This month our dining out article will be a bit different. While our regular writers are vacationing in Tuscany, Italy in search of great wine and Italian cuisine, we will take this opportunity to introduce our true Caribbean Connection. Our regular readers surely have noticed the ad for the Donkey Diner in the Old Town Crier over the past several years. The story of the Donkey Diner’s role in this publication has its beginning on the Chesapeake Bay.

About 18 years ago I bought my first sailboat. Also, about this time the Old Town Crier, only 2 years old, began to write about and develop a relationship with Virginia wineries. That year I attended an organizational meeting for the Mid-Atlantic Wine Festival in Annapolis. At the meeting I met Doug Weaver, the marketing representative for Prince Michel winery. He was a sailor, he had a ponytail and he liked to drink beer. We have been friends ever since. The next years were spent in learning more about Virginia wines, but more about sailing our boats on the lower Potomac and the Chesapeake Bay. With other friends we would take weekend cruises rafting up at night in one of the many beautiful coves on these waters. Each year we would race each other along with other sailing friends in the annual “Old Town Crier Cup Race” in Solomons, Maryland. Doug is a better sailor than I am (and his boat is faster), so he usually beat me in those races. All the while, his eye was on a greater prize.

Each January Doug would take a month off and fly to Jost Van Dyke, in the British Virgin Islands. Over these years he formulated his plan to move there permanently. About 8 years ago Doug set sail for the Islands in his 33-foot Tartan sailboat, Runaway. He arrived in St. John, USVI, where he has been ever since. About 2 years ago he bought the Donkey Diner restaurant serving breakfast 5 days a week and pizza on Wednesday and Friday nights. I asked him to send me some information and we would start running an ad for the restaurant. Over the last 2 years that ad has grown into the Caribbean Connection you see each month in the Old Town Crier. The friendship with Doug, and his wife Clare, is as strong today as it was 18 years ago, and their “Island” friends have become part of the Old Town Crier family.

My associate, Lani Gering, will continue this article about the Donkey Diner experience. She just got back from a week stay in St. John.

Thanks for the intro Bob. I did indeed spend a week on this beautiful island and ate at several of the local eateries including the 4 Star Westin Resort. While the Westin was a true dining “experience” – especially for my credit card – the Donkey Diner served up two of the best meals we had during our stay.

As Bob mentioned, the DD serves breakfast and pizza, both of which are top shelf. The breakfast menu is extensive ranging from your traditional two eggs over-easy, toast, hash browns and coffee to the mango pineapple sauce stuffed French toast! They have daily specials ranging from homemade “Down to Earth” granola with yogurt to the Caribbean burrito! Making a decision for your first meal of the day here isn’t easy! Don’t forget to order the coffee – it is made from freshly ground French Roast beans and is phenomenal.

The pizza, however, takes the grand prize. We ordered the Special Veggie and the Donkey Supreme. The ingredients on both are too numerous to mention so feel free to check out the website to see them all. I do believe the ticket to this being the best pizza I have ever had is the fact that they hand toss their homemade dough resulting in a thin Italian-style crust. Topping it with just the right amount of their marinara and over a half pound of mozzarella before they even start with the extras just makes it better.

While the exterior of the Donkey Diner is quite unassuming the interior is as inviting as it can be. There are games to play, books to read and computers to check your e-mail while you wait. They also have live “Donkey Cams” that you can call home and have your landlocked pals logon to the website and see you live and in action at the diner. There are two patios for dining al fresco – one in the back underneath the mango tree and one in front looking out on the island. The Donkey Diner has something for everyone that’s for sure and it truly has “Kick Ass” food!

www.donkeydiner.com
Coral Bay, St. John, USVI

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