Above: the lobster tortilla at Jacala (all photos by CJ)

One of the marks of a truly great restaurant is the ability to take cuisine from anywhere in the world and make it its own.

That’s precisely what happened at a recent visit to Jacala, an Anguillian restaurant CJ recently named as having one of the top 25 chefs in the Caribbean.

The beachfront eatery with the vibe of the Cote D’Azur has a special plate on the menu, and it’s called a Lobster Tortilla, served with a side of greens.

Above: Jacala’s lobster tortilla

Jacala Chef Alain Laurent has taken a quintessentially Spanish dish, the Tortilla, a potato-egg-and-onion omelette that is one of the country’s national dishes, and married it to the terroir in Anguilla.

Above: Jacala

The result? Pure culinary bliss — the kind of perfection you encounter when you combine local sensibilities with classic ideas from abroad.

Bon appetit!

— CJ