You are right about Costa Rican food being "bland". As a matter of fact, when have you heard of a Costa Rican restaurant outside of CR? Their coffee and chocolates on the other hand are another story.
La Casa de Toņo is on my list of restaurants to try, along with El Cardenal. One place that caught my attention is La Pagoda, supposedly a vestige of Chinese owned cafeterias that serve both Chinese and Mexican food. When cultures collide, it makes for some interesting fusion food. Vietnamese and Filipino come to mind. For pre-Hispanic Aztec food I've heard good things about Fonda de Don Chon, especially their escamoles de hormiga and rabbit in adobo. Churreria el Moro is a "must" in my itinerary.
I love to eat and explore the culinary side of different places. Miami was home during my teenage years and recently I spent a month there on a family leave where I had the opportunity to get reacquainted with Cuban and Nicaraguan food. There are also some phenomenal Peruvian restaurants there as well. Heck, MIA is the "unofficial capital" of Latin America. I even heard that Key Biscayne nowadays has more Argentinians than locals.
Last edited by aw; Aug 17, 2013 at 1:33 am