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 Post subject: NICE TICO SODA
PostPosted: Tue Nov 06, 2018 2:02 pm 
PHD From Del Rey University!
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I found this nice obscure Tico soda, behind Holiday Inn, corner of Calle 5 and Avenida 7, "La Casa Del Sazon".

It has a nice size screened porch off the main small restaurant, and is almost never overly crowded, but the INS employees love this place and pack it from noon to 1 pm, still, I always found a seat.

My favorite is small (but not that small, it fills you up) thin steak covered in onions, beans n rice, (get the yellow rice with beans already in it option, it has a very unique flavor) small salad or vegetable mix, (veg mix is a better choice) plantains, they also have an interesting mix of hot sauces there to choose from, and just when you think you had enough, the waitress spots you are finished and brings you a small bowl of ice cream... :shock: :D :D :D

$3 mil for all that, 4 mil if you get a drink. Based on today's exchange rate, $4.85 for the meal, $6.50 for the meal and a coke. I find it delicious and filling, the porch is private but has a view of the activity on the street, and they are fast, clean, friendly and helpful, seems like it's run and owned by a family.

I eat at a lot of sodas all around town in this price range, so far this seems to be the best in my opinion and you don't have to walk to a fightin' side of town... :roll: :evil:

They also have chicken and pork loins at the same price instead of the steak, I will be testing them soon. The pork loins sounds particularly intriguing.

At first I got excited because they advertise a cheap price for fish, but I cross examined them and they confessed it's tilapia, so even though tilapia tastes good, all the stuff I'm reading about them has made me swear them off, so I don't recommend the fish.

If the tilapia scare doesn't bother you, it just might taste great, and you have a fish dinner 1/3 the price and less than pretty much everywhere else...who knows? I forgot the price, it's just a little more than the steak.

They are open early around 8 A.M., not a bad little inexpensive quick breakfast, either, but unfortunately they close down around 6:00 P.M. Many times I eat there around 3:00 P.M. or so and have the entire porch to myself.

So far I've eaten there 1/2 dozen times and never been disappointed on food, service, quantity and most of all...price, lol. :wink: :!: :twisted:

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 Post subject: Re: NICE TICO SODA
PostPosted: Tue Nov 06, 2018 5:16 pm 
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Thanks Net. Great tip, will check them out. What is the tilapia scare? Not my favorite fish but I do eat it on occasion.

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 Post subject: Re: NICE TICO SODA
PostPosted: Thu Nov 08, 2018 1:14 am 
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[At first I got excited because they advertise a cheap price for fish, but I cross examined them and they confessed it's tilapia, so even though tilapia tastes good, all the stuff I'm reading about them has made me swear them off, so I don't recommend the fish.


What exactly are you reading about Tilapia?

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 Post subject: Re: NICE TICO SODA
PostPosted: Thu Nov 08, 2018 1:55 am 
PHD From Del Rey University!
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SinCity wrote:
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[At first I got excited because they advertise a cheap price for fish, but I cross examined them and they confessed it's tilapia, so even though tilapia tastes good, all the stuff I'm reading about them has made me swear them off, so I don't recommend the fish.


What exactly are you reading about Tilapia?


Bottom feeding fish, many imported from China, even in Costa Rica.

Even if not from China, breeders keep in filthy crowded conditions, they are mixed in with other fish and on a diet of fish and livestock sh*t. :

A couple stories, it's all over the web, has been now for years:

"One of the issues with tilapia farmed in China is that smaller, independent farmers face economic pressures to use animal manure rather than more expensive commercial feed for farmed fish, a practice which contaminates water and makes the fish more susceptible to spreading foodborne diseases."

and :

"A July 2009 report from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on the safety of food imports from China noted that in that country “Fish are often raised in ponds where they feed on waste from poultry and livestock”

At Chen Qiang’s tilapia farm in Yangjiang city in China’s Guangdong province, which borders Hong Kong, Chen feeds fish partly with feces from hundreds of pigs and geese. That practice is dangerous for American consumers, says Michael Doyle, director of the University of Georgia’s Center for Food Safety.

“The manure the Chinese use to feed fish is frequently contaminated with microbes like salmonella,” says Doyle, who has studied foodborne diseases in China.

https://edrugsearch.com/never-eat-tilapia/

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 Post subject: Re: NICE TICO SODA
PostPosted: Sat Nov 24, 2018 5:54 pm 
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Netgems wrote:
I found this nice obscure Tico soda, behind Holiday Inn, corner of Calle 5 and Avenida 7, "La Casa Del Sazon".

It has a nice size screened porch off the main small restaurant, and is almost never overly crowded, but the INS employees love this place and pack it from noon to 1 pm...


Great find, Netgems! Food was very good.

Stopped by on Saturday around 2pm and had the patio to myself. Special for the day was chicken cordon bleu, rice, beans, salad, plantains, and a fruit tea for 3mil. Even with my limited vocabulary everything went okay. Patio had a nice breeze keeping it cool, and felt like a little hideaway from the street rush despite being able to see through the gate. I didn't get the ice cream treatment though - we got distracted after I broke a chair back. Was my fault for leaning back and stretching. They wouldn't let me pay for it, and when I offered to go to a shop and buy a replacement they still said no - so gave them a 7mil tip. "Lo siento, pero yo tan grande."

