Once you arrive to Playas Del Coco and get situated you will end up back on main street for one reason or another. It is the center of everything you will need whether it’s the beach, food, information, transportation, bank, doctor or whatever. The photo above shows the main street looking east. You’ll have a couple blocks until you are at the end looking this direction. The other direction in the above photo will send you towards the beach and a few more blocks of interesting places like more shops, quick eats, sports bars, etc.
Housing was at a place found on Airbnb called ‘Maria and Marios’ and I was very happy to have stayed there. They couldn’t have been nicer people and treated me like family. The walk from their home to the main road would take me past 2 stores and a fruit stand. Whether needing a refreshing coconut water straight from a coconut soaking in ice water or a cold beer on the walk I had options.
There are many fun looking places to enjoy around town and unfortunately I didn’t get to experience all of the ones that appealed to me but the following spots are a couple of the cool places I discovered as I wandered around Playas del Coco.
In the morning I would ride my rented bicycle the few blocks to the beach and get a coffee at a cool place called Cafe Corazon. They are located close to the water (50 meters) and provide good coffee in a cool zen atmosphere. The guy behind the counter was always a welcoming host. https://www.instagram.com/cafe.corazon/?hl=en
Sal y Fuego can be found off the main road up the street from the sports bar and is a terrific find. If you love grilled meats and fish presented by a local trained in Argentina then you’ll love this place. The staff is friendly. I gave them a Venice Brand sticker. It’s worth the quick walk up the slight hill. https://www.instagram.com/salyfuegocr/?hl=en
At the corner where the sports bar and Mexican restaurant meet (the street you’ll walk up to find Sal y Fuego) is another new restaurant called Nakapasi. They are really new and I couldn’t find their social media but the man behind the bar, Abraham, was super cool. I gave him a Venice Brand sticker too. We tried to get the NHL Stanley Cup finals on which didn’t work but they did offer cold beers and really good ceviche. This would also be a good place to bring a date for dinner.
The Dude of Food really enjoyed the time chilling out around Playas Del Coco and thanks all the nice folks that shared with me and made this Costa Rican experience extra special. Thank you all. Pura Vida.
Recently, there was a 3 week period when my path stopped and all I did was hang out in the Popoyo Beach, Guasacate, Nicaragua area. The time was spent with a buddy either going to the beach, doing little things around the pad, eating or going to get some more beers before going out to eat again. It was pretty terrific and as much as the insects, reptiles, barking dogs and heat can be annoying it was far better than the traffic, homeless issues and silly political news games presented to US back home. My heart rate easily decreased by 15 beats a minute after a few days of adjustment.
As mentioned there are a number of really good places to eat in the area. They are all run by fine people who create quality foods of all kinds. Below are some of the places that stood out the most to me. They are listed in alphabetical order and show no preference by the place on the list. Read each listing to find out more about the places.
https://goo.gl/maps/aPEzYy5FLo8skJFi8 This link will take you to Guasacate’s main beach road on Google maps and will help guide to some mentioned eateries.
Amahula Hostel – This place is located on the south end of the main beach street. They have nice rooms, a cool staff, a big open bar/cafe/board stash-shower/hang out area and organize parties in the area. They can be found on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/amahulahostel/
Amaros – Amaro is a really nice guy who just opened a new restaurant in town. Located in a central spot on the main road near the salt flats this is a great place to eat breakfast. The huevos rancheros is the best in town. The staff is sweet and I loved going here.
Amaros kitchen
Huevos rancheros at Amaros
Casitas Pacific – This place offers nice rooms and has a cafe you’ll be happy you discovered. If you want to enjoy lunch at a table looking out to the beach while sipping a cool drink in the shade, then you should find your way to this spot and enjoy. https://www.casitaspacific.com/cafe-restaurant
Casitas Pacific
Dutchy’s Entrance
Dutchy’s Deli – Always cheerful and welcoming, this is a place I like to see the doors open at. You can change your spirit simply by walking in, saying hello and having a refreshing smoothie in the patio area. The tuna sandwich, roast beef sandwich and hamburger are all winners. If they have the homemade lox you must try it. They also make good fresh bread and have menu items for those who choose not to eat meat. There might be a dog sleeping in the bathroom and chances are he’s not gonna move so aim carefully. Lastly, the place has a nice charm and is because the owners wife is a very talented designer with a great eye. Both are very cool people who host an excellent staff that helps them run an awesome establishment. They can be found on Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/dutchysdeli/
$1 taco at La Loma
La Loma Lobster plate
La Loma Del Sabor Restaurante – This La Loma was the first place I ate in the Guasacate/Salinas area and was always happy to return. The banana con leches were so good I would ask for 2 every time. The menu offered many good options and were more of a locally known spot. They aren’t on the main beach road but on the main highway. They are on Instagram too. https://www.instagram.com/la_loma_del_sabor/
La Tica #2 – This place is located at the south end of the beach road and everyone knows Jessica. She is super cool and besides being the hostess that holds down the hostel she is the cook that manages the nightly BBQ on the grill outside that is a big hit for everyone in the neighborhood. They offer non meat, chicken, cow or fish options along with a plate full of salad and potato star things. The nights they offered Dorado as the fish option were my favorites. This place is just good all around. Not sure why Trip Advisor shows the ratings it does but you can be assured Jessica has got it handled. Eat, drink, surf, sleep and be happy here. https://www.instagram.com/explore/locations/1025477827/la-tica-playa-guasacate-popoyo-nicaragua/
Magnific Rock – This place is an awesome location perched on the point above the surf break and when the waves are firing this place would be the bar where the judges would be sitting. It is priced more on the higher end of the scale, as are a couple others on this list, but what you get in return is worth the extra couple dollars when you are enjoying the coffee in the am while taking in the view or a refreshing drink at sunset. https://magnificrock.com/drink-dine/magnific-rock-cafe/
Restaurant Kathere Abierto – This one you may have to keep an eye out for as I don’t remember seeing a sign and it looks like it’s part of something else. It is located on the main beach road right next to and on the north side of Vibra Guesthouse. The patio, which from the street you enter the center, runs sort of parallel to the road with the kitchen counter towards the back of the patio away from the street. This place can seem odd at first but be patient and enjoy the food. Trying to get fancy or act touristy will not help. The menu is typical Nicaraguan food and is done properly. We ate here on several occasions and one night I enjoyed the fish special which was called like citrus fish or primo fish or something like that and it was worth every penny.
