Rock La Casbah!

La Casbah is a great restaurant to check out while in Bocas del Toro. It is located at the far end of the main strip as you are headed out of town. It has a great outdoor seating area on the road to people watch and you can still see what is going on in the open-air kitchen. Best of both worlds for me. The restaurant was pretty full when we arrived and the host/owner/only server seemed to have his hands very full. But this must be a common occurrence because he is on top of his game with a full house. We felt fully attended to the whole meal, which is not common in a lot of places in Central America. Even hunting down a very cool bag of ice to chill off the warm red wine (wine connoisseurs don’t be offended- its hot here, we like chilled red wine). We started off with three appetizers: Gazpacho, dates wrapped in bacon and tuna Carpaccio. All three were great! Anything wrapped in bacon is always a good choice and the crispy bacon with the sweet dates was an easy home run. The gazpacho was creamy and nicely balanced the sherry vinegar and sweet tomato flavor. It came with a side of croutons and diced red onion and red and green peppers. I like the idea of adding crispy elements to the smooth base. The tuna Carpaccio was served with red onion, green peppers, Parmesan, tomatoes, basil and good olive oil. The flavors were all there and strangely did not overwhelm the thinly sliced tuna. If anything the dish needed a bit more citrus and fresh ground pepper. We forged on with main dishes of sole (fish of the day) served with a cucumber coconut sauce and the house special of Greek chicken, which is stuffed with goat cheese and prunes and topped with a sundried tomato sauce. The chicken was nicely cooked (not dried out which restaurants tend to do when stuffing) and the sundried tomato sauce paired well with the prunes but the goat cheese was lost amongst the strong flavors. I enjoyed this entrée over the fish of the day though. Sole is a very delicate fish and it needs a light non-overbearing sauce. Serving the creamy and heavy coconut cucumber sauce with a heartier fish would be divine but the sole was bogged down. But with the great preparations of all the other dishes this just entices me to go back one day and try the next fish of the day. While in Bocas del Toro you must try La Casbah! Even just for appetizers and wine, it’s a great restaurant! 

Welcome to Panama!!

Crossing the border from Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica to the archipelago of Bocas del Toro, Panama was no easy task. Granted we hired a van, crossed a bridge that should have been out of commission years ago (Don’t look down is a good mantra), trekked through a single lane wheat and banana field “road” with sixteen wheelers competing for space (think I-95 traffic in the middle of a farm), got packed into a tiny boat with a slightly over confident captain who charged at giant waves like we were on a navy vessel and all of this in the down pouring rain but we made it! Bocas del Toro, Panama. And to be honest- I love the adventure of traveling in Costa Rica- it always makes for interesting stories.

Our first pit stop was a random local bar and restaurant called The Pirate (easily found on the main strip due to the giant pirate head on top of the restaurant). The food is nothing great but it quieted our hunger pangs. We had arroz con pollo (Caribbean style is made with coconut milk) and fried fish with patacones (fried plantains). The meal was cheap and easy and something to tide us over before we headed to dinner at El Ultimo Refugio.

El Ultimo Refugio, on the other hand, was exactly the type of restaurant I anticipated on this trip. The restaurant sits directly on the water and with its mix of reggae and hippie ambiance (hemp tarps on the ceiling, bamboo laden walls, chill reggae beats) I felt immediately calm sitting down for dinner. The chalkboard written menu changes daily (depending on what’s fresh) and it was difficult to choose just one thing to order. A well-written menu always makes for tough choices. We decided to start with deviled eggs as I have yet to see them on a menu in Central America and was intrigued. There were two deviled eggs for each of us and one was topped with salty caviar and the other with bacon and celery. I’m a huge deviled egg fan and these were done extremely well (although cannot beat my BF’s mother’s recipe). And for $1.50 for an appetizer, you just cannot go wrong. For our main course my BF ordered mahi-mahi with spicy pineapple salsa and I ordered curry chicken. The mahi was cooked well and flanked with coconut rice in the shape of a fish, and perfectly sautéed veggies. One thing I have found in Central America is that restaurants really know how to cook side veggies well. They are never soggy or uncooked, always a lovely al-dente. My curry chicken was to-die-for. Having grown up in a country with a 50% Indian population, I tend to be a harsh curry critic. But this curry chicken was succulent and seasoned well with a hint of coconut in the sauce and the typical rice and veggies were a nice compliment. I was truly happy with this meal. The service wasn’t overly nice but was very fast which is unheard of in these parts. Pair all this with a $15 bottle of red wine and we were all smiles. El Ultimo Refugio is the real Bocas deal. 

