Batch Craft

Background: Batch Craft was founded in 2015 by Zan Maddox & Tamara LaValla, a creative couple based in Rock Hill, SC. Their goal is to use their love of travel and their creative talents to produce small, limited edition "batches" of inspired treasures for our loving consumption. Their first few batches have focused on chocolate, which is a scallionpancake favorite! Their plans are to expand from chocolate to other treats and different arts and crafts.

Order This: Chocolate...duh! They are currently selling their 5th batch of chocolate bars with cacao sourced from Ecuador (limited edition of 200 bars for each flavor). They make all of their chocolate in house (literally in their house) with cacao beans that they source directly from farmers in the country which they are making their current batch. For $20 you get to pick 3 chocolate bars from their four different flavors - dark, coffee, vanilla, and salt. All the bars are 65% chocolate, which means they are considered dark chocolate, but not too dark that they taste like you're eating bitter earth. The extra ingredients - sugar, vanilla, coffee, salt, and cocoa butter - are all organic and sourced from the best places on earth. For instance, they  get their salt from Bull's Bay Charleston and their coffee from Pure Intentions.

But enough about the ingredients, let's talk about the taste! All of the bars were super creamy and nutty, with the 65% chocolate being the perfect amount to bring out the chocolate flavor without getting the crappy bitter aftertaste. We ordered the dark, vanilla, and salt. Our favorite was the salt, which had the perfect combination of sweet chocolate body, cooled off and balanced with the salt; however, we are splitting hairs as all of the bars were excellent.

Riverwalk Hospitality: The chocolates come in adorable packaging with personal notes from "Zammy." Each bar is individually numbered and comes with the following inscription: "Handcrafted with love & OCD in our Rock Hill, SC kitchen." They will also hand delivery the chocolate to you if you live in the area.

Frankie's Notes: I would eat all the chocolate in the world if it wouldn't kill me; "Love & OCD" would be the name of Yvonne's memoir; Sometimes if you close your eyes and eat chocolate you can pretend you are Willy Wonka; Javon's #1 fear is leaving the chocolate on the counter and coming home to Ollie having the ingenuity to open 3 layers of packaging and committing "death by chocolate."

Rating: A must buy!

Et Cetera: 

www.batchcraft.com

 

Asolare

Japanese Pancake (Okonomiyaki)

Vietnamese Summer Rolls

Shrimp Dumplings

Scallop Tataki

Delicious Bread

Burrata with Local Honey

Mahi

Shanghai Smoked Duck Confit Legs

Chocolate Pecan Pie

Lavender Creme Brulee

Wayney enjoying the view

Background: Asolare is located on top of Caneel Hill and overlooks Cruz Bay. It was originally a single family house that hosted some of the most famous St John residences - including Laurence Rockefeller. In 1994 Winston Bennett converted the home into the restaurant it is today. Asolare is considered by the locals to be one of the top two or three restaurants on the island.

Order This: The menu at Asolare is self proclaimed "Asian Fusion." I think it's more American with a kiss of asian and Caribbean flares. Yes they have spring rolls, gyoza, curry, and Japanese pancakes, but most of their dishes are classic American with subtle hints of Asian and Caribbean influences.

Take for instance our favorite appetizer of the night, the Japanese pancake. This pancake tasted more like a sweet american flapjack then a classic scallionpancake (#muffinsofchina), but it was filled with shrimp, calamari, pork belly, and other delicious random sea meats. It was also topped with a spicy chipotle sauce and mixed greens.

They had a special appetizer of the night, which was homemade barrata with local honey that comes from one of the chef's own honey colonies he has on his roof (#beecity). The barrata was excellent and not runny on the inside, which is the way scallionpancake thinks barrata should be made. Paired with the honey and delicious bread, this was one of the best dishes we had.

For entrees they have a variety of fish and meat dishes, including Shanghai Smoked Duck Confit Legs, Caribbean Conch Layered Mahi, and a Japanese Sous-Vide Filet. All of them were very good but none of them were "i'll remember this for the rest of my life or even next week" type of dishes. 

Dessert: This is where Asolare is pure gold. We tried two of their desserts: a lavender creme brûlée and a chocolate peacan pie. Our favorite was the lavender creme brûlée, which was had the classic creme brûlée texture and taste with a subtle hint of lavender. 