PIZZA – There are a couple of pizza places in town and all are pretty good. On the main beach road you will hear about pizza night and just follow the crowd. It can get crowded and you can wait an hour or they could even run out as once happened to us.
Farther away from the beach is Mad Dog’s Pizza. They are kind of located in a spot by themselves but follow the sign and you’ll easily find it. The owner is a nice guy and they had a pretty cool set up where we watched 2 periods of the NHL Stanley Cup Finals. The food was good, the beer was cold and the hospitality was genuine. https://www.facebook.com/maddognicaragua/
Well that is what I have to share. Muchas gracias to all the fine folks in the beach community of Guasacate y Las Salinas, Nicaragua.
The Dude of Food grew up as an only child with a working mom who disliked cooking. Her 3 motto’s in life were:
‘where there’s smoke, there’s dinner’
‘you can never be too rich or too thin’
‘go play on the freeway’
The refrigerator to me was something to go look in at someone else’s house. That is how I learned about food, by looking in other peoples fridges and lunch boxes to see what they ate like. It took me years to get over just casually opening and looking inside of someones fridge. Sometimes I still do.
On special Saturday mornings as a kid I used to make a can of Spaghettios or Franco American Macaroni with cheese sauce as a treat.
One of the places I would wander over to visit was the house of the Italian family down the street. They had 3 older girls and a boy my age and they always had food on the stove. Their kitchen was the best. Homemade pastas, sauces, pizzas, rapini and as we got older their mother made everything with red onions so our lungs would stay healthier. This Italian mother even made liver taste good. She used thin slices of liver and loads of onions.
When we would go back east to visit their Italian relatives I would be blown away that every Italian kitchen was the same, warm and full of food. We couldn’t go anywhere without eating a plate of food and sipping some homemade wine. By the third or fourth visit you’d be pretty full but the hosts would get offended if you didn’t eat their food and thought you liked the other family better so you had to eat, drink and be merry. It was great and nothing but love.
When I went to visit the youthful home of my Italian buddies father in Italy I was blown away at the genuine love, hospitality and meals shared with me.
I am forever grateful and extremely thankful. This love of family and sharing food has never left me. Recently I began preparing homemade pasta noodles after lessons from my friends uncle’s wife, Aunt Mary, whom I’ve known since I was in 5th grade. I’m now 56 years old. In researching how to make a better noodle I was directed to YouTube and discovered the next best thing since beer was created. The name of this Youtube Angel is Grandma Gina Petitti.
Grandma Gina is precious and I instantly fell in love with her. She speaks just like everyone in my buddies family and reminds me of the best of my childhood. If you are still reading this then you must go to visit Gina https://www.youtube.com/c/BuonAPetitti/videos and see for yourself.
Grandma Gina Petitti
Watch and learn to make noodles, ravioli or any other quality Italian dish you might be interested in preparing. You will learn to cook properly and have your heart warmed at the same time. She’s awesome.
Think of all the things that could be. Less food wasted and more people fed. More composting for better future growing conditions. Less waste dumped into the ocean so we’re not polluting our food & water sources. Do you pee on your garden?
Think better built, longer lasting, reusable products. Life quality in litter free cities like Amsterdam is nice. Public gardens that grow herbs for local restaurants like in Santa Monica. Munich has great public gardens that house streams, trees, ducks, deer and serve beer. I mog di Minga!
Take a look at your decisions and food waste footprint and ask yourself the choices you can choose to make life better for you and those around you.
One of the latest things the Dude of Food has experienced is this food called Cauliflower Hot Wings. When my buddy said we were going to a vegan place to have a couple beers because they had a good selection, I felt my enthusiasm drop a bit. ‘I’m not a vegan’ I thought to myself. ‘This has the potential to really suck’ was the last thought that flowed through my head as we got out of the car.
