CLASSIC TRIP: Costa Rica Touring - Liberia, Guanacaste

Even though we were ripped off a bit and had quite a row at the rental agency, we still ended up with a car so let’s get in and go for a drive. The big city here in Guanacaste is Liberia, where we flew into, so we head in that direction.

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Driving in this country is quite an adventure as we find out. A good portion of the drivers will pass you at any moment and in any traffic condition. Another large portion will drive exceedingly slow and will never, ever pull over. You soon learn that passing is a very necessary part of driving here in Costa Rica and passing lanes are pretty much nonexistent.

Add to that all the pedestrians, bicyclists, and animals that can be in the middle of the road at any given time, and you have your work cut out for you. In cities and towns, all the above turns into a free-for-all.

We make it into Liberia and find a place to park near the town’s plaza. The local church presides over it all…an ugly one, according to my wife…and it’s fiesta weekend.

Not much too festive in the daytime though. A few booths are open selling chicken and rice or dessert. We opt for dessert with some fritters covered in caramel and condensed milk and some churros.

It’s hot, quiet, and a few kids hit us up to buy a t-shirt or just to beg for money.

Walking around the perimeter of the park, I notice about 1 out of every 5 taxis are wheelchair accessible. One driver lets me take a picture of his for posterity.

We also notice that every public transit bus we see has a wheelchair lift and a spot to tie down a wheelchair making this the most accessible Latin American country we’ve seen for transportation.

The town’s a bit down in the mouth and sleepy in this humid heat so we move on.  We program the GPS unit in our rental car to take us to the nearby Rincon Vieja volcano but soon the pavement runs out and we’re on a very bumpy dirt road. When the Garmin says “drive 22 kilometers on this road,” we give up and look for a new plan.

On the map, it says there’s a zoo in nearby Salto. We head that direction.

In Liberia, we switch to Ruta 1, which turns out to be a modern freeway except it’s not quite finished. Instead, only one side is open and it’s on the honor system to be one lane in each direction. Again, we run into the problem of 25 kilometer per hour drivers on a 90 kph road.  One truck had over 50 vehicles behind him but, despite an abundance of space to pull over, he obliviously soldiered on.

We find the zoo, called the Adventure Park, and pull into the empty parking lot. A lady greets us at the entrance, offers us a cool drink, and wants to explain their “packages,” the cheapest being a basic zoo entrance fee of $100 per person.

That explains the empty parking lot which is empty once more as we hightail it out of there.

For today, we figure we’ll have more fun back at the Riu pool on the beach and spend the rest of the afternoon there.

Dinner will be at Papagayo, the steakhouse on the beach where Tim has this great looking burger…

…and Letty and I have steak, hers with the surf ‘n turf option.

It’s fine and delicious but down on the beach, the mosquitos know where dinner is also. Luckily, we put repellent on before dinner. Not many of our fellow diners were such forward thinkers, unfortunately.

Tomorrow, we have grander plans but until then, it’s chill in the room while listening to the floor show below and resting up for a very long drive and a big adventure.

Darryl
Copyright 2016 - Darryl Musick
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Photos by Letty Musick
Copyright 2016 - All Rights Reserved

Our Basque Restaurants Visited and Impressions of Each

To go along with our recent Basque-themed posts of our travel in northern Nevada and Idaho, we thought we'd reminisce about the Basque eateries we've visited over the years. Sadly, this is kind of a dying breed as the list of Basque restaurants in America seems to get smaller each year but when you really want a friendly feast, there's not too much better.

The first Basque restaurant my wife and I visited is the now defunct Overland Hotel in Gardnerville, Nevada. There's another restaurant there, now, but it's not the Basque restaurant that was there before.

I remember this one in particular because, after we'd been seated, without asking anything the waiter poured us red wine and left the carafe on the table. Soup was served, then salad, then bread and pasta. Finally, after all that, he asked us what we wanted. Steak for me, lamb for my wife. It was delicious and we left very satisfied and looking forward to our next Basque experience.

