date night at my favorite restaurant

One of these days, I'm going to compile a list of Cayman restaurant reviews, since we've tried nearly every popular eatery on this island. For readers that haven't visited us, it may seem as though I'm enjoying one restaurant just as much as the next one, and in part, that is true. For one thing, Grand Cayman boasts a wide variety of high quality restaurants, and there is almost no bad option. For another thing, we're often with friends that make any dinner enjoyable. But just to set the record straight: I do have a favorite restaurant here. I'll give you three clues to try to figure this out:

1. Prior to this date night, we'd only visited this restaurant once for dinner (not including the countless visits for their famous dessert.)

2. Our one and only dinner was with our very first set of house guests.

3. The restaurant's interior has a warm Mediterranean vibe, and looks like this:

Stumped?

Our planned-at-the-last-minute-but-oh-so-special date night took place at.... Calypso Grill!

Appetizer: Tuna spring roll

Now, I would typically limit my full-dinner Calypso experiences to special occasions, because I'll admit that it isn't the cheapest meal on the island. (Admittedly, cheap meals are limited here.)

Entree: Sauteed Sea Bass in Chipotle sauce. You must try this.

However, a very generous house guest (ahem, ADP, you rock) heard that Calypso had made our short list, and she left behind a gift certificate so that we could revisit our favorite spot.

Entree: Snapper Montecarlo

As you can see from our mouth-watering selections above, dessert is hardly necessary after such a meal.  And I had my "No" face all ready to go, until the server mentioned the words "mango" and "cheesecake" in the same sentence. Resolve = lost.

Insert perma-smile.

Other things I love about Calypso:

• The outdoor patio that extends from the main open-air dining room allows for beautiful views of the harbor. 
• Servers are attentive and very knowledgeable about the menu items.
• The interior design includes a variety of table designs, tile patterns, and fixtures that keep the restaurant from feeling overly-planned out.
• In addition to the regular menu, there's always an extra chalkboard with the specials that the server leaves near the table for you to read. Because I can never remember the specials people rattle off.
• The sticky toffee pudding dessert is famous, because it's To Die For.

So, the bottom line is, after waiting nearly a year and a half to have only my second dinner at Calypso Grill, and I'm pleased to say that it's still my favorite restaurant on island.

(Note to self: Never again write about amazing restaurant food on an empty stomach. Off to the fridge!)