Drink: Asolare has an excellent bar just off the main dinning room with seasonal cocktails both alcoholic and non-alcoholic. They also make some of their own bitters and syrups here and are known for one of the best collections of liquor on the island.

Island Rockefeller Hospitality: One of the main attractions of Asolare is the view - probably the best dinner view on St John (see: Wayney's view above). Note that in order to get a prime sunset spot you need to make a reservation a few days in advance. The service provided by the staff is the best on the island, with all the servers being extremely knowledgable of the menu, St. John, and the history of the restaurant.

Wayney's Notes: Don't mess with a good steak by adding crap that no one likes - a good steak is a good steak! If a place doesn't have fireball, then you should probably burn that place to the ground. Never agree to go on a hike with Jason's dad unless you have trained for 3 to 4 months.  On St John, if it's 10am and you haven't had 2 shots of rum, a cigar, a nap, 2 shots of fireball, and a turkey sandwich you aren't living your life right. (Wayne - aka Wayney - is Yvonne's dad).

Rating: 4 out of 5

Et Cetera: 

6A Estate Caneel Bay
St John, Virgin Islands 00830
Dinner 6PM - Until

http://asolarestjohn.com/

 

The Longboard

Calamari

Salmon Crudo

Pork Belly Ponzu

Yellow Sub Sushi Wrap

Background: The Longboard was opened in April 2015 by restauranteurs Clint Gaskins and Tyler Beckstead, both with over 15 years experience each in high end restaurants in the states and Virgin Islands. The Longboard is located right on the main restaurant/bar corridor of Cruz Bay, which is the largest town on St. John.

Order This: The menu is hipster sushi bar mixed with traditional Caribbean delicacies. Instead of a traditional conch fritter which you find on almost any menu on St. John, you'll find the "Conch and Shrimp Lettuce wraps" at Longboards - served with Fire roasted bell pepper, red onion, lemon, lime, cilantro, avocado, habanero, and lettuce cups. Everything and anything on the menu is meant to be shared, so go with some friends and order a bunch of things.

Our favorites have been the sushi wraps, which are basically sushi burritos. This last time we got the Yellow Sub, which contains spicy tuna, avocado, tamago, tempura fried scallion, toasted sesame & sushi rice, wrapped in soy paper, served with teriyaki & sriracha. We also like the calamari (despite our fear of corn), which is your traditional fried calamari but prepared just right (not too fried but still crispy). 

A healthy option is to get one of their tacos and turn it into a bowl - all the cool kids from Plaza Midwood are doing this these days. We like the Ahi Tuna with roasted tomato-caper chutney, baby arugula, feta cheese, pico, cilantro, and meyer lemon roasted garlic aioli.

Dessert: There are no desserts on the menu, which hurts scallionpancake more than almost anything.

Drink: The Longboard has taken the traditional island drinks and made them frozen and on tap. Their most popular is their "World Famous Frozen Painkiller", which is dark rum, coconut cream, pineapple, orange and grated nutmeg. The Dark & Stormy is also popular, which is made with their house made ginger beer.

Atmosphere: It feels like a typical island bar - everything is outside with the bar being the main focus - but with a step up. Everything is very clean and white, with the focus being the green and white sea glass bar. There are no regular tables here - all the seating is at the bar or at high tops.

Island Hospitality: The first thing you need to know when visiting St. John is that most people are extremely nice but have little to no motivation to do anything quickly or at all. So if you're used to a fast paced, get in and out as quickly as possible lifestyle then it's going to take some getting used to. That being said, Longboards generally has some of the best service on the island.

Frankie's Notes: Make sure to ask Jason's dad the chances of dying on a hike before you agree to go with him; conch fritters are the new fried oysters, which are the new fried calamari, which are the new hushpuppies; Jason's brother and Yvonne's dad are now BFL (bros for life); if you don't get approached by a 'rastaman asking you to buy weed you probably aren't living your life right.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Et Cetera: 

1 Prince Street
Cruze Bay, St John USVI
Bar 3PM - Until
Kitchen 3PM -10PM
Daily Happy Hour 3 PM - 6 PM

https://www.thelongboardstjohn.com/