American Gourmet in St Barths

One of the best things about St Barths is the quality and variety of food and dining. While visiting there recently, I came across a market called American Gourmet. The name of the shop made me wonder for a minute if this was not a little out of place in St Barths where everything is French with a capital "F" if you know what I mean. As I got closer, I saw a list of chefs, the who's who in the cooking world, noting that their products were for sale inside. Now I was intrigued, this wasn't an island knock-off of William Sonoma. Quite the opposite, inside I found neatly lined up products that only the finest of foodies would know what to do with. It was Ahhhmazing! While walking through the aisles, I was imagining the gourmet meals that the chefs on the yachts parked right outside in the harbour were preparing in their kitchens at this moment. I mean, come on, really? This is truly what it means to live "the good life".

Photo of the owner of American Gourmet

I drifted around feeling like I was in a Nancy Meyers film eavesdropping on a conversation that the owner was having on his cel about how quickly he could have fresh Kobe Beef delivered to the yacht. I wandered over to the counter when he hung up the cel. I introduced myself and told him how much I enjoyed his market. He asked, "Do you know Diane Von Furstenburg"? I said of course. He proceeded to tell me that he was just speaking with her to prepare the menu for her family when they arrive next week (for Christmas). Before this, I could only imagine who his clientele was that demanded this level of novelty foods. Now, it was confirmed.



Me standing in front of the shop.


A wonderful selection of teas.


Fois Gras to feast your taste buds on. (click for a larger view)


An amazing assortment of chocolates from all over Europe.


Olive oils that are packaged in bottles that look like designer parfumes. As an interior designer, I was envisioning styling a recent kitchen I've designed for a photoshoot with these bottles lined up on the Carrera marble counters.



More olive oils and sea salts from every ocean.

Here's a preview of one of the stocked shelves.

St Barts...coming soon

My blog is taking a break today so that the Viceroy Hotel is not overshadowed by tomorrow's post. I'll give you a hint...gourmet food shop in St Barts.

Kelly Wearstler::Viceroy Anguilla

Sorry for the lag in my posts. As the photos below tell the story; you will see we have been away on vacation. My husband and I were fortunate enough to be the very first guests to check into the new Viceroy Hotel & Resort in Anguilla on December 16th. They had a soft opening earlier in the year. The place is stunning. The design and architecture teams were still frantically unwrapping furniture and postioning it as we wandered around. I didn't mind at all. What designer can't relate to the last minute race to the finish line.
Our initial reaction was that the architecture is absolutely amazing. Then we were escorted to our beautiful guest room with a two-story balcony and plunge pool. It was there that I began to see all of the unbelievable attention to detail in the fine furniture and fabrics that were used throughout.

Let's just say... there wasn't anything cut from this extraordinary budget. Or at least it didn't seem that there was. Waterworks & Dornbracht fixtures, Sferra sheets and towels, Kohler sinks...

We loved every minute of our stay. The service was outstanding. Virgil, the director of sales and Jan, the general manager went above and beyond what any staff has ever done for us to make our stay quite special. Thank you for being so wonderful. Because of your hospitality, we hope to make this an annual trip and bring our friends and families in the future.

Let's get down to business...the design:

The Oh So Amazing...Sunset Lounge.

These french chair are upholstered in a green cow hide.


The floors and ceilings are also design elements.


The gorgeous Coba Restaurant:


Welcome to your 5 BDR private villa...where you will find your private butler, private nanny quarters, laundry room, kitchen, infinity pool, hot tub, outdoor grill, outdoor dining table. I could go on and on. Like I said earlier, there were no details left undone. They thought of everything and more.


I love the bed side mirrors made from horn.


One of the 4-5 private bathrooms.


Only Kelly Wearstler would dare to upholster bar stools at an open-air bar with black cow hide. Exquisite. (see photo below).


The barstools below are my husband's favorite. They were quite the conversation piece.

Every evening while sitting in the Sunset Lounge with cocktails in hand, my husband and I had conversations about how Kelly Wearstler dares to go beyond where anyone else will go. I love this about her as a designer. I also love that my husband will have these conversations with me. Ha!



Our lovely bedroom:



I find that I am at a loss for words to describe this fabulous place. So if you have the good fortune of experiencing it yourself, please send your comments to me. I will try my best to paint a narrative through the photos we took and make comments about the fabulousness. What impressed me the most was Kelly Wearstler's use of materials, textures, and color. Black cow hide on grey oak barstools sitting at an open air bar on the beach. The casual elegance of linen slipcovered sofas with throw pillows that looked almost thrown together effortlessly in tones of grey. Cerused oak furniture played nicely off the italian travertine backdrop of floors and walls. It was so delicious I wanted to eat it. Ok, not literally. As a designer, you get bathed in all of these wonderful things and then they somehow slowly get edited out of your design scheme as the realistic conversation of wear and tear and "is it childproof etc" come up?



Need I say anymore? The photos speak a thousand times better than I can about this beautiful place.

Worth The Wait...More To Come

There are very few times where architecture and design are so successful that they satiate the senses beyond words.
Stay tuned...tomorrow.