Get to a Lola's ASAP

It is quite rare you find a restaurant where ambiance and food are perfectly combined for a fanstastic meal but Lola’s in Playa Danta (and Playa Avellanas for that matter) does just that. I have had a hand full of meals at the original Playa Avellanas Lola’s and craving their fish and chips made me venture out to the new location in Playa Danta. Driving out to Playa Danta from Playa Grande was a wee bit of a hike and as the road is literally in the process of being laid out and paved, can be a sort of treacherous climb at times. But making the trek is worth the result.  As you pull into the guarded parking lot (which is a bonus when traveling in Costa Rica) there is a little bridge that crosses you over in the land of Lola’s. With a very similar layout to the original with all wooden tables and funky modern wooden beach chairs, the only thing missing is Lola herself. Lola’s is named after a giant pig who lives at Playa Avellanas and can sometimes be seen frolicking in the waves in front of the restaurant; hence the wooden outline of a pig on their sign. Walking into the seating area of Lola’s is immediately calming as all tables are shaded by the tall trees or umbrellas and all have an amazing view of the Danta beach within a few steps of where you eat. The Lola’s menu is very precise and what I love about it is that in its conciseness it covers all ranges of cravings. If you want something on the healthier side they have seared tuna salads or if you’re craving something heartier you can have a cheeseburger or fish and chips. My go-to is always the fish and chips and if I’m super hungry, I make my boyfriend share a pesto pizza with me. Their pizza is thin crust and the pesto sauce with whole pine nuts, parmesan and fresh tomato slices is amazing. Today I opted for just fish and chips and like always was not at all disappointed. They use dorado (mahi mahi) for their battered fish and thick cut fries. It is served with homemade zingy tartar sauce , ketchup (completely unnecessary with the perfect tartar sauce) and a side salad with a citrus vinaigrette. It has been two hours since the meal and I am still full, but a happy full. My boyfriend ordered the seared tuna salad which is served with a sesame seed herb crème fraiche and it was out of this world. I might even be convinced to order it next time. There really is nothing else to say except add Lola’s to your to-do list while traveling in Costa Rica. My sisters still hail the Avellanas location as their favorite memory of Costa Rica. Stop reading this and just get there! 

Pura Vida Ride

Pura Vida Ride is not a destination for food. It’s where you go to rent stand up paddleboards, bikes and kayaks. Located in Playa Danta (about a 20 minute drive north of Flamingo) next to Lola’s and inside the gorgeous Las Catalinas compound, Pura Vida Ride is definitely a place to check out if you’re interested in trying stand up paddleboarding. As my boyfriend and I have our own boards which are strapped onto our little Toyota Yaris, we ventured to Pura Vida Ride solely because we heard good things and wanted to check it out. As we are both early risers in Costa Rica (I swear you cannot sleep in here if you tried) we headed off to PVR in search of a cool spot to paddleboard. Arriving at 8am, nothing was open. At this point I was starving and if you know me, you know hunger and I are not pals. As my crankiness started to set in, I was happily (and luckily for my boyfriend) distracted by the huge family of howler monkeys playing in the trees overhead. By 9am Pura Vida Ride opened and to my great surprise they had a café inside. Being a non-coffee drinker (I drink maybe 4 iced coffees a year when in dire need of caffeine) I was unsure of what to order. The board was filled with different types of cappuccinos, mocha this and espresso that. But watching Jake make his French presses and use his fancy Italian machine with such precision, made me want to drink an iced coffee- hazelnut  flavored for that matter. And I swear, it was the best iced coffee I’ve ever had. Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts aren’t even in this league. Sitting at their little tables out front and having the monkeys playing over head while sipping on this delicious libation, waves crashing on the beach ahead of us: this was my favorite morning here, thus far. It also can’t hurt that Jake made homemade pumpkin, pecan, chocolate chip bread that morning and it was still warm when I ate it. Amazing.

If you’re looking for a new adventure in the Guanacaste area, rent a paddleboard from this place and snorkel at the end of the bay like we did. Not only did a giant ridley turtle stalk us while we paddled (highlight of my life) but the people, the vibe, the bread and the coffee at Pura Vida Ride are worth the trip. 

