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A Trip to Beach Delights
Caribbean Travel & Life By Susan Pierres When Bob and Melinda Blanchard left behind their Vermont food business to open a beach bar and grill on Anguilla, they had no idea it would evolve into one of the region’s most highly touted gastronomic havens with a prize-winning wine list and a celebrity-studded clientele – from the likes of Michael J. Fox to Janet Jackson, Ted Kennedy, Sandra Bullock, Robert De Niro and Kevin Bacon. The adventures of fitting into a new culture and bonding with their Anguillan staff are affectionately recounted in their first book, A Trip to the Beach (Clarkson Potter, US$25). A seductive fairytale of sun, sea and living on “island time,” the book provides more than just a vivid sense of place and a collection of delicious recipes: It’s a love letter to the people of Anguilla. The authors recently spoke with contributor Susan Pierres, a former resident of Anguilla. Why Anguilla? Anguilla was much more our style than some of the more developed islands with casinos, shopping and cruise ships. There is currently only one traffic light on the whole island. What would you tell someone who is thinking about packing up and moving to Anguilla? Life will most likely not be what you expect. The idea is to go to the beach every day, watch the pelicans dive for fish, sip rum punch. You may have a day or two like that. Whether you are trying to earn a living or retire would certainly have a big influence on your daily life. What advice would you give to someone thinking about opening a business on a Caribbean island? Read our book about doing exactly that. Running a restaurant is tough anywhere in the world, but try doing it in a country where there’s no food [grown] or fresh water and threats of hurricanes half the year. We certainly don’t do it for money. Where we and what we do are more important to us than money. How did you bond so well with your staff? We treat them like family and they do the same. We lead by example and work side-by-side – washing pots and pans, mopping the floor. We also try to help if they are in trouble, like after the hurricane or if they have health or financial problems. We stick up for each other when needed. What was the plan behind building an Anguillan-style racing boat? It was a team-building idea for the staff. Most of them have served as crewmembers on various boats and we thought it would be fun to build one together. They all chipped in, and we built it right there at the restaurant. There were times during slow nights when I’d walk into our kitchen and there was no one there because they were all working on the boat. We have built a beautiful boat, but need to fine-tune our racing skills a bit. What do you most like about life on the island? The pace. What do you least like about life on the island? The pace. |