Next, we tried Le Chalet Basque in La Puente. We were the only diners in the restaurant, which may explain why it also went out of business, but is was another very good one. 

A bit dusty around the edges but the food was good. Being a "French" Basque restauant, the salad came last but the many other courses were in the usual order and on point, starting with the split pea soup, pickled tongue appetizer (delicious!), cheese, bread, pasta, and the entre with fries followed by dessert.

The Continental in Glendora is more like a leather-boothed steakhouse but serves in the Basque tradition. Unfortunately, we've never had a great experience there...hopefully, yours will go better if you try it.

For a Basque breakfast, we head to Taylor's, a sort of dive bar and truck scale in Chino, where you can get delicious and inexpensive ribeye to go with your eggs.

It's nothing fancy but the food is hearty and delicious.

The last Southern California Basque restaurant is the outstanding Centro Basco in Chino which offers not only regular restaurant seating but also the Basque "boarding house" style dining where you sit at long tables with strangers passing the food and making new friends.

This is the one we've eaten at the most and rate it as one of the top Basque restaurants we've every been too. Try the tongue, ribeye in wine sauce, lamb...all great entrees...to go along with soup that can be a meal in itself, the stunningly good local Galleano house wine, pasta, salad, bread, pasta, dessert and more.

We like this one so much we had Tim's college graduation dinner here.

Going north over the mountains is the hotspot of California Basque culture, Bakersfield. Noriega's was the most famous here but, unfortunately, we never got a chance to dine there. We did hit a trio of restaurants there, however, including my favorite.

Starting with the one that's no longer there, my wife still rapsodizes about the Basque Cafe that used to be on Coffee Road. It was our first Bakersfield version of one of our favorite cuisines.

Tim just loved the garlic fried chicken there.

Not to worry too much because down the road on Rosedale Highway is my all-time favorite, Benji's. Here, you start off with the best salad I've had anywhere...a fresh selection from the garden with their delicious creamy vinegarette...vegetable soup, pickled tongue and jack cheese, pasta, bread and salsa, the vegetable dish, your choice of potatoes, the entree, then dessert.

Some Basque restaurants are more of a diner atmosphere, which describes Woolgrowers in Old Bakersfield very well. The food is still top notch but maybe just a little more inexpensive.

Back over in Nevada, there's another restaurant in Gardnerville, JT Basque, just up the street from the old Overland Hotel. 

While we've really enjoyed some pretty unique entrees (my stew of beef offal selections was not visually enticing but it was delicious), we have notice a little slippage in quality in the wake of the Pandemic.

Up the road in Reno, we lament the loss of the Santa Fe Hotel that sat hard in the shadow of the giant Harrah's hotel near the train station.

Again, it was a great parade of salads, soups, pasta, vegetables and more before your delicious entree. It was also strictly boarding house style where you'd sit with strangers who became friends by the end of the meal.

Moving east is my wife's new favorite (I'll give it a close second), the Martin Hotel in Winnemucca over in a quiet part of town by the train tracks. Instead of the pickled tongue appetizer, she had the tongue entree. 

She loved it but I like my ribeye covered in cloves of garlic and mushrooms better.

In Elko, we wanted to try the Star Hotel on the edge of the red light district but it was closed for renovations. Instead, we went to the Toki Ona, a diner type restaurant on the main drag.

Again, my wife had the tongue and I had the ribeye. It was good but not as good as the Martin, above.

Finally, we went to the Leku Ona in Boise, Idaho. This is not the typical Basque feast that the others on the list above are. It's more of a nice dinner house, where you choose an entree which will come with some vegetables on the side and maybe a side salad. No one will be sharing your table with you (we were told at the Basque Cultural Center down the street that "they don't do that kind of Basque dining in Idaho").

The food, like the others, is pretty outstanding. I had a nice Basque steak sandwich. My wife had the salmon with garlic. It was all very good and very filling.

While we've been to quite a few Basque restaurants, there are still many to go and we're looking forward to every one of them.

