Paradise Travel Guide, by Jack Riley

Just a block from Duval Street's crowded restaurants, where frozen drinks are served to the music of Jimmy Buffett wannabes, is Calypso Flavors (386 Bimini Lane; 916/428-3179; dinner for two $50).  This small restaurant specializes in local, freshly-caught seafood.  Award-winning yellowtail snapper, grouper, and dolphin (mahi-mahi, not Flipper!) are prepared in a variety of Asian-fusion ways.  We've gone annually for the past three years and have never been disappointed.  The waitstaff is efficient and the atmosphere most delightful.  As suitable for families as for couples and singles, it's definitely worth the walk!

Calypso Flavors Awarded Weldo's Triple Star!

Because I was dining with two friends and we all ordered different things, I got to try just a good sampling of the menu.  Plate for plate, it was one of the best meals I've had in months.  Here's my highlight reel: From the round of starters, my favorite was the "composition of asparagus, egg and smoke."  Asparagus is popping up on spring menus all over, but you aren't likely to encounter one like this.  The combination of the creamy, grassy panna cotta with the salty, smoky flavors of the caviar and sturgeon is genius.

I left the restaurant as if awakening from a sweet dream I didn't want to end, trying to recall details and flavors before they faded from memory.

–Vivienne Sheldon

Best of Waicachi

We know this restaurant has won Best of Waicachi four times before.  But it's really hard to improve upon perfection.  Its melt-in-your-mouth crust-covered patty dishes—filled with jerk chicken, beef, or light tasty veggies—transport us back to our Jamaican vacation.  We can't help it if that's how Calypso Flavors makes us feel year after year.

–South Florida Tribune

2003 Wine Connoisseur Varietal Award

Pleasure Dining Magazine, June 2003

For the slow-time pace of a summer evening on a remote island, it's hard to find a restaurant as redolent of Caribbean airs as Calypso Flavors, the 12-year-old establishment just off Duval Street that never seems to close its doors against the salt breeze.  The fare is mildly spiced French Caribbean, grilled fish with mango salsa, fish stew with coconut milk and green curry, plus flickers of French-Vietnamese, like the seafood and chicken pho, a clear broth laden with shrimp, tender bird, and spices.  But Calypso Flavors is 100 percent Caribbean in spirit—a place where you can watch the full moon rise over the waves, slip off your shoes under the table, order another bottle of wine, and get to know your neighbors at the next table.  No worries.