September 15, 2012
When we first checked into the Tradewinds, they gave us a flier for their yearly “famous seafood feast” and urged us to sign up. It’s a clam bake/crab boil-style dinner and I did not have high hopes for it. I would not hope to get good Polynesian food in New England, and I would not expect good New England food way out in the middle of the South Pacific. In spite of my trepidations, we decided to give it a try. We would need to eat dinner someplace and how bad could it be?
I worried again when we were seated under a big white tent outside in an atmosphere that felt more like a 50’s wedding reception at a Moose Lodge than a seaside venue. The wet wipes they passed out had been pilfered from the local KFC, and an older couple with a keyboard and microphones provided the musical entertainment. A drunken middle-aged guy became enamored of us and decided he was going to join us at our table, but luckily his friends came and dragged him away. By now I wondered what we’d gotten ourselves into.
Our first course, a seafood chowder, arrived and was surprisingly good. But the really surprising part was the main plate. On it were the freshest, best shrimp I have ever had, fantastic Dungeness crab, very good lobster tail, and decent clams, mussels, and potatoes! Even the snow crab was good! (The corn and sausage not so much, but with everything else so delicious, this could be overlooked).
There was a traditional Samoan dance show along with the dinner, and that was also very good. Thankfully we got our dessert (chocolate cake) before our cue to end the evening: the dreaded random selection of audience members to join the Samoan dancers onstage. How nice to have a nearby room to which we could beat a hasty retreat.
In all, it was a strange yet wonderful dinner in the strange yet wonderful American Samoa. -Cyndi