Darryl Musick
Copyright 2022 - All Rights Reserved

The Irreplaceable Foods of L.A.

We really don't have much of a call to visit the Los Angeles area anymore except to visit family (you can catch up on some of our 57 years experience of the area here) but, when we are there, we try to catch up on some of the foods that we just can't find up in the northern half of the state. 

While many of our favorite places didn't survive the covid pandemic, there's still some gems there we try to hit whenever we're in the area.

Here are some places that are on our irreplaceable list...

Pastrami...yes, we can get pastrami anywhere but not like this. The Hat has is a chain of 11 fast food restaurants in the Los Angeles area. 

The farthest north is Simi Valley so that is still too far for us. If you've had it, you know...the juiciest, steamiest, moistest pastrami piled very high on a dipped bun with pickles and mustard (and a slice of swiss cheese, if you desire) for $12 in 2022. A small order of fries will feed a family of four with some left over.

(If you're in the area, you may want to stop at the original location on Valley Boulevard in Alhambra for a real time-traveling treat.)

Covid has killed their massive condiment bar but you can still get what you need from the counter person plus they still have those killer picked peppers.

In addition to The Hat, Capri Deli in Covina also has an equally good and almost identical sandwich at a slightly lower price.

Taquitos at Olvera Street really have no equal. This deep fried, rolled taco was invented at Cielito Lindo at the northern end of Calle Olvera but is taken to its zenith a few doors south at the oldest restaurant on Olvera Street, La Noche Buena.

For just under three bucks, you can get these piping hot out of the fryer with their signature watery and slightly spice guacamole sauce. I like to add their hotter red salsa to it for an incredibly delicious and cheap meal.

And, yes, you can get taquitos and guacamole almost anywhere but nothing like this.

Pizza...again, you can get pizza anywhere. Good pizza, even great pizza, but Casa Bianca in Eagle Rock is truly one of a kind, sublime, great pizza we just can't get anywhere else.

The key is the house-made, fennel Italian sausage that give this thin-crust pie a truly unique and delicious flavor. Get whatever topping you want, but...if you don't mind meat...make sure it has some of this sausage on it.

The only problem is the restaurant knows how good it is so it's not always so customer friendly. Oh, you'll get great service there but don't go for lunch (they don't open until 4), no reservations (you may be waiting over an hour for a table), extremely limited street parking, cash only, closed on Sundays and Mondays, and they tend to just take a two-week vacation whenever the feeling hits.

But, if you can get around those obstacles, make sure you give that pizza a try.

French dip...another staple in many, many restaurants. Yes we can get French dip sandwiches up in our home in the Motherlode. Some very good, even stellar French dips...my current favorite is the version we can get at the Lodi Beer Company. But none are like the original.

Philippe's...technically, Philippe the Original, but everybody in L.A. just calls it Philippe's...invented the sandwich which legend says was an accident when the counterperson dropped the bun in the drippings. The cop who was ordering the sandwich was in a hurry and just took it that way. He liked it so much, that he came back with all his buddies who wanted to try this delicious dipped sandwich.

Although the current location isn't the original 1908 location (it was moved to make way for Union Station), it still feels like the early 20th century when you step in with the news and candy stand at the entrance, the bank of wooden (working!) telephone booths, long communal tables, sawdust on the floor, and the uniformed and very professional ladies at the counter who will expertly carve and make your sandwich on the spot.

Along with the traditional beef, you can get lamb (a big favorite), ham, turkey, pork, and pastrami. All three of us prefer beef, double-dipped (bread is dipped twice in the drippings, you can also get single dipped, wet, or au jus on the side), with jack cheese. Oh, and don't forget that spicy and hot Philippe's mustard. There are jars on each table and you'll probably like it so much you'll want to buy a bottle or two to take home from the newstand.

Full disclosure compels me to mention that another restaurant claims to be the inventor of the French dip, Cole's, located six blocks south which also dates to 1908.