La Pecora Nera

Finding decent Italian food in Costa Rica is comparable to my sister’s quest to find an ocelot while visiting here. It can be done but it is fairly difficult  (if craving great ravioli see blog on Dragon Fly Bar and Grill). Our first night in Puerto Viejo our lovely hostess recommended an Italian restaurant called La Pecora Nera (translation: the black sheep).  Many times I have been recommended great Italian places here and none of them have been above par, so with skepticism I set out to find Pecora Nera. Set back from the one main road in Puerto Viejo, it is a fairly large bamboo open air restaurant filled with beautiful wooden tables and giant wooden chairs that make you feel very regal. At the gated entrance we were greeted by extremely large geese and by the chef/owner of the place. Due to our tardy arrival (9:30pm) the chef told us that the kitchen was open but some things were not available to order. He rattled off a bunch of items were and as our attention spans at this hour were short, we let the chef bring us one appetizer and two entrees of his choice. The meal started with an amuse bouche of flatbreads and crostini served with a herb aioli. Our appetizer was a shrimp carpaccio served on thinly sliced star fruit with tomatoes, garlic and oregano and then drizzled in balsamic vinegar, olive oil and a sweet citrus juice. This was by far my favorite part of the meal. The chef brought out a pizza with fresh arugula, tomatoes, parmesan and prosciutto and it tasted great. Its not the best pizza I’ve had in Costa Rica (the search still continues) but I will never turn down this traditional flavor combo. Our second entrée was goat cheese ravioli in a homemade marinara sauce. Usually goat cheese served in any dish is a favorite of mine but unfortunately the marinara sauce was over salted and took away from the delicate homemade raviolis. This was a disappointment but I could see the well meant intentions of the chef (chefs have bad days too). Try La Pecora Nera if in the neighborhood and make sure to order the shrimp carpaccio. 

Best. Steak. Ever.

If you put the word Argentinian in front of steak you are usually guaranteed a pretty damn good piece of meat and El Refugio Grill proves this theory. The intimate 25 top restaurant nestled in the jungle of Puerto Viejo is run by an Argentinian couple. Soledad runs the front of the house while her husband mans the grill. The menu is short but enticing. And the service by Soledad is top notch. We settled on the house malbec and guacamole and chips to start. The guacamole was good, although needed a touch more citrus and the house made fried tortilla chips were crisp and fresh. There was an entrée portion of pulpitos al pimenton which is grilled mini octopus served with garlicky potatoes in a smoked paprika sauce and they happily made it an appetizer portion for us. This dish was a close second best compared to the skirt steak. The octopus was grilled to perfection (a not-so-easy feat in the culinary world). We followed our appetizers with one order of the Argentinian skirt steak and an order of the grilled tuna. The tuna was served with a fresh garlic and parsley mixture (similar to a persillade) and fresh cut steak fries. The tuna was cooked to medium (my choice) and the table salsa with jalapenos was a nice compliment. This tuna dish at any other restaurant would have been a great order but did not come close to the amazing steak. In the future I would order two steaks because the BF and I came close to shedding blood over it. The traditional chimichurri sauce was an amazing salty compliment to the perfect medium skirt steak. If you find yourself in Puerto Viejo and only have time for one dinner, this is the place to go. I left the restaurant floating in foodie heaven. True story.