Costa Rica - La Fortuna - Tiquicia

For our last night in La Fortuna we had a scrumptious dinner at Tiquicia, which has the mission (and vision) of being the flagship restaurant for authentic Costa Rican food. The name is a colloquial way of referring to Costa Ricans. But I'll let the News of Costa Rica explain: "The popular Tico comes from the widespread custom among Costa Ricans to use the suffix “-ico” or “-ica” as a diminutive when speaking. For this reason, it is common in the country to hear words like “momentico”, “fotico” or “patico” as more colloquial and generally affectionate forms. The suffix “-ico” is also used in areas of other Central American and Caribbean countries and even in Spanish communities such as Navarra and Aragon, but in Costa Rica it is undoubtedly a hallmark of its own. And although it is not clear when the name “ticos” began to become popular, one of the most widespread theories states that it was in the Central American Homeland War (1856-1857) against the filibusters of William Walker. During this conflict, the armies of other countries became aware of the frequency with which Costa Rican soldiers used the formula “-ico” when speaking (as when they said “hermaniticos” to refer to their compatriots) and ended up calling them “ticos”. From this same name comes Tiquicia (typical of / related to the Ticos), the colloquial way in which its inhabitants refer to Costa Rica."

We started with dragon fruit margaritas. They were enormous, though our waiter joked they were the small size.

This was followed by fried green plaintains with a supersize parsley garnish and two dips. Yum. My main entree was Costa Rican beef fajitas. Excellente.

And we finished with coconut flan and Costa Rican coffee. As with all restaurants in tropical Costa Rica, it's all open air. The roof keeps you from getting wet. But you are never too hot in La Fortuna and never too cold.