Blog Post: Fooooood

I traveled to the only Costa Rican restaurant in the Chicagoland area. It is called Irazu and is in Bucktown and not to far of a bus ride from the train station. I went and felt like I was at home. I ordered many things but 3 that were my favorite were: patacones con frijoles (English: smashed and fried plantains with beans), gallo pinto (English: white rice and beans with eggs) and yuca fries.

Patacones con frijoles is a typical Costa Rican appetizer that I as a kid and still eat as a full meal. The plantanes are smashed into circle-like shapes and then fried either with a ton of oil on a pan or deep fried. They are then plated next to a bowl of refried black beans to either dip or put on top of the plantains. The beans are refried, smashed black beans, seasoned with salt and unions. Typically Costa Rican food is not spicy at all and the food at Irazu was very well made. They went together perfectly even though the plantains were a bit over cooked.
Next, the gallo pinto was my favorite dish at the restaurant. I am a vegetarian and I typically never eat eggs but I felt that I should give it a try. I normally just eat eggs on their own when I am in Costa Rica because I feel that they are healthier and fresher. Gallo Pinto is a traditional breakfast meal and so far from what is typical of breakfast in the US. Gallo pinto is white rice and black beans with eggs. I prefer to have scrambled eggs but others can have them over easy or  sunny side up. The history behind the rice and beans is that they were most likely leftovers from the day before and they would be mixed and heated over again for breakfast the next morning. The rice is a little firmer and the beans are not as juicy which create the perfect leftovers. The combination of the eggs create a breakfast like meal and thus gallo pinto became a staple breakfast in the Costa Rican household.
Finally, the yuca fries are not just traditional to Costa Rica but of many Caribbean and Central American countries. Yuca fries can be prepared many ways but the most familiar and most seen in Costa Rica are prepared with thick pieces of fried yuca. The fries that were prepared at Irazu were not typical of Costa Rican yuca fries. The fries were thin and deep fried to make more of a chip. I still dipped them in refried beans which is used mostly as a salsa like dish but I was not a fan. The Costa Rican yuca chips are comparable to diced potatoes just to get a better understanding of what they are meant to be like in Costa Rica.

Overall, I very much enjoyed Irazu and will be definitely going back. I was given the opportunity to meet the owner and he gave us a little Costa Rica discount. I was excited to find Irazu and to have my boyfriend join me.