Turks and Caicos – Beach House

The Beach House at the Beach House near Beaches House right by the Beach is the latest addition to Provo’s ever growing and competitive fine dining scene.  In a weird way the Beach House at Beach House reminds me of a quote from the Godfather;  Don Corleone, I am honored and grateful that you have invited me to your daughter’s wedding…on the day of your daughter’s wedding.  Don Eric Vernice is not a exactly a stranger to Provo’s haute cuisine.  Classicly trained French Vernice, fromerly with Parallel 23 created an intense and ambitious foie/wagyu/foam filled menu, or as they call it in my village, a “Fufu”.  In a way the menu resembles a fine Italian menu, with some good looking pasta/risotto options mid way.  The manager of the Beach House left a few weeks ago and so we didn’t get all the farm to table talk as others did. Perhaps the former manager finally realized its farm to freezer to plane to mule to table and found it difficult to believe

You may find the setting a little odd next to the resort pool but it didnt bother me.  We did however get the largest round table for 8 (plus baby) we’ve ever seen.  Since texting wasnt an option here, in order to talk to my kids I had to ask the always available waiters to deliver them notes.

The dishes at the Beach House ranged from good to very good to exceptional, and overall it was a very enjoyable meal from start to finish.  I was joined again by the Conch snob, Pasta snob, Just snob, Chicken snob (1 year), and an Aruba snob (Father in law).

The details here are a little murky. Delicious bread to start things off.  Very rarely delicious bread is followed by mediocre food, since this is an indication of the type of attention to detail.  Super sized table meant super sized dishes like the Tomato Mozzarella plate (biggest I’ve seen), a gorgeous looking and tasting app of heirloom tomatoes and savory buffalo mozzarella.  Conch snob liked his Conch Extravaganza, a true extravaganza of curried conch, conch chowder, and conch rolls of some sort.  My favorite app however was mine, perfectly seared  scallops (below) with this runny french potato-like puree “espuma” of cauliflower.  Thank you dear Jesus for sending me a wife who is not too fond of Scallops.

We tried just about all the risottos and pastas on the menu and there was not a bad seed in the bunch.  Fantastic Cavatelli with seafood (more scallops thank you), a nice seafood risotto, Strozzapreti (Priest stranglers :evil:) with ricotta and braised veal shank was so good that I cant even describe it.  Meaning the Pasta snob ate the entire thing without offering any to the food blogger.  “You were sitting too far”.  Nice try!  Aruba snob enjoyed his rabbit risotto or I thought he did until…  “Is there a place here that sells Schnitzels”. “No”.  “In Aruba there is one. They make great Schnitzels”.

Main courses mainly did not disappoint.  Nice Wagyu beef special served rare on top a very interesting short rib Shepard pie.  A very inventive and delicious dish.  So was the Snapper, although perhaps a bit too interesting for mrs Ziggy.  A complex combination of flavors in this one with root veggies, and more, where every bite delivered different tastes.  Some enjoyed their Branzino special.  The dessert sampler was on the mark as well and nicely priced for such a plate.

One thing I should note is that one can get away with ordering a few apps here including a pasta dish but chances are  once you see the mains temptation wins.  Overall, I think I appreciate the Beach House and the creativity of Eric Vernice a bit more after this post.  Chances are this one will be a culinary force for years to come, and I cant wait to come back for more Priest Stranglers and the rest of them.

Recommended Dishes:  Scallops, Conch Extravaganza, Tomato Mozzarella, Cavatelli, Snapper,  Strozzapreti 😡