Elizabeth Chambers Explores The Culinary Scene Of The Cayman Islands While Under Quarantine

“What do you say?”

Elizabeth Chambers observes her 5-year old daughter Harper, who sits confidently between us, well versed in restaurant etiquette, despite her young age. A waiter smiles, gently placing a piping hot house-made ricotta and mozzarella, Parmesan white pizza pie on the table and the child extends a polite thank you, reciprocating with a genuine smile.

Tucked away behind primrose umbrellas on the iconic Seven Mile Beach, Tillie’s Restaurant manifests the seaside aesthetic of a bygone era, cradled by the seventies-style glamour of the Palm Heights Hotel. This is Elizabeth Chambers’ favourite place in Grand Cayman and the perfect setting to share an animated discussion about the local food scene.

“I have travelled all over the world and have experienced some of the most amazing food, yet I am always blown away by the dishes I experience in the Cayman Islands,” she says, as more wait staff make their way towards us.

Within a matter of minutes our table is decked out with a smorgasbord of gastronomic pleasures— sweet potato empanadas, tostones, coconut ceviche, crispy sardines… Fresh Caribbean fare with a modern twist, inspired by the local produce, farms and diversity of Grand Cayman.

“The Tillie’s cheeseburger will change your life!” Chambers takes a bite of the restaurant’s in-house blend of prime meats, including short rib, rib eye, and filet mignon, topped off with onions caramelised in beef drippings, cheese, house made pickles, and “Tillie’s sauce” (a house blend of ketchup, house made mayo, yellow mustard, pickle brine, and seasoned with a few dashes of fish sauce). The beauty of this burger is in the flavour and quality of the meat.

The grounding that Chambers consciously instils in little Harper is what initially endeared her to her husband, actor, Armie Hammer. CaymanKind is what they call it in the Cayman Islands— a trait she attributes to his early upbringing as a student at Grand Cayman’s Grace Christian Academy, a non-denominational Christian school that was founded by his father, Michael.

A March visit to the Cayman Islands would evolve into an extended vacation for the family of four. With borders closed due to the pandemic, Chambers, Hammer and their children, Harper and Ford, had the opportunity to unwind and connect over simple pleasures— the beach, nature and, of course, food.

“Food was always at the heart of my family growing up,” says the Founder and CEO of the wildly popular BIRD Bakery in San Antonio, Texas and title-carrier of People Magazine’s “Most Beautiful Foodie” of 2017. “We are food and wine people— both personally and professionally.”

The vibrant restaurant scene of the Cayman Islands boasts a quality of fare that is on par with the major culinary capitals of the world. And the diversity of the cuisine has ensured that COVID-lockdown was anything but boring.

“Family, tradition and food drive me, and we got to merge each of those pleasures by cooking and eating together as a family while abiding by the new government motto, #stayhomecayman. We made lots of banana bread and Chef Britta Bush from Saucha Conscious Living would regularly deliver fresh sourdough bread and home made kombucha.”

Coronavirus restrictions prevented fishers from going out on the water, thus making fresh seafood unavailable for home cooking, but that didn’t stop the family from enjoying the island’s best available local fare.

“When we are home in LA, our family eats sushi four times a week; we love fish. In Cayman, my jewel of the sea is conch and we were lucky enough to learn how to catch and prepare the shellfish before the restrictions came into effect. If you were to ask me which restaurant serves the best conch, I would have to say, hands down, Cracked Conch— it is super tender and flavourful there. Cracked Conch also has this incredible beef short rib ravioli, served with the most amazing truffles and Parmesan emulsion. It reminds me of something that I would eat at a swanky restaurant in Tribeca.”

Seven, located on the Seven Mile Beach-side of the Ritz Carlton Grand Cayman, is a local favourite with the Hammer children, who enjoy the sushi and Andiamo Gelato for dessert.

“Seven not only has the most delicious Spicy Hamachi Tataki but they also supplied me with my favourite wild-caught salmon that I had been craving since I arrived here,” says Chambers, bubbling with gastronomic passion as she proceeds to describe Seven’s Crispy Octopus, made with bacon fat in a white bean ragout.

As the owner of a bakery, Chambers has a highly sophisticated sweet tooth and the sticky toffee pudding at Calypso Grill is apparently “everything” … better than any toffee pudding that she has had in the finest restaurants in London. I take mental note.

I have learned very quickly that if Elizabeth Chambers enjoys a meal, she is able to break down the flavours into their distinct parts with such profundity that one is able to vicariously establish a sensory connection— this ability surely served her well as a guest judge on three Food Network shows.

I also learn that, when taking a break from her work as a culinary entrepreneur and “professional foodie”, Chambers exercises her social purpose in food related philanthropy.

During her extended stay in Cayman, Chambers and friends, Tami Maines and Gabriella Khalil who were also quarantining on-island, began to hear of local families who were struggling to put healthy food on their tables during the pandemic. The Cayman Food Bank, a local charity that was trying to serve the families’ needs, was over-extended and under-funded.

“The Cayman Food Bank’s operating costs were up to $8000 per week and they only had funding through to mid-July,” explains Chambers. “We made it our priority to help the organisation to continue to feed these families who had been hit really hard by COVID-19.”

In order to facilitate donations, Chambers and her friends launched a charitable initiative called Open Palm, and got to work, planning an Instagram Live fundraiser— The Open Palm x Torch’d charity workout event with celebrity trainer, Isaac Boots.

On the day of the event, bartenders made speciality Torch’d Bourbon cocktails for the audience as six participants, including the three friends, followed Isaac Boots as he streamed live on a large screen planted beachside at The Palm Heights Hotel. Palm Heights and the The Ritz Carlton Residences Grand Cayman also supported the initiative by hosting a community food drive.

Thanks to these efforts, Open Palm was able to donate just short of $100,000 as well as a significant amount of non-perishable food items to the Cayman Food Bank. Mission accomplished…

Elizabeth Chambers is a quintessential foodie with a very large heart. It is no surprise that she would connect so profoundly with the Cayman Islands’ eclectic epicurean vibe. While beautiful and polished on the outside— the true essence of these islands is in a unique sprinkle of CaymanKind that can’t be found anywhere else.

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