Well, it’s been over a month since
we got back from lovely Costa Rica, but in many ways it feels like a lifetime
ago. School has started back up again for my son and husband, old friends have
come to town for a visit, our dog has slowly become reacquainted with us, and
life is starting to take on a predictable rhythm. My garden is producing, despite ignoring it for three weeks,
and it’s peach season. I’m cooking
and baking, and loving the season’s offerings. In moving forward, though, I must finish recounting our
summer’s adventure…
Apparently, in certain circles, I
am what could be described as a “foodie.”
If indeed this is so, then I can be fairly certain to have given a fair
judgment that Costa Rica is not a
food destination. If you’re
looking for the food capital of the world, look to Italy, Thailand, France,
Japan….but don’t look to Costa Rica.
That’s not to say that the food is bad in Costa Rica, far from it. Every restaurant we went to had hearty,
filling fare, and most was reasonably priced (although not a huge
bargain). It’s just a
bit…repetitive, after you get used to the typical dishes, and…bland. The focus is on freshness instead of
flavor, and few, if any, spices are used.
There were usually items included
from typical Costa Rican cuisine at every restaurant. Gallo pinto, pinto
beans cooked with rice, is considered the national dish by many, although it’s
shared among many neighboring countries. Casados are a well-rounded plate with gallo pinto, some kind of salad, some
kind of vegetable or fried plantains, and some kind of meat (grilled beef,
chicken, pork chicharrones, or fish),
sometimes served with tortillas on the side. Almost everywhere you can buy ceviche, a cold fish stew that has been marinated in lime juice or
vinegar and spiced with onions, peppers, and herbs. My description is not terribly flattering, but if you like
fresh seafood, you will love ceviche. Costa Ricans eat it with crackers;
sometimes a sweet ketchup-y sauce is added. I’m not a fan, as the sweetness overpowers the delicious
flavor of the fish. Sometimes the ceviche is made sweet to start with,
which I find downright criminal in light of the quality and freshness of fish
that is being disguised for no good reason.
And then, there are the juices and
shakes and smoothies…passionfruit, cas (some
sort of green guava), guanábana (sour
sop), chia seed, banana, mango, horchata (chia seed), guava, strawberry,
blackberry, papaya, and watermelon, just to name a few. My son enjoyed a full Tico breakfast of
gallo pinto, eggs, toast, and fruit
almost every day, then subsisted mainly on batidos
(sort of smoothie, can be made with or without milk) and fruit juices the rest
of the day.
Meals, of course, are also enhanced
by the company we keep and the warmth and comfort of the surroundings. Here is an incomplete list in no
particular order of the most memorable meals we experienced in Costa Rica:
1.
Our first meal in Turrialba after Ray, Heidi and
family met us at the bus station coming from San José; after dragging our bags down
crowded sidewalks in the pouring rain, we feasted on simple carne asada, salsichon (sausage), and ceviche
at a restaurant called Betico
Mata. Little did we know what a wonderful introduction to Tico
cuisine we were getting; the restaurant was reviewed favorably very recently in
the nation’s most important newspaper.
2.
Our first breakfast cooked by our American
ex-pat host Tommy after waking up in the tree house was pecan waffles, bacon,
and coffee ground with cardamom seeds.
The only Costa Rican part was the coffee, but the breakfast was so delicious
it must be mentioned.
3.
Ceviche
in a Styrofoam cup at the market.
Perfect on a hot day.
Before that, we were introduced to the coconut seller whom Ray and Heidi
had befriended. There is
absolutely no beverage better to quench your thirst on a hot, humid day than a
chilled, freshly-split-open coconut.
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| Classic ceviche |
4.
Our last meal in Sitio de Mata at Doña Rosa’s.
I’m not sure what was more amazing, the meal or the view over the valley, dam,
and reservoir (one of the many that Costa Rica uses to export power to other
countries). Heidi had been a “guest cook” in the kitchen, learning how to cook
a typical meal, and had gotten to know the family rather well. We ate the best example of chicharrones—tender fried pork
rinds—Costa Rica has to offer. We also met a young man visiting who was German
with Costa Rican grandparents, and had a lovely conversation. Worth the fairly scary walk on the
unlit main road back to the house afterwards.
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| View of the valley from Doña Rosa's |
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| Kitchen where our meal was made |
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| Doña Rosa's |
5. Breakfast at Minor’s in San Lorenzo, outside of
San José in the Central Valley.
Simple,
filling, with pleasant conversation with our jovial host who encouraged us to
use our very little Spanish with him.
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| Fresh fruit, first breakfast course |
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| Followed by eggs, gallo pinto, tortilla (and sometimes sausage) |
6.
Dinner at an Italian restaurant in Heredia. Felt a little Godfather-ish, except for
the TVs and loud street noises.
The pizza and pasta were excellent and the portions were copious. It was my only wine in Costa Rica; I
had been forewarned about the lack of quality or variety of wine
available. It’s just not a wine
culture, which makes sense.
7.
Breakfast at Café Milagro with all our
friends.
We met the owner,
Michael’s long-time friend Lance, as we were leaving (you can check out the story at
cafemilagro.com).
They served their own brew from the coffee business he
owns to accompany a fantastic menu of omelets, crepes, and other breakfast
items with a distinctly non-Tico flair. We spent a lot of time chatting with
one another and corralling the children.
