Costa Rica

Leaving next week for our mid-winter getaway from these bone-chilling temps. Heading to Costa Rica, near Tamarindo. Any recs for interesting dining?

Costa Rica is not much of a gastro-tourism spot, in my experience (been to most parts of the beatutiful country over the years). Fresh fish, simply prepared is the way to go. Also, you probably already know that Liberia has great weather and resorts, which is a fine reason to go, but is in a less-spectacular (relatively dry and flat) part of the country. Tamarindo proper is not much to write home about (not much of a town until the reorts arrived), and it has the third world beach resort's sad plague of prostitution and drugs in evidence at night. Pedro's on the beach is reliable. I was not too impressed by anything that purported to be "nice" outside of the resort where I stayed (4 Seasons, which was great, but not very Costa Rican, of course). I do love the roadside open-air places where you can sit down to a pop and a casado (beans, rice, a fried egg and a cheap cut of meat) for a few bucks...

You say "and it has the third world beach resort's sad plague of prostitution and drugs in evidence at night" like it's a bad thing!

Kidding.

We're staying at a resort called Los Altos de Eros. They feed you breakfast, lunch and two dinners a week. We just need a place for the other nights. Simple, fresh fish sounds great to me.

Thanks.

I've been to Costa Rica 5 or 6 times over the years. The best Costa Rican food I ever had was in Chicago.

You can expect great coffee, fresh tropical fruit that's hard to beat....and a lot of beans and rice. I have some memories of Christmas tamales, chicken roasted over coffee wood, a Peruvian restaurant in San Jose, and a Caribbean place in Cahuita ran by a little old lady, but that's about it.

You are staying at a very nice resort in Tamarindo. I would expect the seafood to be excellent there. But you may want to wander off and check out some of the local spots. I haven't been to Tamarindo in several years, but I remember one place called Cala Luna that had good seafood in an outside thatch roof restaurant. It was part of a hotel and even had fresh lobster.
Good luck, report back, and pura vida.

DMChicago wrote:They feed you breakfast...

I spent a week in Punta Islita two summers ago, and one of the absolute highlights was the breakfast fruit plate. Fool that I am, I didn't take any pictures, but it was a brilliant way to start the day. It was enormous, with several pieces of papaya, pineapple, banana, and I can't recall what else.

Punta Islita is about as far as most tourists go from Liberia airport, and there isn't much else to do around there, so we ate most of our meals at the resort. My in-laws celebrated their wedding anniversary there and engineered the spread below as a custom order for a family celebration dinner:

Nice photos. I think the b'fast and lunches will be good. From the Inn's website:

Our Cuisine features a delicious and nutritious variety of fresh fruits and local vegetables.

Our fish dishes include: shrimp, sea bass, wahoo, mahi-mahi, and yellow fin tuna.

Free range chicken is prepared in a number of ways, as is “lomito” which is the local - very lean- tenderloin.

We serve a full breakfast each morning, and a gourmet lunch daily.

Dinners are served on Tuesdays and Saturdays.

All of these meals are included in our room rate.

We will be pleased to cater to your dietary requirements.


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Here is our “typical”
Gourmet Luncheon Menu.

Keep in mind that we serve all of these dishes for your lunch!

Ceviche with Mahi Mahi

Skewered Jumbo Shrimp with Pineapple Marmalade

Grilled Marinated Chicken with Fruit Salsa

Seared Yellow fin Tuna With Ginger and Wasabi

Chilled Artichoke Pasta Salad

Caesar Salad

Chocolate Terrine
Fruit Smoothie of the Day

White Wine (Chile)

Spring Water

Anyone have recommendations in/near Drake Bay?

I just got back from Costa Rica. I had less than 24 hours in San Jose and didn't have much luck, but I also didn't have any bad experiences. For dinner on Friday night, I went with some new friends to El Tipico (?) right in the city center. One of my companions was feeling under the weather and was in the mood for their...minestrone soup. I had the seafood soup, which was actually quite delightful...very subtle broth that let the taste of the seafood remain front and center. Later that night, we headed to the Jazz Cafe (near the Banco Popular on San Pedro?) for dancing. We ended up only having drinks there, but I heard from quite a few people that the food is decent.

The next morning, I woke up early to walk to the Mercado Central.



I had read in guide books that the market was very dense and that I should be extra careful because of pickpockets. I didn't think 7am was particularly early for a city market, but the place seemed practically deserted.











I don't know if it was the statue of Jesus looking at me or the fact that there were so few people there, but I got a little shy about taking pictures. There wasn't much to see though. None of the meat or produce looked exceptional. The only activity I saw was at the counters of a few of the restaurant booths--people eating rice and beans and empanada-type things.

Since I left the market hungry, I sought out a snack on my way back to where I was staying. I picked up some raisin bread and some other savory herb bread at Samuelito on Avenida Central (?), both of which were very yummy and satisfied me for the morning.

I spent the rest of my time in Costa Rica at the newer part of La Diosa (toward the end of the road, not the main resort) about 4km outside of Cahuita. I can't say much about the food there since our group had a special Ayurvedic cook. However, I was able to go into town a few times. I wasn't crazy about Cahuita, just seemed like a strip of tourist traps.



The few juices I had at La Fe (also known as Caribbean Roots Restaurant?)--guanabana, starfruit--were pleasant enough but mainly because I was grateful to be out of the forest and in a town, however small, and because we were on a low-sugar diet at La Diosa.



I tried one of the meat rolls sold by the guy pushing the cart (never learned his name; I think there's just one guy, and he's not out every day), and it was a fine snack.

I won't give up on food in Costa Rica yet. I'll likely be back next year for the same trip, so again my diet will be limited, but I'd like to use what free time that I have to seek out some yumminess. I have some more photos to upload--not much food but a few restaurant fronts--which I'm dumping here.