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Saturday,
December 8, 7:00 P.M.
Members $95, guests $120
As he settled in for dinner at Jean-Georges
Vongerichten’s new restaurant Dune
at the luxurious Ocean Club,
Rich Rubin summed up his
experience in Caribbean Travel & Life: “At
the moment, life is very, very good.” Both Vongerichten’s
restaurant and the entire Ocean Club complex are built
upon the assumption that there can never be too many
amenities in paradise. Every guest is assigned a personal
butler, and long days of shopping, dining, and sunning
are punctuated by the service of Champagne and strawberries
at 4:00 P.M. on the dot. All this is in addition to
the visual splendor of the estate’s expansive beaches,
Versailles-style garden, and reassembled 12th-century
French Augustinian cloister that once belonged to William
Randolph Hearst. Is it any wonder that New York Observer
writer Simon Doonan called
Ocean Club “an oasis of self-indulgence”?
Run by Josh Eden (we swear
that’s his real name), Jean-George’s Dune
embodies the traditions of excellence and innovation
found in all of Vongerichten’s restaurants. The
cuisine is French accented with flavors of Asia and
the Caribbean (think quail with Asian spices, or floating
island with coconut milk and mango chutney) and takes
advantage of the fresh grouper, red snapper, blue triggerfish,
and spiny lobster from nearby fishermen. And Vongerichten
planted a kitchen garden on the property with lemongrass,
Thai basil, and rosemary to make sure they were available
year round. Eden has worked with Vongerichten since
1994, when he was chef de partie at JoJo
in New York. Vongerichten has long recognized Eden’s
talents by placing him on the opening teams of Vong
London, Vong Hong Kong,
and Vong Chicago; Prime
Steakhouse in Las Vegas; Mercer
Kitchen in New York; and the four-star Jean
Georges, where Eden was executive sous-chef
for four years. A graduate of the French Culinary Institute
in New York, Eden has also worked at New York’s
Cascabel and at Renaissance
Restaurant in Aspen, Colorado.
Have you been dreaming of an azure Christmas? Come find
your Eden with this taste of paradise.
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