Recently I’ve been spending one day a week at various hotels to do 3-4 hours of work without interruption.  It allows me to spend more time with my family.

The last hotel I stayed at was the Best Western in Irazu.  A friend told me he had just stayed there for $88 for a night.  It seemed like a four star hotel when I picked up another friend there a few weeks earlier, so I thought I would give it a try.

It is indeed a four star hotel, but I didn’t get the $88/night price.  They claimed only “premium” rooms were available and the best price they could give me was $127/night.  In the end, my credit card was actually charged $229!

The room wasn’t “premium” in any way that I could see.  It was clean and all of the ammenities worked just fine.  I used the air conditioner once and it cooled down in 5 or 10 minutes.  It had a nice view of the pool, but there were no “extras” that would make a room “premium” in my book.

I certainly wasn’t happy about them lying about the price.

I also wasn’t happy about the lack of a restaurant.  They do have a Denny’s attached, but that isn’t anywhere I would eat while in Costa Rica (except maybe breakfast while on an outing).  They did provide free breakfast coupons, but I didn’t use them because I was just there to work for 3 or 4 hours.  I wasn’t there for breakfast.

I did decide to have dinner while there though.  I looked up and down the street to find a typical Costa Rican place.  Right across the street was a Subway sandwich shop with a Costa Rican restaurant attached to it.

That didn’t look all that promising.  I expected something like a Rosti Pollos.  Boy was I mistaken.

I don’t remember the name of the place, but it was fine dining to the extreme.  I started out with a Ceviche de Camarron (Ceviche is a Puruvian method of cooking fish with lime juice… in this case it was shrimp).  It wasn’t that great.  I’ve had better.

Next though I ordered Steak con Jalapeno.  I expected to be disappointed.  You really shouldn’t order beef in Costa Rica.  They don’t age their beef and they don’t fatten it up before slaughter.  That makes a premium cut of beef almost impossible.  Even non-Steak snobs are often disappointed by steak in Costa Rica.  I happen to be a steak snob.

I was very, very wrong!

I have had this dish in Nicaragua before and enjoyed it very much.  It was no comparison to what I was served at the restaurant across the street from Best Western Irazu though.  The chef is a culinary genius!  My eyes shook at every bite.  The steak was a fine cut of fillet mignon and was seared to a perfect medium.  The seasoning was also unbelievably good.  The jalapeno sauce though was incredible.

Jalapenos are not a normal part of Costa Rican cooking.  That is more Spanish, South American and such.  Costa Rican’s don’t generally spice up their food.  I began to suspect the chef was a Nicaraguan or Panamanian.  I asked the waiter.  He was a Tico (Costa Rican).  I asked the waiter to pay my compliments to the chef… something I have only done two other times in my entire life.

The chef came out and introduced himself.  His English was broken and my Spanish was worse, but he did get across that he had studied in Spain and I got across that I thought he was a culinary genius.

Then came dessert.  I ordered a banana filled crepe with chocolate sauce, vanilla ice cream and topped with a strawberry.  Once again my eyes shook and my skin began to tingle (probably from the sugar rush).  It was an incredible finish to an incredible meal.

I will definitely be back!

I won’t be returning to the Best Western Irazu though.  Not only did they overcharge me… their internet doesn’t support FTP which made my normal 3 hour work day turn into 5.

Of course, if that hadn’t happened… I would never have discovered the restaurant.  I’m greatful to Best Western for that.

-James D. Brausch