Now in its 17th year, the St. Croix Food and Wine Experience’s Wine in the Warehouse will highlight culinary dishes with a local guest chef on Dec. 6 following the theme “Philanthropy Rooted in Place” at Bohlke International Aviation.
Award-winning chef and St. Croix native Digby Stridiron will lead the way in providing supporters with local gourmet dishes, accompanied by fine wines from around the world and live music. He will work the event with culinary students from St. Croix Central High School and chef Camisha Lynch.
Stridiron told The Source that one of the dishes that he would create with the students would be a southwestern-style red grout. He did not divulge the fruits that would be used to simulate the flavor of guava – only hinted at “berries.” Another dish will feature oxtail.
Born on St. Croix, Stridiron said he is always trying to find his way home at least for a visit.
“The whole goal is always to get back. Everything I love is here,” he said.
The chef returned to the island at the beginning of the pandemic to open a restaurant in the former Galleon location and then opened two others – “balter” and “braata.” He moved in 2021 for eight months to St. Thomas, where he also opened restaurants.
Since then, the chef has spent time in Charleston, South Carolina, and Mexico, learning about each region’s sustainable food and the way it was prepared 100 years ago. Mexico is the home of “jerk” food, he said, but each region uses different spices to create the hot and spicy taste.
Everywhere he lands, Stridiron makes fresh dishes with a Caribbean flair, using local ingredients. Now in Phoenix, Arizona, Stridiron said he is using prickly pear, nopales, local onions, corn and carrots to create the tastes of the Caribbean with new ingredients.
Lili Cox of the St. Croix Foundation said the focus of this year’s event will be on sweets. Vendors who will join Stridiron in feeding the crowd delectable food include chefs from Common Sense Plates and Drinks, Vital Vibrations, Cruzian Bayou Cistro, De Cake Man, Le Blue Chocolate, Beyond the Bar and others.
“There will also be a surprise touch, never tried before,” Cox hinted
The event is a fundraiser for St. Croix Foundation for Community Development and will help in the organization’s goal to revitalize St. Croix – including Sunday Market Square and Kids Count, USVI.
Wine in the Warehouse has been named one of the Ten Best International Food and Wine Festivals by Forbes Travel and has raised more than $1.5 million for community programs since the event began.
Tickets are $150. The island elegant event takes place from 6 to 9 p.m. and includes food and wine.
St. Croix Foundation for Community Development has been serving the U.S. Virgin Islands as a fiscal sponsor, grantmaker and program administrator for more than 30 years.
To date, the Foundation has invested more than $49 million in the community. Named one of the five organizations in the nation, St. Croix Foundation received the 2022 HUD Secretary’s Award for investment in the community for resilience after hurricanes
