wikked for the wings,

Beers are $2 each, Rum drinks (including maragrettas) are $3 each and they also offer fish, chicken or pork tacos. for $2.

Kackie ordered a Cuban...

cuban
Pressed sandwich with roast pork, ham, dill pickles, swiss
cheese and yellow mustard

This was my first chance to sample "JEROME's HOT SAUCE".  It is a vinegar based HOT sauce with lots of little bits floating around... Excellent if you like the heat.  Will try a bottle of my own soon.

And stick around to watch the boats light up and the cruise ships depart... All part of the show and entertainment of HAPPY HOUR at Wikked!

Iggie's Beach Bar and Grill - Bolongo Bay

If you are researching a trip to St Thomas, you have probably come across someone talking about Iggie's Beach Bar and Grill in your research. A wonderful setting, next to the Bolongo Bay Beach Club. Right on the beach, with wonderful views of the Caribbean.

Check out their website, they have fun nightly entertainment. If you have a Jimmy Buffet Margaretaville/"Fins to the Left" Bar fantasy, this is the place for you! In fact, the night we were there, a local artist was singing lots of island hits from my iPod (no Frankie and Annette though)!

Pretty extensive bar, lots of rum drinks and at least a dozen varieties of bottles and beer on tap.

Jackie tried a Rum punch drink, I am still trying new things, and had a wonderful Virgin Islands Summer Ale (they are making this year round), made in St John (One of the "other" US Virgin islands).

For an appetizer, we had a terrific "West Indian Conch Fritter" with a mango dipping sauce... Very good. In fact, that sauce was very very very good... need to start working on this sauce... And eat more mangos.

Sadly, we made a mistake from here in the ordering. I have a pretty good sense of what a bar tries to be, and I do not try to ask the bar to be more than it is. Bar food is meant to be fried, breaded and cooked fast. Lots of outstanding bars serve outstanding sandwiches, fries, breaded stuff. The fried fritters were outstanding! It takes a really outstanding bar to serve an outstanding dinner.

Jackie ordered the Grilled Mahi Mahi - Blackened. Sadly, I do not believe they have a live fire (coal or gas even) grill in the back cooking their dinner menu. They have a grill pan. What they do not have is a Blackening cooking pan. Blackening "should" be a cooking process as much as spices. Get your butter smoking hot and add spices to your meat. Then cook til the spices sear, giving a "black" crusty layer of butter and spice. Paul Prudhome from New Orleans made the process famous with his blackened redfish. the Blackened Mahi mahi would have been exactly what I expect to get if I ordered this dish in Minnesota. It was just spiced and pan grilled. Not awful, but not as good as it could be. Just a couple weeks ago, back in Kansas, I did a post on cooking Blackened Pork Chops, the photos on that post show the process, as well as what the final product should look like. Imagine that process on the fish and you would really have something!

It was served with some cooked sweetened plantains that were excellent and rice which was also good. Vegetables are tough to find on the island. There is just nothing fresh. Unfortunately, the peas and carrots were fresh from a can.

And here, I made a big mistake. The waitress was raving on the ribs, saying best in the islands. OK, let's try em...

They were just as tender and moist as you could ask for. But, they achieved that tender and moist by boiling them (this is a guess, but I would bet $1.98 I am right). You should be able to taste the meat. The meat was tender, the meat was moist, the meat had little taste. Now, the sauce was a RUM AND COKE sauce that the waitress really raved about. In order to make up for the meat having most of the flavor going down a drain, they over sauced the ribs. The sauce was very very good but they could have easily used 1/3rd of what they put on. They also did not grill (even pan grill) the ribs with the sauce on. This would have caramelized the sugar in the rum and coke sauce and added an extra layer of flavor (as well as a bit of crunch for extra texture). Now, over sauced and boiled is how easily 1/2 the ribs in the US are served. So, nothing terrible about this, and I am sure there are many people who rave about the sauce.

It just could have been better.

But, the beer was ice cold, the food was served warm, and there was plenty for your money. the location was straight out of a Jimmy Buffet postcard. The staff and service were excellent, friendly and fast. The minor issues with the food are things that I should know better, and are my own fault. Don't ask a bar to be more than it is.

And this is a GREAT BAR!

Open air seating, but always a cool ocean breeze

Lots of extra decor (twinkle lights) add to the festive atmosphere. Jackie is a sucker for twinkle lights.

And this was the view from our hotel room!

This is a very short cab ride from where cruise ships dock. Skip the shopping, come have lunch and a quick dip in the ocean at Iggie's beach Bar and Grill!