Costa Rica: San Jose: Orchid Restaurant at Pura Vida (February 2004)

Pura Vida offers an open-air terrace above the beautiful botanical garden. The Pura Vida dinner service is an ongoing evolution that started in a tiny restaurant overlooking the Pacific on the remote southern end of the Nicoya peninsula. Our host that night was Barbara of the Finca Los Caballos, near Montezuma. She gave us the idea for a simple but delicious prix-fixe dinner that has evolved into our gourmet experience. Later, our ideas emerged into a public restaurant inspired by Grandmas kitchen in Saigon and which reached #1 on Tripadvisor. Today we are a private dining experience in the orchid-covered terrace garden.