A few weeks ago, ‘Restaurant Week’ got underway at 40 different local restaurants. The aim of Restaurant Week is to get people to visit restaurants which they haven’t tried before and the restaurants achieve this by giving you a little incentive. You get a full three course dinner at 45 guilders per person, which is a very good deal.

The wife and I love to eat out, so it was a no-brainer that we would hit a few restaurants during the 7-day stretch. Because of our work schedules, we would only be able to visit two restaurants. We decided that we would both pick a restaurant and that we would pick places where we have never been before. After some careful consideration, I chose Porterhouse Steakhouse at Trupial Inn Hotel and the wife picked Blues at Avila Hotel.

The fun part is that the Restaurant Week website will show you the menu choices at the different restaurants before the week kicks off. Any normal person would not check these menus and would just wait to be surprised at the restaurant. BUT NOT ME! I’m like a little kid at Christmas. I have no patience whatsoever and I don’t like being surprised. I need to see what the menu options are RIGHT NOW!

A check of the website showed that Trupial Inn was offering T-bone steak or Grouper. I love meat, so I was beyond ecstatic with this news. I was going to absolutely devour that T-bone. I was going to be like a caveman. That meat was going to have no chance whatsoever!

Then it came to check the Blues menu. The main dishes were going to be pasta in seafood sauce and Cajun sausages. I was satisfied. Then I looked at the appetizers. The choices were going to be squid rings or alligator bites. Yes, ALLIGATOR BITES!

There’s one thing you have to understand before we go on and that is that I’m not very adventurous with my food. I like steak, I like chicken, I like fast food, I like certain types of fish and pasta and I like rice and potatoes. For me, being adventurous means that I’ll add ketchup and mayonnaise to my fries. Just give me my tenderloin steak and leave me alone.

That’s what made this alligator meat so baffling. I mean, I like meat…but will I like alligator meat? While I was being hesitant, the wife was pretty excited.

Wife: “Wow, I like it. They’re going to serve alligator bites. We get to try something new.”
Dave: “What if it’s not alligator meat. What if they bring out an alligator and let it bite you? That would literally be an ‘alligator bite’.”
Wife: “You have the imagination of a 4-year old.”
Dave: “No, you have to be prepared for any situation!”
Wife: “You can’t even prepare a sandwich.”

That said, the day had finally arrived and it was time for me to step up to the plate and try some alligator meat. We made our way over to Blues and to say that I was jittery is an understatement.
As we were waiting for the food, I was trying to think of ways that I could escape. In my head, I broke the window with a swift kick, jumped effortlessly into the water and swam like an Olympic swimmer back to shore. Then I’d make a mad dash to the car, race my way over to Burger King and swallow an entire Whopper in just one bite.

Sadly, my daring escape failed and I was confronted with the harsh reality when the waiter placed the alligator bites in front of me. I held back tears and said a little prayer. It was time to be adventurous and that meant taking a bite of the alligator meat.

Wouldn’t you know…it tasted like just like chicken.


This article was published in the Bermuda Magazine July/August 2010 edition. More info on BermudaCuracao.com

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