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Power lunch
Mixing with the crowd
Every day between noon and two in the afternoon, Nassau’s business, political and legal elite gather for lunch at their favourite haunts–places where deals and steaks are cut simultaneously.
For visitors, good food and amiable surroundings are more important than finding a place to network. But they can still take a cue from the local expense-account crowd when it’s time for the midday meal.
After all, the elements that create a good business lunch–tasty food, expert service and comfortable surroundings–are the same things that anyone wants, whether it’s burgers or bouillabaisse.
“The venue depends on who I’m having lunch with,” says Bahamas Chamber of Commerce president Khaalis Rolle. “If it’s entirely big business, then I go to big-business spots, but I also like scaled-down business lunches at low-keyed spots.”
Among Nassau’s “big business spots” is the elegant dining room at Graycliff hotel, located in a historic building at the corner of Blue Hill Rd and West Hill St, overlooking old Nassau.
Built by a privateer in the 1700s, Graycliff is now owned and operated by the Garzaroli family. Since 1974, they have served royalty, nobility, heads of state, movie stars, judges, members of parliament, cabinet ministers, bankers and business leaders of all stripes, says Roberta Garzaroli, daughter of owner Enrico Garzaroli.
Among other things, Graycliff offers haute cuisine, your choice of more than 250,000 vintages and places for ladies and gentlemen to quaff ancient port wine and puff on one of Enrico’s award-winning cigars.
The restaurant is recognized today as a place where the “who’s who come to be seen,” says Roberta. “If you want to show off, then you come to Graycliff.”
The menu features such delicacies as Kobe beef, Kurobuta pork, slow-roasted Long Island duckling and a much-praised foie gras.
The magic of ambience
Making deals over lunch is an important way to do business, says Rolle. “People are more open than they would be around the boardroom table.” And a relaxed atmosphere allows deal makers to gain a better understanding of the other person’s point of view, he says. “You get a feel for the individual you’re meeting with.”
Visitors on holiday may also want to find restaurants that exude a relaxed mood or, contrariwise, a busy place where the atmosphere includes the buzz of animated conversation and laughter. Either is available. For a small town, Nassau offers a big-city range of both fine restaurants and relaxed, fun places.
Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham and Opposition Leader Perry Christie do not agree on much when it comes to politics, but they both enjoy taking lunch at East Villa, an exceptional Chinese restaurant on East Bay St, across from the Nassau Yacht Club.
Even though the PM is usually too busy for a sit-down lunch, “he’ll send his driver to pick up take-out,” says East Villa’s Corina Lee. The restaurant is locally famous for its steaks, rack of lamb and lobster, but Ingraham “likes the Szechuan chicken … [and] our steamed grouper … . [He says] ‘give me the grouper, Mrs Lee, but don’t show me the head. Take the head off.’”
Politicos & legal beagles
Politicos and legal beagles also favour Café Matisse, a charming Italian restaurant on Bank Ln, just off Bay St–in a century-old mansion that was once the home of Mary Moseley, a famous editor of The Nassau Guardian. It’s conveniently located near the House of Assembly, the Senate, the Cabinet Office and the Supreme Court.
Were he alive, Ernest Hemingway might call Café Matisse a “Big Two- Hearted” restaurant because the mood in the leafy, open-air courtyard is quite different from the one inside, where intimate settings are graced with fine prints by the great Henri Matisse.
The menu features freshly made pasta dishes and luscious desserts.
Try Frittura leggera di calamari
e crema al chili (crispy fried calamari with chili jam) followed by one of the signature pizzas: Quatro stagioni (mozzarella, mushrooms, artichokes and ham), for example, or Sfiziosa, (onions, pepperoni, mozzarella and sweet peppers).
Whereas Café Matisse features Milanese cuisine, Luciano’s of Chicago–Nassau’s version of a US franchise–serves Tuscan dishes with a strong American brio. Businessmen on a power break and tourists looking for a tasty meal will lunch on the outdoor terrace, overlooking Nassau Harbour, and in the tastefully designed dining rooms inside.
As with Graycliff and Matisse, Luciano’s is located in a historic building, the elegant former residence of Sir Roland Symonette–a successful businessman and The Bahamas’ first premier. On the luncheon menu look for a cornmeal polenta con caponata– flavoured with onion, red pepper, zucchini and sun-dried tomatoes–and for the entrée try mahimahi Siciliano, freshly caught and grilled with tomatoes, olives, onions and capers.
Power lunchers also huddle at the casually elegant Montagu Gardens on East Bay St, located a mile east of the Paradise Island exit bridge. Housed in an old Bahamian mansion on Lake Waterloo (once owned by Sir Stafford Sands, known as the father of Bahamian tourism), the restaurant has a dining room that opens to a courtyard and gardens. The kitchen is famed for its flame-grilled entrées, including a signature filet mignon smothered with mushrooms.
Other menu selections include fettuccine Montagu, grilled or blackened grouper and other Bahamian-inspired favourites such as grouper fingers served with peas ’n rice and coleslaw.
Picturesque settings
Out west, celebrities from the film and recording industries frequently dine at Compass Point, where a sunrise-sunset motif dominates the dining room. Cozy high-backed booths, wicker chairs, low lighting and subtle Bahamian accents create an intimate ambience.
Business people “come here because we’re outside the hustle and bustle, and the view is magnificent,” says executive chef Phil Smith, who creates a “contemporary take on traditional Bahamian dishes.”
The luncheon menu includes the Compass Point special (grilled chicken with slivered almonds, green apples, dried cherries and gorgonzola cheese in a raspberry vinaigrette dressing), the jerk grilled chicken Caesar wrap and the Compass fish burger (a marinated Nassau grouper fillet). Dessert choices include guava duff, coconut crème brûlée, carrot, cheese or chocolate cake and several kinds of ice cream and sorbet
.
Another magnet for the influential is the Poop Deck. Some of the freshest local fish is served at two loca
tions–on East Bay St and on Sandyport Beach.
A favourite of islanders and visitors alike, Poop Deck East has a second-floor dining deck with a panoramic view of the harbour, Paradise Island and the Atlantis Resort. This location is a hit with everyone from boat captains to senators. “I think people choose our restaurant because we have a great location, parking and fresh snapper daily, which is what our more elite clientele prefer,” says manager Fredricka Hayling.
The Sandyport location, a short drive west of the Cable Beach hotels, offers a more elegant atmosphere and touches of haute cuisine. The menu features fresh fish cooked to order and dishes such as hog snapper-wrapped baby shrimp, spinach and scallops in a caper butter cream sauce and roasted salmon with a caper, grapefruit and lemon sauce.
Those conducting business lunches on the west end of the island also frequent Simmer Down at the Marley Resort & Spa, which offers a Caribbean-fusion cuisine and upscale versions of Bob Marley’s favourite dishes. Meals prepared by prize-winning chefs are served on the resort’s beachfront patio, in the dining room or in the courtyard.
Closer to downtown, next to Ft Charlotte, you can rub elbows with expats and local notables at the Cricket Club, either in the Brit-style pub, with a soccer match on the telly, or on the open-air deck, overlooking a cricket field. Both Bahamian and British favourites are served here, ranging from fried snapper and conch chowder to steak and kidney pie.
If you’re here on vacation, a business lunch shouldn’t be on your calendar today, but you can still let prominent Nassauvians point out some of the most powerful places to dine. You may even see some famous faces there.
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Lead_PowerLunch_DGJul10
Power lunch
Mixing with the crowd
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