USVI-On-Line

OK, this isn't at the level of an octopus or spotted eagle ray video, but bear with me...

For years, Joe's Rum Hut was just a place I hustled through on the way to somewhere else; either Low Key Watersports when it was where it used to be, or the Beach Bar, or anywhere else upon leaving either of those places. It took Wayne Campbell's Barefoot Cowboy's YouTube videos to get me to stop and consider Joe's Rum Hut, and I really liked what I found. The JRH episode of the BCL videos (#9) is here (brought to my attention by OSJ, as if we needed any more TLA's):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... uJm82exH0I#!

By the way, check out Wayne's other videos; they are a great behind the scenes intro to St. John eateries. And be sure to stop by his Barefoot Cowboy Lounge. Wayne had smoked a whole pig while we were on island, and that made for some mighty fine eatin'. As for Episode #9, it's a little crazy that he takes a boat from the Old Lumberyard Complex to Wharfside Village, but hey, nice bit of panache!

French fries matter, and restaurants have a choice. The easiest path is to buy bags of frozen mystery potato product made in a factory somewhere, and fry those. Mike Garbo (the "G" in "Big G") and his team at Joe's Rum Hut take the time and effort to do it right. They hand press Russet potatoes, soak them overnight, drain and dry them, fry them the first time for about half a minute, and then refrigerate them until about five minutes before your plate appears (that's giving the server two minutes). These are as good as French Fries get, and I was sufficiently inspired to buy my own restaurant-grade potato press, which I've used to make some great batches of fries. Should anyone be interested, here's a link, although the standard die is for 3/8" French fries, so I also bought the 1/4" grid knife to match the French fry size of the Rum Hut.

http://www.amazon.com/Weston-Restaurant ... +fry+press

But ultimately, it's not about the fries... let's get to the meat of the matter, the burger. Now, I don't want to start any burger wars, and I'm well aware of Skinny's reputation, but I simply haven't been very impressed by theirs lately. The Big G to my mind wins the best burger on the island award, hands down. It is a serious double-patty big boy, with a grilled sesame seed bun that Mike and crew make on premises daily (another labor-intensive committment to quality), lettuce, cheese, pickels, onions, and a great JRH "special sauce". At $11, it also comes with a pile of said hand-cut, twice-fried French fries, along with a small serving of coleslaw and pickles on the side. We have split one as a sensible and cost-effective lunch for two, and gone solo when the Big G seemed just too good to share. I nursed a $3 Bud with my Big G, although I'm not sure this qualifies as "Knocking one back". With a steady flow of day trippers fresh off the barge, and a Painkiller or two under their belt, it would have been easy to spare the effort and the quality, and take the easy way out. We're both Joe's Rum Hut fans now, and I have to say that everything else we tried there was also excellent (didn't get to try their pizzas yet, though).

So head on over to Joe's Rum Hut, and bag yourself a "Big G"!

Menu here (that's Mike G with the plates, and a Big G in the upper right): http://www.joesrumhut.com/Menu.html

All the best,

Kevin

awesome! while i am not a burger fan, the rest of the family is and I really appreciate the review of some of the lesser known establishments-- i have heard before that this guy does it right-- nice to hear about the fries---i am a girl that can be smitten by a good fry!

The "Little G" is not on the menu but you can order that too. It is the same as the Big G minus one hamburger patty! I love The Rum Hut!

Thanks for sharing Kevin! Sorry we missed meeting you.
Sherban had told us you said the Big G at the Rum Hut is a MUST HAVE...we are going to definitely have to go there and try them! Big G's for the family, but for me, I may have to go with the Little G...thanks for the tip P-600.
The fries sound amazing!

Oh this is bumming me out.

We hit Joe's several times on the last trip for the cant-be-beat You Call It $3 Happy Hour (includes the top shelf stuff!), but never ordered up food there, as we then switched over when it ended at 6 to the Beach Bar HH that goes til 7 and did order up some food there.

We loves us some good fries as they tend to be kinda rare here in NJ, unlike up in New England where more places than not know their way around the deep fryer.

Sold!
Trying this during the upcoming trip!

We really enjoyed your detailed description of lunch at Joe's. You're a great writer since I could almost taste that burger and fries. My husband wants seafood at every meal in the islands, but we'll definitely need to try this when we are there next year. We never would have thought to eat at Joes, so thanks for the "food report".

After Kevin told my son James about "the Big G" it was a must do for the boy, so we humored him and went for lunch and we all enjoyed it there.

James had the big G, Tracy had jerk chicken Fahitas, I had the Cuban Wrap and Renee had chicken strips (of course)...the fries were awesome.

Great place for lunch, thanks for the burger tip Kevin!

Well Kevin...it sounds like you sold a bunch of us! We also had to go try the Big G and fries last night after your description. We decided to split it so we could also try the jerk chicken quesadilla. (we were hungry!) All that and a couple $3 any and we were very happy and full!