This past Sunday, 8 August 2021, my wife, daughter and I ate at Orlando’s Restaurant. We were vacationing in St. Lucia, and staying at local resort. It rained all morning. In the early afternoon, when the sun finally peaked, we quickly made our way to town on foot, looking for a place to have lunch. We first passed Orlando’s. It was unassuming, without the bling-bling lights or signage intended to attract tourists. We kept walking. Everything in town was closed. We slowly resigned to eat at the Resort. On our way back, and approaching Orlando’s, we heard a group of dinners eating, talking, and having what seemed to be a good time. We tried to go in. The door was locked. We knocked on the door. A young woman greeted us and told that the restaurant was in fact closed, and was hosting a private party. She told to wait for one minute while she checked to see if they could accommodate us. She returned and asked us to wait at the bar, while she prepared our table.
While we waited at the bar, we struck a casual conversation through the “window” separating the bar and the kitchen, with a man who we initially thought was the cook. This is not surprising for the man was cooking! I don’t remember the conversation. It must have been of the “where are you guys from” variety.
Looking back now, I wished I had taken pictures of the front, entrance, and bar area of the restaurant. A meal to us is never merely about the food: It is about the company sharing the meal; the atmosphere; the staff; physical environment; etc.
I am now back in NY, and trying to recall the interior of the restaurant. It was a hot day. We were walking all throughout the town. We were sweating. Once we were seated, we were given cold towels, which we placed around our necks and foreheads. That was refreshing.
We were made to feel very welcomed at Orlando’s. We eat out quite a bit over the past four decades and and I can think of being made to feel so welcomed only twice: once by Chef Marcus Samuelsson’s Aquavit, the high end Scandinavian restaurant, when he seated my party in the middle of the restaurant and brought our dishes personally, waited for us to taste his offerings, and, as I remember, recommended and offered a tasting aquavit drink menu. The other was at a client’s Thai Restaurant near Lincoln Center where we ate before attending a performance at the Metropolitan Opera House.
We had the chicken and fish prix fixe dishes. They were prepared with local ingredients, with flair and professional precision. Our daughter who is a “Food Network” fan said upon seeing and tasting her meal: “You know the Chef is clearly professionally trained”. We had no idea what we had walked into; or who Chef Orlando was.
Our first course consisted of soup. The main course, along with our meat choices, consisted of rice and peas, mac and cheese, and something else that now escapes me. Our last course was dessert, compromising of a freshly made coconut cake with freshly made ice cream.
Chef Orlando juxtaposes flavors and textures in ways that are both complex and finely tuned. More significantly, his ideas don’t seem to be merely parroting Caribbean traditions. He adds and subtracts just the right amounts to be true and respectful to the Caribbean tradition, while ensuring that it remains a living thing.
Chef Orlando took some time to discuss with us the current state of affairs in NY State. This was right before our then Governor, Andrew Cuomo, embroiled in a scandal involving harassing 11 women under his employed, was forced to resign. We learned a little about his background.
Later, after leaving, we learned about his impressive background. But that Sunday early afternoon, we were strangers, looking for food and water, and he opened his door...
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