There weren’t many restaurants open during Semana Santa. An “aha” moment struck me years ago while driving through southern France during All Saints weekend. Similarly, all the fancy restaurants were closed for the holiday. The local unpretentious hotel dining rooms along our route stayed open for their guests and served great food. Haute cuisine? Hardly. It was peasant food. Coq au vin, boeuf bourguignon, Alsatian choucroute, blanquette de veau, andouillettes, cassoulet, onion soup encroute, Vichyssoise and bouillabaisse are all basic low-cost carb platters, stews and soups.They were the hearty affordable meals of farmers, fishermen and laborers.
Among the Tico equivalents are gallo pinto, casados, sopa negra, arroz con pollo, empanadas, chifrijo, mondongo and olla de carne. They usually cost less than $4. We may describe them in detail at a future date. If you want to sample similar basic blue-collar food from other cultures here in Costa Rica, for 1500 to 4000 colones per meal consider these:
Arepas In San Jose, Costa Rica, Derek Marin has an arepa and juice bar emporium called Caracas. He makes a dozen different Venezuelan arepas.
Argentine empanadas To my palate, Argentinean empanadas are more flavorful than the local varieties. Furthermore, they are typically made with a wheat flour rather than corn dough and baked rather than fried. Argenta in Escazu and Donde El Che in east San Jose offer them that way. Personally I prefer fried empanadas at Gauchada across from the southwest corner of La Sabana.
Beef chow fun and eggrolls Most Chinese restaurants that serve this wide noodle dish call it sa-ho-fan here. In Montecillos near Alajuela, Restaurante Fuente de Fortuna serves huge bargain platters of tasty sa ho fan seco con lomito. Their very large eggrolls aren’t fancy, but they are flavorful and wonderfully crispy without grease. The dipping sauce also has nice ginger flavor.
Buffalo wings Many places make reasonable facsimiles of American buffalo wings. Among them is Wakky’s on the old road from Santa Ana to Escazu.
Cannoli You can try them at Tutti Li in Plaza Itskazu. Not bad.
Causa These delightful potato layered treats are on the menus of all Peruvian restaurants and are well prepared with few exceptions. The small Peruvian restaurant in Belen serves poor causas. Chancay in Itskatzu serves my favorite.
Chaufa Another bargain basement belly-filler from Peru is the Peruvian version of Chinese fried rice. It differs from most Tico renditions in that it usually contains some red pepper and garlic. Try it anywhere there is a Peruvian cook, like Chalitos in Las Vueltas.
Chili dogs Jalapeños Central in Alajuela floats my boat for chili dogs. Norman’s chili was voted most popular by the attendees at the annual Atenas chili cookoff.
Crepes There are many similar creperies. I have no personal favorite, but my wife likes Oui, Oui La Crepe adjacent to Libreria International in Multiplaza
Flautas These Mexican fried rolled tortillas are common but I love them only if they are more filling than tortilla, on the large size and very crispy. My favorites are the al pastor flautas at Maria Bonita in Santa Ana. They are large, crisp, filled with pork and pineapple and served with three different spicy salsas made by Jamilet, the wife of owner Julio Cesar from Veracruz. The Nica cook, Marisol, does a nice very job.
Grits No, I’m not going to tell you where you van find hot links on savory grits or baked cheese and garlic casseroles, but you can get simple quick grits at Denny’s as a breakfast side or as an economical breakfast hot cereal equivalent.
Gumbo I haven’t been to Playas del Coco for a few years, but the gumbo there at Louisiana Bar and Grill used to be good. Herny’s also served it at their old location. I don’t know if it made the menu at their new hot spot in Escazu.
Jook Probably the number one breakfast comfort food in the world because of its popularity in Asia, jook or congee is hot rice gruel flavored with all kinds of additives. I prefer it with pork and thousand-year-old egg at Villa Bonita near the US embassy or Casa China in East San Jose
Pad Thai Cassius serves up huge portions of tasty pad Thai, the number one noodle dish in Thailand, at Banzai in Mall Florencia in Escazu. It is also on the menu at Mekong on Avenida Escazu. I haven’t tried it there yet.
Pupusas You can get these favorites from El Salvador and Honduras in many weekend markets hot off the grill. I used to stop at the pupusaria on the main road through Atenas before the new pista to the coast opened. I prefer to have mypupusa split open like a Venezuelan arepa or Mediterranean pita pocket and have the slaw layered atop a mélange of all three traditional fillings – pork, cheese and beans.
Weisswurst and bratwurst Too bad the German restaurant and sausage maker in Puriscal closed. Thus far, the best I can do is to buy them at Tom Tom in Escazu and prepare them at home.
Still looking:
B’steeya I love Moroccan filo pie filled with eggs, almonds, chicken and cinnamon. I haven’t found it here. When I heard that the new and popular Arte Y Gusto served tajines along with its Southern France standards, I went to see what other Moroccan offerings it had there on a Saturday a half hour after advertised opening time, but alas it was closed.
Borscht Local beets are marvelous but nobody seems to be interested in making Jewish beet borscht with green onions, cucumber, boiled potato and sour cream except yours truly at home.
Corn-beef hash Bill Hill, the former owner of Café des Artistas, and I are both lovers of good corn-beef hash. He promised to put it on his menu if he ever found a reliable source of corn beef here. Two owners later, it appeared on the menu. I could hardly wait, but I felt like the toddler whose sticky lollypop fell in the sandbox. The meat was not corn beef, the potatoes were soggy and the flavorings were way off. I hear that Time Out Tavern makes great hash with the left over corn beef for the week after St. Patrick’s Day.
Fresh sauerkraut I haven’t found any of the yummy crunchy stuff from barrels or from plastic bags in the chilled cases of any markets.
Hot links Not here yet and probably won’t be.
Italian sausage So simple – ground pork, fennel seed, red chili flakes, oregano and salt. I have tried a dozen Italian restaurants and markets without success. Only the frozen Johnsonville brand in the supermarkets comes close and at a price.
Moussaka Oh for a decent Greek restaurant here. Ringle, the new Escazu resort and spa offers Greek salads and some Mediterranean mezzes in lovely surroundings, but not it doesn’t qualify as a Greek restaurant.
Pastrami When we travel, we always share at least one pastrami sandwich piled several inches high on fresh rye bread with a kosher pickle.
Pot pies Nostalgia food for me, my mother made them from scratch to recycle leftovers. Cheapo potpies browned in a toaster oven filled the bill during college and med school. I often fed them to my kids for quicky lunches. The half dozen I have eaten here are lamentable.
Rouladen Still looking for that German restaurant. Hamburgo in Barrio Dent had been decent but became very inconsistent when the owner was away.
Smoked white fish Living between two coasts, you’d think….. Wrong.
Thai curry With the local aversion to hot spices, all the curries I have sampled seem woefully bland. Tin Jo does the best job with a very nice hot sauce with a mule’s kick served on the side. I hear that Mekong makes good curries. I plan to try it soon.
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