Little more St. John restaurant news

Post by **Anthony** » Sun Sep 20, 2009 5:44 pm

We hear that La Plancha will be re-opening on Satudays for dinner at 6:30. They will begin phasing in their full, in-season menu starting with a rib-eye special on Saturday nights. La Plancha has been open Monday - Friday throughout the offseason.

Chloe & Bernard's at the Westin closed unexpectedly and there are persistent rumors that the three other restaurants with the same owner - Asolare, Paradiso & The Balcony - will be closed by the end of the month, perhaps permanently.

Cindy in pa · Post by **Cindy in pa** » Sun Sep 20, 2009 8:34 pm

This post is to confirm the fact that Cloe and Bernard's has closed for a short time because of the slow season. The Balcony, Assolare and Paradiso are all open for business as usual and are NOT planning on closing at the end of the month. This info is straight from management so go eat, drink and enjoy.

Post by **Anthony** » Mon Sep 21, 2009 3:30 am

Thanks Cindy -

RickG · Post by **RickG** » Mon Sep 21, 2009 3:40 pm

Great news, the loss of those restaurants would be a blow!

Cheers, RickG

mbw1024 · Post by **mbw1024** » Mon Sep 21, 2009 6:30 pm

Also something new coming to the Stone Terrace location.

http://www.on-stjohn.com/2009/09/21/new ... e-terrace/

Post by **Anthony** » Mon Sep 21, 2009 6:56 pm

I am hearing it might be Mexican food!

Pia · Post by **Pia** » Tue Sep 22, 2009 8:45 am

I would not be so quick to assume all is well as todays entry on Frank Barnako website today reports that Chloe and Bernards has indeed closed (and not just for slow season) http://barnako.typepad.com/

The "coconut telegraph" on island is quite varied right now so I think it will be a case of "wait and see"

We first heard an interesting story back on July 5th on the ferry to Anegada - looks like it might be true but I hope not as 1/2 price apps at Paradisio are fantastic.

Pia

Xislandgirl · Post by **Xislandgirl** » Tue Sep 22, 2009 9:03 am

A little birdie on island told me that Chloe and Bernards will not be re-opening. I was told they are still working on keeping Asolare and Paradiso open but it is not looking good at all.

Berlingirl · Post by **Berlingirl** » Tue Sep 22, 2009 9:09 am

Hope the news is wrong... though wouldn't be surprised if it's not though as it seems more people are dragging everything but the kitchen sink with them so they don't have to go out to eat. Hard to make a living running a resturant when the clientel stays at home.

Personally speaking, with one week of vacation a year at this point, I don't want to spend it sweating over a stove so we do frequent local eating establishments. With little kids though we've not hit some of the "finer" eateries mentioned. We have stuck mostly to Lime Inn, Cafe Roma, Shipwreck landing and the rib places. Would love to someday see the sun set at a few of the finer places and a couple on the list sit at the top for visits in the future. Would be great also to get a new resturant at the Stone Terrace, we love Mex.

Should mention also...in case anybody is wondering...no we are not rich, not even close and don't know many people peronally that are. We just live in a fairly small town so our daily dining options are limited and I am usually the cook!

tipsy · Post by **tipsy** » Tue Sep 22, 2009 9:18 am

Reading these posts, has made us look at our trip in a diff. light. We had been planning on cooking dinner most nights on our balcony,mostly out of not wanting to have to shower,dress etc to go into town after a day of swimming,snorkeling etc. But now, we will frequent the local restaurants more and cook less. To contribute our little bit to the local economy.

This is another good thing about these chat forums, makes visitors more aware of the demographics of the area people are visiting.

Post by **Anthony** » Tue Sep 22, 2009 9:50 am

Xislandgirl wrote:A little birdie on island told me that Chloe and Bernards will not be re-opening. I was told they are still working on keeping Asolare and Paradiso open but it is not looking good at all.

Yes - unfortunately contrary to Cindy's post we are consistently hearing the same from several sources. Nothing is a done deal - but at the moment it is not looking good. However - if any of these restaurants were to close I don't think it would be too long before someone else re-opened in the locations with something new. I am sure the Westin is already in the process of securing a new operator for that location. Really just part of the business cycle in economic times like these.

A whole brand new resort in the T&C just went belly up -

http://www.travelweekly.com/caribbean/a ... 03150.aspx

This is happening all over the Caribbean.

liamsaunt · Post by **liamsaunt** » Tue Sep 22, 2009 9:57 am

I hope Asolare stays open! I love sititng on the rail and taking in the view, and they have some very creative cocktails.

PA Girl · Post by **PA Girl** » Tue Sep 22, 2009 10:07 am

Anthony wrote:
A whole brand new resort in the T&C just went belly up -

http://www.travelweekly.com/caribbean/a ... 03150.aspx

This is happening all over the Caribbean.

Interesting. We were on Provo last year to finish up a project for a developer that got stiffed by a sub. He needed to open ASAP because his government loan was coming due and the rate was reseting.

I believe the government was either issuing or backing development loans, which is a bit scary since Provo is over-built with resort projects as it is.

jayseadee · Post by **jayseadee** » Tue Sep 22, 2009 10:32 am

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Asolare makes it through.

We always go there for our "last supper".

RickG · Post by **RickG** » Tue Sep 22, 2009 10:36 am

Yep, hard times. Fine dining restaurants are seeing receipts down 15% or more in the DC area. The least fit are not surviving. The places that are doing well are more casual and feature high margin items at reasonable prices and doing as many table turns as possible. Catering and private dining also seems to be helping. If you're paying premium rent you can't just move your entree price point from $28 to $14.

St. John is a pretty brittle economy for a restaurant to support with 98% vacation diners as well as high rent, energy, water and food costs. Hopefully some of these costs are adjusting down, especially rent. We've seen rents for restaurant space in Northern Virgina go down more than 20% this year.

Cheers, RickG

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