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HomeNewsArchivesLATITUDE 18: THE LOCALS' SECRET

LATITUDE 18: THE LOCALS' SECRET

Ambiance: ****
Food: ****
Service: ****
Value: *****
Latitude 18 / Vessup Bay / $ / 779-2495
To get to Latitude 18, one must trust one's instincts and persevere. Turn off the Red Hook Road by the National Park Service dock entrance and go up the road leading to Cowpet Bay, Elysian and the Ritz Carlton. Turn down the first road on your left, Vessup Lane, by the Montessori School. Follow it to the condominiums (where the estate road makes a right turn) and pass the condo parking lot, bearing right on the rocky dirt road, and head all the way down to the water.
Got that? Well, it is at the southeast corner of Red Hook. Wing it!
This is one of those spots so dear to the locals' collective heart that we really do not want to talk about them for fear of losing the precious something that makes them so special.
The look of Latitude 18 is leftover furniture from Marilyn with some oilcloth on the good tables. There's seating for about 30 between the bar/ kitchen and the water, with good air and all the charm of the working Vessup Bay harbor. The bar has some 10 stools and an assortment of congenial boaties in one stage or another of quiet inebriation. Everyone is grooving on his/her own thing, with the water and sympathetic conviviality providing the common thread.
Given the ambiance, one has every right to be a bit startled at the range of the menu. This is not the boaters' answer to the truck stop or greasy spoon. While you may, indeed, order mashed potatoes smothered in gravy, the potatoes are most flavorful and the gravy is something special.
I dug into the lamb shanks. Two meaty shanks well lubricated with a succulent gravy. Yum! One could taste the butter in the potatoes, and the chunks indicated these were the real thing, not some flakes from a box. The seasoning in the mixed vegetables set off their flavor and complemented the lamb.
The drinks are served in the bottle or in plastic, but the price is right and the servings are most adequate. Looking for a gourmet experience, you won't find it here. But for an interesting location with the view we come here for, complemented with generous drinks and top-quality food at a most affordable price, this is the place.
P.S. — Latitude 18 is a participant in the Rotary East Dining Out program. If you don't already have the 1999 coupon book, you can get one from any club member or at the Color of Joy in American Yacht Harbor. The more than two dozen coupons allow for a free second entrée, drink, dessert or other special savings at good and better restaurants on St. Thomas and St. John through Dec. 15. One entrée alone can save you the $15 purchase price, which goes into the club's scholarship fund for Eudora Kean High School graduates. (See St. Thomas Source/ Community/ Organizations)
The Tottering Taster is a senior citizen who is dedicated to enjoying good food and dines in one St. Thomas restaurant each week to bring you a totally unsolicited assessment biased in favor of an ultimate experience. We’re using a pseudonym so restaurant personnel won't recognize the reviewer and perhaps try to influence the review.

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