Eating in Costa Rica: Local Cuisine

Simply put, Costa Rican cuisine is unspectacular. Rice and beans are standard Tico fare and are often served at all three meals a day. Mixed together, they're called gallo pinto.

If you're looking for typical (and cheap) eats, you'll find them in little restaurants known as sodas, which are the equivalent of diners in the United States. Your best bet at a soda is a casado (which translates as "married" and is the name for the local version of a blue-plate special), which usually consists of cabbage-and-tomato salad; fried plantains; and a chicken, fish, or meat dish of some sort. Casados also often come with a hard-boiled egg and/or slab of fresh cheese.

Costa Rica has two coasts, and, as you'd expect, plenty of seafood is available everywhere in the country. Corvina (sea bass) is the most commonly served fish. You'll also come across pargo (red snapper), dorado (mahimahi), and tuna on most menus, especially along the coasts. Although Costa Rica is a major exporter of shrimp and lobster, both are less common and more expensive than you may expect.

You'll see corvina on many a Costa Rican menu; avoid it. Costa Rican corvina is a distant cousin to the cold-water Chilean and other sea basses served in restaurants across the United States and Europe. In many cheaper restaurants, particularly in San José, shark meat is sometimes even sold as corvina. Stick with dorado, red snapper, and tuna, whenever possible.

Still, all is not lost. With an increase in international tourism, not to mention the need to please more sophisticated palates, local chefs have begun to create a "nouvelle Costa Rican cuisine," updating timeworn recipes and using traditional ingredients in creative ways. At many of the better hotels and local restaurants, you'll find chefs doing interesting and tasty things with the local fruits and vegetables and fresh seafood, meats, and poultry.

Getting the most out of eating in Costa Rica: Bocas and fresh fruit

Appetizers, known as bocas, are served with drinks in most bars. Bocas are either free or very inexpensive. Popular bocas include gallos (tortillas piled with meat, chicken, cheese, or beans), ceviche (a marinated seafood salad), tamales (stuffed cornmeal patties wrapped and steamed inside banana leaves), patacones (fried green plantain chips), and fried yuca. Tacos, tamales, and empanadas (turnovers) also are quite common. Making an evening and full meal out of a long list of bocas is easy and enjoyable.

Costa Rica has a wealth of delicious tropical fruits. The most common are mangoes (the season begins in May), papayas, pineapples, melons, and bananas. Other fruits include the marañón, which is the fruit of the cashew tree and has orange or yellow glossy skin; the granadilla, or maracuyá (passion fruit); the mamón chino, which Asian travelers will immediately recognize as the rambutan; and the carambola (star fruit).

Enjoying a cup of joe

If you're a coffee drinker, you may be surprisingly disappointed in Costa Rica. Most of the best coffee has traditionally been saved for export, and Ticos tend to prefer their coffee weak and sugary. The better hotels and restaurants cater to gringo and European tastes and serve up superior blends.

If you want black coffee, ask for café negro; if you want it with milk, order café con leche. Most restaurants serve the milk warmed and in a separate container. If you want to ensure your milk comes separately, ask for con leche aparte.

If you want to try something different for your morning beverage, ask for agua dulce, a warm drink made from melted sugar cane and served with either milk or lemon, or straight.