Day 217: Rain, Rain, STILL Hasn't Gone Away!

After last night's less than stellar meal at the Arenal Observatory Lodge, we decided to that despite the ongoing crappy rainy weather, we'd explore the area and see what the neighboring town of La Fortuna had to offer by way of food. In fact, we wound up having lunch AND dinner there at restaurants recommended by the Lonely Planet guidebook.

For dinner we checked out Nene's, a warm and welcoming place with a large, pretty mural featuring all of the birds of Costa Rica. The guidebook mentioned that Nene's is known for their ceviche, so we had to try that as our appetizer (pictured). It was good, but those homemade tortilla chips were the best part. As far as the pink sauce - no idea what that was. It tasted vaguely mayonnaisey - we didn't eat it as the ceviche was delicious on it's own (with those tasty chips!).

I asked our waiter what his favorite entrees are and the one he mentioned that sounded the best to me was steak with jalapenos. It really did not photograph well, which is one reason why I am using our appetizer as the photo tonight, but it was absolutely delicious. I think the fact that I'd been stuck in the rain for two full days made it even better - a good piece of beef gives me a warm, comfort food kind of a feeling.

My husband's dinner is definitely worth mentioning as well. It was the evening special, surf & turf. When it arrived, it was on a huge metal tray, which had been lit on fire. The tray was so large that I assumed that it held both of our entrees, but nope! The entire tray was used for his meal: an enormous steak, 3 long kebabs of grilled shrimp and veggies, a side of sauteed veggies, and some sort of sauce (oil oregano, garlic). It was quite a sight.

Boo to all the rain, but yay for La Fortuna!