When meeting a friend from St. John for lunch, it is nice to find a quiet spot on St. Thomas's East End to talk and enjoy some light fare. Since I am a great fan of the Elysian Sunday buffet, I thought I would give the other Elysian operation a try.
Bonnie's By the Sea is the beach bar attached to the fitness and conference center at the east end of Cowpet Beach. Eight to ten barstools and a number of tables under umbrellas are squeezed into the space between the building and the beach.
While the setting is very pleasant, the tables are so close together that it is impossible to hold a private conversation, or even move without disaccommodating those around you. I suggest Bonnie remove at least two tables and give her patrons a bit more room to slide their chairs in and out.
The menu is a cut above fast food with an extensive list of blender drinks, specialty hamburgers and "wraps". I tried the Bombay burger while my companion had the fish wrap. We both sampled the conch chowder but had to forgo the blender drinks since we were not hotel guests and had to drive away.
The chowder was the highlight of the meal. It was served in a stemmed mini-tureen which did a good job of keeping it warm and minimizing the opportunity for insect invasion. The cream was just thick enough with a touch of sweet pepper flavor. There were numerous pieces of chewy conch and lots of large potato chunks. While I prefer my potato diced, the flavor of the chowder was most appealing and I enjoyed it very much.
The Bombay burger was a nice patty of meat in a good bun covered with a tablespoonful of pleasant chutney. So far so good. The burger's description, however, called for peanuts, which really set off a hamburger. So far as I could tell, they were totally missing. The only accompaniment to this $7.50 burger was a pickle spear. While the chutney was okay, the entrée simply didn't live up to its billing.
The fish wrap was intriguing. It was supposed to be pieces of dolphin (the fish, not the mammal) wrapped in a tortilla. The wrapping turned out to be more of what I would call a Jamaican meat-pie crust – think, flaky, saffron-flavored and -colored wheat dough. The filling was very interesting with nice chunks of fish and succulent veggies. The dressing was reminiscent of something I couldn't quite put my mind to – not quite a hamburger mix of mustard, ketchup and mayonnaise – that kept me tasting for more.
Unfortunately, the fish was extremely salty. Now there are two reasons for being disturbed by salty seafood. One is the problem many people have digesting sodium. The other is the use of salt to disguise seafood which has been stored a bit too long. For whatever reason, I simply don't care for salty fish unless it is good old Caribbean saltfish with all the spices and trimmings.
A word about the restrooms: These are the beach changing rooms, which are spacious and clean. Unfortunately, they suffer from what appears to be an endemic Virgin Islands malady – empty box syndrome. This is a disease that strikes soap dispensers using plastic pouches of liquid soap in a cardboard box. When the pouch is squeezed empty, it stays there in the dispenser until a frustrated patron throws it away and leaves the dispenser open. The disease then often progresses into empty dispenser syndrome.
The bottom line for this outing? Well, the food was rather expensive for lunch and didn't meet the quality standards one would expect for such an expense. The setting was nice, but the tables were crowded. Finally, my mother taught me to wash my hands before eating; and that requires soap. Oh well, you cannot win them all.
Bonnie's is a participant in the Rotary East Dine Out program. Through a coupon book, this dining program entices you to some of the better restaurants on St. Thomas and St. John, typically providing a free second entrée, drink or dessert; depending on the establishment. The proceeds from the coupon book sales go to Rotary programs for youth. For more information, see the May 4 story titled "Coupon books let you eat well while doing good" in this section of St. Thomas Source.
Ambience: 3 stars
Food: 2 stars
Service 3 stars
Value: 2 stars
Elysian Beach Resort
774-8868
Lunch 11 a.m.-6:30 p.m. daily; dinner 5:30-9:30 p.m. Mon. – Fri.
American cuisine
$$
Amex, Discovery, MasterCard, Visa

Editor's note: The Tottering Taster is a senior citizen dedicated to enjoying good food who dines in local establishments to bring Source readers unsolicited assessments biased in favor of an ultimate eating-out experience. The individual uses a pseudonym so restaurant personnel will not be able to identify the reviewer and try to influence the review.