Eating St. Croix
Coastal Living|January - February 2017

A weekend romp through America’s most understated island foodie paradise.

Jolyon Helterman
Eating St. Croix

It’s barely noon on a Friday, and already Rainbow Beach is in full swing. Pinkish vacationers knock back PBRs and Coco Lopez–bolstered cocktails at Rhythms, St. Croix’s best beach bar. They’re also here for the glassy, warm water—clear blue and opalescent—rivaled only by Buck Island and Sandy Point, the latter of which movie buffs may recognize from its cameo in The Shawshank Redemption as pre-tourism Zihuatanejo.

My buddy Lauryn and I, meanwhile, sip margaritas made from sour oranges grown a mile down the road, a limited offering we only get in on thanks to focused eavesdropping. The beguiling flavor, a cross between tangerine and floral Japanese yuzu, goes perfectly with velvety swaths of local-tuna sashimi—a hastily scrawled chalkboard special we might have skipped had we not spied the chef under a palm tree breaking down the pristine fish. That’s St. Croix in a (coco)nut shell: Gustatory wonder alongside white bread. Lazy Mayberry laced with breathtaking bursts of Technicolor intensity.

This story is from the January - February 2017 edition of Coastal Living.

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This story is from the January - February 2017 edition of Coastal Living.

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