Website: http://www.puravidaride.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/PuraVidaRide

Abuela's: the place to be on Sunday nights

Abuela’s, meaning grandmother’s, is a sort of pop up restaurant in the heart of Playa Grande town. The “restaurant” is located at the MarBar every Sunday from 4 to 9pm or until the food sells out. Abuela’s menu is based on Mexican fare and is small but precise. Every week there is a featured food item and this past Sunday was shredded red chilli pork. You have the option of having them in two tacos or two enchiladas and there is also a main plate of the day using the featured item. Abuela’s also offers vegetarian options for those veggie lovers out there so don’t let the featured protein deter you.

 There are a few appetizers typical of Mexican joints- queso fundido, guacamole, tio G’s famous salsa and chips, etc. I opted for the queso fundido and being a queso lover, was thoroughly impressed with the fundido which had a slightly spicy taste but was offset by the delicious sausage and tomatoes in it. It is served with two warm tortillas which is not enough to eat the entire mini bowl of queso so you are left to eat the melted cheese with a spoon, which is just fine by me. For the main course I chose the two soft tacos with shredded pork and was delighted to see that they came in actual human portions. As hip taco bars are now the new cool restaurant to open in my suburbia of New York City, I have become accustomed to mini sized corn tortillas barely filled and because they denote items such as charred poblanos and pickled red onions it is fair to charge crazy amounts for a two bite taco. The tacos at Abuela’s were perfectly filling. My boyfriend ordered the enchiladas which were also good but as I am not a huge enchilada fan (thanks to an old executive chef who made me make hundreds a week) I’d go with the tacos over the enchiladas. The shredded pork was super tasty, not the least bit dry (as pork can sometimes be) and had a hint of spice which was nicely balanced with the cabbage slaw, pico de gallo and queso blanco served on top. My only downfall to the entrée was that the side of Mexican style rice with corn was very dry. But to be honest it was not missed on the plate. The two tacos and the queso fundido was worth the trip to Abuela’s alone and I have not even touched on the specialty cocktails and dessert, both of which were excellent. We had the churros with caramel sauce for dessert (I NEVER turn down churros anywhere) and although they were not a true Mexican style churro which tends to be super light and airy- they were delicious; almost like eating a friend doughnut/pancake. Be aware that the caramel sauce is not very thick and tends to drip, as my skirt caught most of those drips but if you’re a dessert person as I am, order it!

Abuela’s serves beers, house special sangria and a margarita of the day which happened to be sunrise margaritas (a take on tequila sunrises but margaritas style). All cocktails were delicious and I happen to be a huge fan of anyone that can do sangria well and Abuela’s certainly does. I recommend coming here on the earlier side as Alyssa (one of the co-chefs and servers, who also happens to own Senorita Casitas www.senoritacasitas.com -the best place to get your Playa Grande rentals) says they do tend to sell out and we arrived around 6pm which was right before a crowd showed up. The margaritas sold out while we ate at the bar and by the time we left around 7:30, the food was more than half way gone.

The service and food at Abuela’s certainly does make you feel like you are at your grandmother’s having a great meal. And as our entire dinner for two (shared appetizer, two entrees, shared dessert, including many cocktails and beers) came to only $36. You can’t beat that!! Check out Abuela’s on Sundays at the Marbar and like them out on Facebook to see what the featured menu items are: http://www.facebook.com/#!/abuelaspg. 

Who knew?

