hart

Everyone is complaining about the steakhouse at the Four Seasons. Is it true the meat in Costa Rica is bad or contaminated? On my last trip there, FS wouldn't even let me order meat. Believe me I am well aquainted on this post as being a FS fan but that said I do not want to eat bad meat. Can anyone shed any light on this problem?

shillmac

You mean it was on their menu, but they wouldn't let you order it? Strange. . . . .

flycatcher06

Hi there, The only thing i can think of is because they do not feed their animals that well. That being said we had the worse and i mean beyond description beef at Arenal Paraiso Steakhouse and just down the street at El Novillo we had the best, tasy and can cut with a fork steak and everything at El Novillo was delicious i know it sounds stupid but their rice with vegetables was to die for!!!

shillmac

Not stupid at all--Sometimes those "rice with" dishes hit the spot like nothing else!

Cronen

I don't know about the meat but the lobster sure is different. My daughter lived in Costa Rica for a year and we went to visit for a few weeks. We are use to Maine type lobster and when we ordered it in CR it was basically a different species. That said, they have the best rice and beans!

dfarmer

Orchideas Inn had the best Beef Tenderloin! We stayed here 3 nights in Feb and ended up ordering the Tenderloin twice, due to it being so good. All our food at Orc. was delicious.

We have experienced some not so delicious beef in CR, and normally stick to the chicken and fish. I was glad we tried the beef this year!

Latitude9Lisa

I've never experienced contaminated red meat in CR; however, it’s definitely different than the USDA you have stateside. As explained to me, CR cattle are grass fed and US cattle are grain fed. Apparently there is a difference on the taste between these two (not being especially schooled on this matter, I’m simply writing what I’ve been told.) However, I’ve found the red meat here to be extremely lean and possibly this explains for the taste difference. When browning meat for spaghetti sauce, I actually need to ADD oil to the pan and when making a burger I mix ¾ ground meat, ¼ ground pork just to get the flavor. Another observation is that CR meat is not aged in the same manner as USDA. I purchase a large loin of lomito and age it myself and after that it’s pretty darn good! USDA beef was banned from importation to CR a few years back (mad cow) and we’re just starting to see the first smatterings of it back on the market now which huge restrictions on the importation. I’ve not been to the 4-S but I’m only guessing that you were not encouraged to order red meat for the simple fact that it may not appeal to those who regularly consume red meat in the states. I regularly recommend fish dishes over red meat here just for these reasons. All that darn good, heart stopping, nice and juicy goodness … oh gosh! Now I’m dreaming of Outback Steakhouse. Just my dos colones worth of thoughts on the meat issue.

Lisa in Manuel Antonio

greenfieldhunter

Lisa is right on-

Grass fed beef is leaner and more flavorful.
All american beef is "finished" on grain in feedlots. The cattle have little space to walk around and little else to do but eat. We have grown used to the flavor, but grass fed beef is healthier (for us and the envioronment)