Living in paradise

Just over a year ago, Kate and Scott Cole quit their 70-hour-a-week jobs, sold their home in Raleigh's Five Points neighborhood and bought a restaurant on the beach in the Caribbean.

So now, we just have to ask: Is paradise really all it's cracked up to be?

The Coles offer a resounding yes.

"That's the reason we're making it, because the locals have supported us," Kate said. "We work hard, and I think they like that."

Scott said working as a chef in a more relaxed atmosphere has given him time to focus on his cooking. He experiments with new recipes and local produce, like the jobo, a large cherrylike fruit with intense citrus flavor. It's excellent with pork.

Plus, the fish are plentiful.

"Lobsters are the cockroaches of the sea down here," Scott said.

The couple also have planted an herb garden, so Scott can have lemon grass and ginger, which are hard to find on the island. He also grows sugar cane that Kate uses for swizzle sticks in the drinks she whips up as the restaurant's bartender. She makes a mean coconut martini with fresh shaved coconut. Her other specialty is the Quenopo martini made from an island fruit.

A look back

Back in August 2006, Kate Cole, an interior decorator, was running around her front yard selling the couple's dining-room table and all their winter clothes.

And Scott, who was the executive chef at 115 Midtowne in Raleigh's North Hills, had moved to Vieques to figure out how to order items like an ice machine and to change the building's electricity over to his name.

Only five months before, the Coles had discovered Vieques on vacation. The island, east of Puerto Rico, is where the U.S. Navy used to conduct bombing practices. The Navy pulled out four years ago, and now the island, a U.S. territory, is a burgeoning resort.

Kate and Scott had always dreamed of opening a restaurant in the Caribbean. They spotted one for sale the first day in Vieques.

And they bought it.

After she wrapped up their life here last fall, Kate joined Scott in Vieques. They set to work opening El Quenopo, which they named after the towering fruit tree in front of the restaurant.

The restaurant they bought was a plastic chair kind of place with a Budweiser sign above the bar.

Kate transformed it into a bistro atmosphere with wall sconces and cafe chairs.

They had hoped to open it by Nov. 1, 2006. But doing business in Vieques is different from the states, Scott said. Workers showed up on island time -- late. And business transactions were harder because of the language barrier. The Coles did not speak Spanish fluently.

They didn't get their last permit, a liquor license, until Feb. 13 of this year. They opened the following day.

Island life

Despite the hang-ups, the Vieques lifestyle is agreeing with them, the Coles say.

"It's really a little piece of paradise, just living in the tropics," Scott said. "It was a great life move."

They are much more relaxed. Every day they look out at the clear blue Caribbean Sea. They go to the beach and play fetch-the-coconut with their dog, Jake. Once, Jake brought back a large starfish he caught in the water.

They laugh a lot, and they spend more time together. They barely saw each other in Raleigh because of their hectic work schedules, Kate said.

"Your career is not as important here," Kate said. "We're introduced as 'Kate and Scott, they are good people,' rather than owners of Quenopo."

Although it's easy living, it's not a vacation every day. They serve about 50 dinners a night. They often go to bed at 2 a.m. and wake up 7 a.m. to get ready for the next dinner rush.