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| Erzsi, Heidi, Laszlo |
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| Patrice, Erzsi, Heidi--hungry |
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| Ale and Michael |
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| Beckett, enjoying his own version of breakfast |
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| Sophia |
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| Cousin Tati with Sophia |
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| Ray and Gaël |
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| Blackberry mango crepes |
8.
Ceviche
at the fancy beach restaurant on Playa Espadilla in Manuel Antonio. Served in half a fresh coconut, it was
by far the best ceviche I had in
Costa Rica. The restaurant was
expensive, but it was a unique experience to eat a leisurely lunch while
watching the waves crash on the shore and look up and see capuchin monkeys in
the trees above our heads.
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| Ceviche in coconut with plantains |
9.
Red snapper with green mango chutney. This fish experience is what I came to
Costa Rica for. Michael, Ale and Patrice and I used to be part of a dinner club, and have often cooked for one another. We wanted a reprise at the house in Manuel Antonio: to create a special meal together once again. We went with
Michael to the port in neighboring Quepos, next to the warehouse where the fish is flash-frozen and
prepared to go all over the world. We stood
at the window of a small hardware store and ordered about 10 pounds of red
snapper. Yellowfin tuna and seabass
were also available that day.
Michael graciously did the grunt work of scraping off the scales while I
made a paste of olive oil, salt, and garlic to spread on the fish; it made a
crunchy exterior and simultaneously flavored and protected the delicate meat. Michael was sweating furiously over the
grill while we sorted through veggies we had in the fridge, and Patrice peeled
the green mangoes from the tree in front of the house. We made an impromptu chutney of
mangoes, lime juice, red pepper, onions, and tons of cilantro to serve over the
fish. I have never had such fresh,
tender, sweet, flavorful fish. We
compared methods for filleting, swatted mosquitoes, scrounged for something for
the fish-phobic kids to eat, but when that first bite melted on my tongue, the
world went away for a moment. I
don’t think I’d need to check with Michael to make sure it was worth all the
blood, sweat and…more sweat; I know he would agree that it was.
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| Glowing coals--the perfect temperature for grilled fish |
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| Amazing! |
10. Rainmaker
lunch. On our way from Manuel
Antonio towards Arenal we stopped at a little park called Rainmaker, which had
a delightful little hike with rope bridges, loads of tropical flowers and
plants, and stunning vistas. A
simple buffet lunch was included in the price. This was true, simple Costa Rican fare: chicken-y rice, black beans, cabbage
salad, passionfruit juice. Absolutely
perfect after a morning hike.
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| Typical fare |
11. Breakfast
at Casa Amenecer. We decided to
spend the night before pushing another three hours to La Fortuna and the Arenal
volcano. The Lonely Planet didn’t
have many choices in San Ramon.
We went to a slightly seedy hotel, then another which was even less
appealing, while the kids grew hungrier and hungrier. We finally called Casa Amenecer, a B and B outside of
San Ramon, in San Juan de San Ramon. Miracle of miracles, they had two rooms large enough to accommodate
our two families. After settling
in, we admired the amazing night sky with two layers of fast-moving clouds
giving us glimpses of the brilliant stars beyond; all this from a hillside
terrace with giant rocking chairs.
The next morning we got up to a smiling hostess and an enormous buffet
breakfast. She told us how
everything we saw was grown or made locally, including the cheese, the jams,
and the coffee. Having hungrily
gobbled up loads of pizza the night before did not prevent us from returning to
the buffet two or three times for this extraordinary breakfast.
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| This counter was covered with dishes: meats, cheeses, eggs, fruit, veggies, breads, cakes |
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| The terrace with a view |
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| Our lovely hostess |
12. Michael’s
Birthday meal and market in Heredia. We went to the indoor Mercado Central in Heredia and saw every fruit, vegetable, cheese, fish, and meat possible, as well as raw spices (I guess someone uses them), clothes, shoes, and a stand selling juices and batidos, of course.
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| Market fare |
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| More market fare |
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| Very eco, even at the market |
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| And...more market fare |
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| There's no end |
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| This, I have to admit, was a little smelly |
Afterwards, we drove for a
couple of hours up a twisting, tiny road (even for Costa Rica standards) into
the mountains above the Central Valley to Barva for a chilly, rainy lunch at one of his
favorite restaurants, Chagos.
The
restaurant was cozy, the food was good, hearty, typical Costarricense, the
birds and squirrels on the balcony overlooking the forest were persistent.
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| The crew and the birthday boy |
13. Barbecue
in Alajuela. Our last night in
Costa Rica was a sad parting. We
knew we would see Ray and Heidi again in the U.S. very soon, but we had no idea
when or where we’d be seeing Michael and Alejandra and their beautiful
children, Sophia and Beckett. And
agreeing on a restaurant for such an occasion is never easy. We settled on one that was not a long
drive from our hotel.
Coincidentally, I had noticed the restaurant on our way earlier that day
and thought it looked interesting and cozy. The food was wonderful, an excellent array of barbecued
meats (and real hot dogs for the smaller kids), good company, and lively
conversation in the open air. It
felt like an appropriate sendoff from the “happiest country in Latin America."