Darryl Musick
Copyright 2022 - All Rights Reserved

In Search of the Official Halifax Food: The Donair

We get to Halifax and everyone is saying, you have to try a donair. Our friends, who have been here before us, tell us you have to try a donair. It's so ubiquitous to Halifax that it is the city's official food.

On one of our first days here, we tried a 'donair sandwich' at a local restaurant, but I had my doubts as to how authentic it was.

One thing we needed to do was to search out an authentic donair and try it before we go.

As you can see from the picture at the top, it looks like something you'd find on a street in the Middle East. So how did this Mediterranean style food find it's way into the hearts of Haligonians?

Peter Gamoulakos, a Greek immigrant with a pizza parlor in nearby Bedford started selling doner kebabs. It wasn't quite to the taste of the locals so he started experimenting with the recipe, toning down some of the more pronounced Greek savoriness and spice.

The locals pronounced it 'donair' and the new recipe caught on.

In 1973, Gamoulakos opened the "King of Donair" restaurant on Quinpool Road in Halifax. It was a success and soon spawned a chain and imitators. In 2015, it was named the city's official food.

We're headed to the original restaurant. Mainly because we want an authentic experience and it's also in a part of the city where the power has been restored after the hurricane. Many neighborhoods here are still in the dark.

It's a long walk from our hotel, at least a couple of miles, but walking is what we do when traveling. It builds up a good appetite.

Upon arrival, we find a table and peruse our options. We decide to go with the original, classic donair.

They're big enough that we get a large sandwich cut three ways so we can all have our own.

I'd watched the cook slice the meat off of the spit and wrap it in the sauce, tomatoes, and onions.

I dig in and take a big bite expecting a tasty, savory bite...not unlike a good gyro...and - what's this? - it's sweet! I was not expecting that.

So, imagine a gyro with a bit of frosting like you get on a cinnamon roll in the sauce, and you get an idea of what the donair tastes like.

It's good, if you know what to expect, but not quite my cup of tea.

We finish it and now we can be satisfied that we haven't missed anything.

Darryl Musick
Copyright 2019 - All Rights Reserved

Recipes for a Cheapskate: Poppin' Peppers

Too many things to do this weekend to really get the dirt under my fingernails but I did get to harvest my jalapeño plant.

As the peppers were starting to turn bright red, that signaled that the time had come.

I got 13 peppers, just enough to make into a side dish for this week's barbecue.
So what can I do? Make mini jalapeño poppers.
Easy in concept but the smaller size of these peppers make a bit hard to stuff.

Each pepper is sliced on one side, propped open, and stuffed with my homemade mixture of cream cheese, chopped serrano peppers, and bacon.

I wrap them up in foil, poke a few holes in the top, and then put on the grill with our burgers.

The finished product looks something like this.

Darryl
Copyright 2013 - Darryl Musick
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Meal Replacements

I'll be honest. There's really very little I miss about living in Southern California. The traffic, the trash, the crowds, the crime, the grime...not one bit. A few things...family and friends, mostly...I do miss. 

One thing is the wide array of great food we had easy access to while living there I miss. I've made it my mission to find replacements of our favorite foods up here in Northern California.

Hamburgers are not a problem. In 'n Out was my favorite cheap hamburger and there are pleny of locations in our new neighborhood, too. Eureka! had my favorite burger, period. They just opened one up in Roseville. Each of those would take us a 30-45 minutes to drive to. 

A bit of a hurdle but not a major one.

There are also a lot of good burgers right here in our county that are very good, too...the whiskey burger at Hotel Sutter, Giant 88 Burgers, Helwig Winery, End of Nowhere (pictured)...so burgers are covered.

Phillipe's French dip is another story. They're very unique (they invented it) and not even in L.A. can I find something like it. We do have a lot of very good French dip sandwiches up here, almost every restaurant makes them and many of them are very good examples but just not the pre-dipped (or double-dipped) ones you get there with their proprietary, house-made hot mustard on every table.

