Review of It Rains Fishes Restaurant, Bonaire

Top-notch fine dining, It Rains Fishes is in a category unto itself on Bonaire. This is the place to go for classy, upscale nosh.

When traveling to a small island, you typicaly expect intimacy, lower prices, and a local atmosphere unsullied by high-rises and mega-market travel. What you don't necessarily expect is true fine dining. That isn't to say Bonaire isn't home to many excellent restaurants, merely that It Rains Fishes is a nonpareil that wouldn't be out of place in the tonier neighborhoods of Manhattan.

Opened in 1999 by Joep van der Ligt and Ed Vuist, It Rains Fishes is a distinct blend of traditional and modern design -- part 100-year-old seaside house, part open-air verandah of clean white tiles, cream crenellations and chocolate-colored furniture. The ambiance is one of warmth, style, and sophistication.

As you might gather from its moniker, the restaurant specializes in fish, from fabulous starters like the Rains Fishes carpaccio -- thin slices of just-filleted wahoo drizzled with lemon vinaigrette and cilantro -- to entrées like a local-style creole red snapper and the popular grilled seafood platter of fresh catch, gambas, calamari, mussels and scallops served in a garlic sauce.

Of course, there also are several options for those of a more carnivorous persuasion, from an eight-ounce filet mignon, a traditional t-bone, or my favorite -- an oven-roasted rack of lamb with a honey mint sauce that is cooked to tender perfection.

Main plates run from $20 to around $38, but the portions are well-balanced; it's the kind of fine dining that wants you to be satisfied at the end of the meal rather than craving a snack. Graceful but not stuffy, elegant yet relaxed, It Rains Fishes does Bonaire proud -- the kind of fine dining we could use more of anywhere.