Gasparito Restaurant and Art Gallery

Description:

• Here's a favorite with people in love. Located in a restored cunucu (farm) home -- the well out front is especially picturesque -- Gasparito features intimate dining rooms inside (where the air-conditioning can be too efficient) and a breezy outdoor patio and bar. The tinkling of a fountain, modern rattan chairs, and lambent candlelight enhance the courtyard's warmth. Inside, vaulted ceilings embrace cozy rooms. Local art, much of it for sale, graces the interior walls. Start with pan bati, a flat, pleasingly spongy corn bread. The keri keri ravioli, a favorite appetizer, features shredded barracuda (dry like bacalão) in a creamy tomato and basil sauce. Main courses focus on seafood and Aruban dishes, but the menu makes a special nod to vegetarians, and the filet mignon has vocal fans. The precise staff is happy to give you detailed information about each dish. How about shrimp in coconut milk and brandy sprinkled with seasoned coconut flakes? Or seafood keshi yena, a casserole of scallops, shrimp, squid, and fish in Newburg sauce topped with melted Gouda cheese. For dessert you can't go wrong with banana na forno, a whole banana baked with cinnamon.

• © Frommer's 2012

Awards:

Frommer's

•  Highly Recommended 2010