Upon entering the room, Sage Plant Based Bistro in Echo Park, we saw the place was as full as any good happy hour spot should be and everyone seemed to be having a genuine good time. Not a bunch of folks looking around gauging how the cool people act, but real folks having real conversations. ‘This is starting out great’ my head whispered to itself.
My buddy and I found the last 2 seats at the bar and asked for a couple of IPA’s on tap. The beer choices were decent. Then we requested the Cauliflower Hot Wings. I wasn’t totally down with these by the way they sounded but after they arrived at the table and I tasted one, I was addicted. These things are delicious! The vinegar was strong and burned the senses just like they did in Buffalo at the old Garcia’s Bar or the original Anchor Bar (home of wings).
If you are trying to stick to your New Year’s resolution by eating better, than get yourself and some friends over to the Sage Plant Based Bistro in Silver Lake and enjoy something delicious.
While visiting good friends in Munich, Munchen or Minga, depending on whom you speak with, the Dude of Food can work up an appetite as there is much need for fuel to keep a body in motion while taking in all the culturally glorious things this beautiful Bavarian city has to offer.
There are quite a few good places to eat in the Sendling area of Munich and one lunch spot that stands out to me is calledDillinger Chicago Bar & Grill on Passauer Strasse. The Dude of Food has eaten many lunches here and is always satisfied at the meals presented. The staff is friendly and efficient. The prices are reasonable. The food is made fresh and always prepared with care. The soups are always really good and prompted me to request to meet the chef of Dillinger.
The chef is a nice, interesting and caring guy named Harjit Signh. He welcomed the Dude of Food into his extremely clean and organized kitchen. In his kitchen chef Harjit was very transparent about his passion for doing food preparation right. The Dude of Food loved Harjit’s drive for making his opportunity to create quality food work out right.
Feel free to visit Dillinger’s web page http://www.dillinger-bar.de/ or email them at dillingerobersendling (at) gmail and tell them hello for me and that you heard about them at the Dude of Food web page. Veiling danke Harjit und Dillinger.
It seems that oysters are a popular item on LA menus. The Dude of Food, a local LAist foodie, found himself working in downtown Los Angeles. Next door to us was a bar that had a pop up oyster bar out called Shucks Oyster Bar. The oyster bar tender was a nice guy and the Dude of Food tried a couple of each kind of oyster to check them out. The oysters were fresh and reminded the Dude of Food of a time when he was eating oysters in a back alley behind a fish shop in Fontainebleau, France or another time in San Sebastian/Donostia, Spain and how well beers go with oysters.
If you’re on Spring St. near 7th in DTLA look for Shucks Oyster Bar pop up.
It seems, as the Dude of Food continues to gain weight driving around Los Angeles eating at various pizza places in search of the ‘Greatest LA Pizza’. The list has room to grow. If you make pizza and think it’s good enough to be on a top 10 Pizza’s in LA list then please hit me up and let me know when to come in.
The 1st Obatzda the Dude of Food ever made in his Westside kitchen was fairly decent. It wasn’t just like Munich Obatzda but I have to say it sure helped ease the longing I have to be back in Munich with my friends at one of its many beautiful beer gardens. The Obatzda made by the Dude of Food wasn’t exactly the right color and was lumpier. It also wasn’t mixed as well as the Obatzda you find in Munchen and probably had something to do with the Gruyere cheese I used.
What mine did do for my spirit though, was remind me of all my Bavarian friends und the gut times we’ve spent together eating obatzda, stecklefisch, pizza, chicken, goulasch, knudel, donors or pretzels while drinking Augustiner Brau Helles beer and enjoying nature.
The Obatzda the Dude of Food made was pretty darned good and my mind happily filled in the blanks. I love brotziet und look forward to having more on my next visit back in Minga, Bavaria. Danke schon und prost.
Upon entering Flippin Pizza it is apparent the place is fresh and clean. A friendly staff member greeted and informed me of the daily specials. The nice staff member turned out to be the owner, Anthony. We chatted and I learned that the restaurant had been open since August 2015 at 6269 East Spring Street, Long Beach.
They offer daily pizza specials and also offer a happy hour from 3-6p with $4. pints. (Hello, Pizza, Beer & NHL Hockey!) Besides carefully crafted pizzas you can find really nice salads too. The lunch specials offer various versions of slices, salads and drink options.
The Dude of Food tried a slice of the 4 Cheese and a slice of the Little Brooklyn and was satisfied with both. The crust is thin and lite. It is notall rubbery and sweet which is a good thing. Both slices could have been a little greasy but both showed signs of very little accumulation on top.
The two slice and a drink lunch special will run you $6.50 and will satisfy your pizza craving for the time being. Flippin Pizza is Dude of Food approved and will be appearing on the list of Top 10 as the survey works towards the Top 5 round.
If you are craving pizza in the Long Beach / Lakewood area give Flippin Pizza a call and have something delivered. 562/421-1111 http://www.flippinpizzalongbeach.com