I think this one is just too much of a one-of-a-kind to find but the wide variety of great dips here sure do their best to make up for it.

Our favorite pastrami sandwich was the pastrami dip at The Hat, which is a legendary one. The Capri Deli in Covina was just as good. We've come close with the Frosty Queen...which has locations in Sacramento and Manteca...but it's more like the Kosher Burrito style of pastrami, a really legendary greasy spoon joint in a wooden shack that was part of downtown L.A. before it was torn down and replaced with the CalTrans building.

I'm very happy to find this sandwich but still looking for one like The Hat.

I thought the hardest to replace was going to be the absolutely stunning array of Asian food we enjoyed. We lived in the heart of the San Gabriel Valley, which is probably the main location of the Asian immigrant population in America. We had Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Nepalese, Indian, Japanese cuisines and more. Hundreds of them, with some of the most delicious and spicy flavors you could imagine.

Well, I'm happy to say that...with a little research and patience...we're making great progress on that front. 

For a more traditional Chinese dinner...the kind we used to enjoy at Golden Dragon in Arcadia or Phoenix Garden in San Dimas (neither of which survived the pandemic)...Sacramento has the institution that in Frank Fats. It's very good, too. Their honey walnut shrimp is as good as any shrimp dish we've had back in L.A.

The xiao long bao (pork soup dumplings) at Din Tai Fung in Arcadia are world-famous, and justfiably so.

Luckily, the same dish at Journey to the Dumpling in Elk Grove is just as good.

Their honey walnut shrimp tastes just like Frank Fats, too.

For ramen, my favorite was the spicy tonkatsu ramen at Daikukoya. This Little Tokyo restaurant had another location in El Monte that my wife and I would frequent.

We've replaced that with several versions here, the best being at Yume in Lodi, which is just as good as Daikukoya, maybe even a bit better.

There was another very local, very good ramen place in Sutter Creek but they went under during the pandemic. We also found this version at Umai, in Sheldon (part of Elk Grove) that is like a corn chowder based ramen that was very different but very good tasting as well.

I really loved the been tendon noodle soup that we would have at 88 Noodle in Arcadia...

...and the pho that we'd have at Pho Lemon in Monrovia.

Just up the hill from us, we found a one-dish-for-all solution with the beef tendon pho at Vermicelli in Martell.

What I'm still looking for is a replacement for the outstanding dan dan soup with housemade and hand-pulled noodles, like they have at Noodle St. in Monrovia (Journey to the Dumpling has a version but nowhere near as good), a really good hot and sour soup, and a replacement for the Hollywood Noodle Thai soup that they have at Hollywood Noodle in Temple City.

Pizza is so subjective. There are all kinds and a lot of good options. Our favorites in Southern California were the thin-crust pies at Casa Bianca with their anise heavy housemade sausage in Eagle Rock, the pepperoni/sausage/bacon version at Red Devil in La Verne (photo at top of post)...

...and the deep-dish Chicago style pie at Tony's Little Italy in Placentia.

While we haven't found a Casa Bianca replacement, yet, the pizza at Chicago Fire...a small chain here in the area...

...and another great deep-dish pie at Chicago's Pizza with a Twist, an Indian pizza joint, in Folsom, replace Tony's version just fine.

While their style is just a little different than Red Devil, the pizza at Gold Dust Pizza in Sutter Creek is just as good. Especially when you can eat your slice with a cold beer on their patio along the banks of the town's namesake waterway.

Last, the prime rib at the Bull Pen, a dive bar in Redondo Beach, was the best in Southern California. I never thought I'd find one as good up here.

But I was wrong. Not only as good, but cheaper at Sportsman's Hall in Pollock Pines, Diamond Springs Hotel in Diamond Springs, and even at the greasy spoon environs of the Old Well Cafe in Drytown, who all make a very good prime rib dinner.

We're almost there with finding all our favorites up here, give us a little time and we'll not have anything to miss from our old home.

Darryl Musick

Copyright 2021 - All Rights Reserved