Driving down the roads (some barely deserve to be in the “road” category) in Costa
Rica you inevitably pass produce vendors in small shanties selling their sandias (watermelons), pipas frias (cold coconut water), naranjas (oranges), limons (lemons) or what have you. I rarely stop unless forced by hunger; and not because I don’t love street produce (I happen to love all street anything) but more so because there tend to be a few vendors within feet of each other all selling the exact same items and I feel guilty spending money at one over another. Therefore in Costa Rica I tend to buy produce at outdoor markets or at the super Mercado. But today as I was driving I happened upon a man selling fruit out of the back of his truck in the town of Playas del Coco.  As I had just finished a grocery run I was definitely not in the market (pun intended) for any more fruits or vegetables, but a pile of red fruit caught my eye and I yelled at my boyfriend to stop the car. As I approached the truck filled with cantaloupe and this spiky red fruit, I was running through a mental list of what this random red unknown could be. Nothing came to mind. For the normal person this is completely acceptable but for someone who has a culinary degree and spends majority of their day pondering what to eat or cook next- this was just not cutting it. How had I never seen this before? Not even on some Anthony Bourdain-esque food show. So I ask the guy, “que es esto?”  (the extent of my Spanish knowledge). And he grabs one, twists and rips the top off, revealing a white opaque flesh inside. “Lychee nut” he says. Now I have eaten and cooked with the lychee fruit, added it to salads, enjoyed many a martini made with their nectar and sampled lychee sake but in all that time it was either out of a bottle, a can, or a jar. I was always under the assumption that the lychee fruit (called a nut by the seller but nut allergists rejoice, it is not at all related to nuts) looked somewhat how it looked in a can when in nature. To be honest, I’d really never thought a moment past, hmm this tastes good when it comes to lychees so for all you people out their wondering a) what does a lychee fruit look like in nature and b) does its spiky exterior make for difficult eating. Here is a picture to answer question A and question B is answered by my boyfriend driving and eating them (something he rarely does; he thinks eating in cars is equivalent to eating on the toilet). Super easy to rip in half and pop the sweet flesh in your mouth. Avoid eating or swallowing the pit and you will be in lychee heaven. And for all you health freaks- the lychee nut is only 125 calories per cup, has more antioxidant Vitamin C than oranges or lemons and is filled with potassium and fiber. If you ever find them NOT in a can, jar or bottle, eat them! Worth the pull-over.

PS Did you know hearts of palm actually come from the inside of young palm trees? Good to know if you’re stuck on a deserted island.

Soda Las Palmas

Costa Rica is definitely not known for their diverse food culture and a prominent food history but there are certain items you can find at just about any Costa Rican restaurant such as arroz con pollo (rice with chicken), gallo pinto (rice with beans), fried yucca, etc. One of my absolute favorite places near where I live has all these items and more. It is sort of off the beaten path in area of Villa Real just east of Tamarindo and if I had a great sense of direction I’d tell you exactly how to get there but this is all I’ve got: as you drive away from Tamarindo on the main road you eventually come to a main street where you can go right or left, take a right (this is all Villa Real) and after driving about ¾ of a mile you will see a field and school on your left and there will be an awkward left turn that will bring you behind the field and on the right hand side of that street you will find the Costa Rican jewel: Soda las Palmas. 

The restaurant is only open for lunch and features a buffet and drinks. The Soda (Costa Rican restaurant) is an open air design and the space can fill up quick at peak lunch hours. For those of you who are not so great at Spanish (like me) you can just point to the items that look appealing and they will pile up the plate for you. My ideal plate if they have the items that day is: arroz con pollo, the purple colored potato salad (its beets and potatoes), the amazing fresh salsa, the shredded chicken in a light red sauce and fried yucca or plantains. Bring your appetite as the servings are very big and sometimes I run wild piling up the plate. Last week when I went, I shared a plate with my boyfriend and felt full but not bloated like I usually am after a plate to myself. On the table there are onions in a vinegar hot sauce and if you like serious spice, add some to your plate- I love them! There is also the typical Lizano on every table but not in the usual bottle so taste test the sauce before dumping it on your food; two are very spicy. 

To quench your thirst all of the fresh juices are unbelievably good and refreshing. My boyfriend happens to hate the carrot juice so if you fall into that category, avoid the dark orange colored juice. I happen to love it and it’s my favorite, so to each his/her own. I don’t know what they do to the juices but they are truly refreshing and, if possible, make the meal even better. Don’t avoid the juices just because they’re made with tap water. I drink tap water all the time down here and have never had an issue. 

Soda las Palmas is the one of the few places I crave when I am back in the United States. Besides the true local vibe of the place, the food is the most Costa Rican you can get and with a giant plate and drink costing between $6-10 (depending on how much you pile on) it is beyond worth it!