For those who are scared to try a new place, give this a shot outside rush hour. Can point at the sign, say uno, mimic taking a drink and say tea, then sit down and they'll bring it to you. Afterwards pay inside, they won't lose track of you. Just try not to break another chair!


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 Post subject: Re: NICE TICO SODA
PostPosted: Sun Mar 10, 2019 12:15 pm 
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This is a good place with good pricing. Worth a stop while in the area. Specials daily and all is homemade, including the juices. Can’t go wrong.

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 Post subject: Re: NICE TICO SODA
PostPosted: Sat Apr 06, 2019 8:37 am 
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Another surprisingly good n cheap place is the second floor of Auto Mercado on Calle 3 and Ave 3. If you're in a hurry, it's cafeteria style, food is hot n steamy and so far as per my visits, never crowded, and another benefit, for those individuals who may be close to my cheapness is no tip needed. :)

The ladies are sweet and if tu no habla Espanol, just "point" at what you want. :idea:

It's open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, I get a huge ham, egg and cheese omelet, 2 pieces of buttered toast and a coke for 2.5 mil crc. They have different choices for lunch and dinner, and since it's Automercado, food is always fresh and the place is spotless. No worrying about Montezuma's revenge at some of these stink hole suspect sodas...:cry: :oops: :evil:

There's also an ATM from a REAL bank up there, Scotiabank. I've had BCR reject my withdraw request and say insufficient funds in different accounts that I never have less than $1,000 in (WTF is that?), walked over there and have always been successful, plus no prying thug eyes as the thing spits out your colones.. :x .

Men and women restrooms are up there, a TV, and you can grab a small table for 2 by the railing and watch people shopping from above, and if you need something to take home, you can go down there when you finish and run it through the checkout. :arrow:

There's also a nice fruit n vegetable place next door, cabs lined up and a great cheap butcher shop catty corner from there, on Calle 3 just 20 meters north. Hamburger 'n pork chops are literally 1/2 of what Auto charges. :shock:

Decent steaks (For CR) are cheap there as well, marinate for a couple days to get the shoe leather toughness out for American style softness... :x

Walk a bit south and there's drug stores, little convenience stores with all type of home furnishings cheap, novelty stores, etc.

Now if only there was an MP right there, that corner of the world would be a great one stop shopping area for all your needs... :lol: :lol: :lol:

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 Post subject: Re: NICE TICO SODA
PostPosted: Sun Apr 07, 2019 5:57 am 
I have eaten there many times. It is a great clean place with good food. I usually get the large salad bar plate. One of the best salad bars in town with many options.
The place does get crowded at lunch during the week so I always get there early.
As the tip is included by law anywhere you eat , an additional tip is never required or expected.
Although I usually leave something.
Great people watching place.
The neighborhood has really gone to hell, so many aggressive beggers, crackheads around. Gets worse every year.
The beef sold at automercado is very good. That's the only place I will buy beef. Lots of discounts on Weds.
Love automercado.
Why is it called Automercado?


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 Post subject: Re: NICE TICO SODA
PostPosted: Sun Apr 07, 2019 1:31 pm 
PHD From Del Rey University!
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Zman wrote:
I have eaten there many times. It is a great clean place with good food. I usually get the large salad bar plate. One of the best salad bars in town with many options.
The place does get crowded at lunch during the week so I always get there early.
As the tip is included by law anywhere you eat , an additional tip is never required or expected.
Although I usually leave something.
Great people watching place.
The neighborhood has really gone to hell, so many aggressive beggers, crackheads around. Gets worse every year.
The beef sold at automercado is very good. That's the only place I will buy beef. Lots of discounts on Weds.
Love automercado.
Why is it called Automercado?


"The neighborhood has really gone to hell, so many aggressive beggars, crackheads around. Gets worse every year. "

You're right...it keeps getting worse...they let ME move there..."

"The beef sold at automercado is very good. That's the only place I will buy beef"

Don't be afraid to check out the butcher shop catty corner to Auto. I used to work at my parents restaurant in the USA and know beef. The same stuff is 1/2 the price. I do like the thin strip pieces of steak at Auto, can't find it anywhere else, it appears expensive but it's all meat, almost never any fat, cooks up in minutes, good for sammiches and fajitas.

"Why is it called Automercado?"

I'm going to hazard a guess this may have something to do with it...:

automercado

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automercado
(Caribe)
supermarket

When I first moved here, so many people wailed "Automercado is SOOOO expensive" and yes, some items are high, but I've compared to Mas y menos and Walmart and many of their items are same priced and even cheaper.

They have great chicken cutlets white meat, packaged and already cut, just a tidbit higher than many of the butcher shops, well worth a few extra colones to not have to mess with cutting up chicken breasts, and these little breading packages of seasoned powder like shake n bake, only better, and keeps the chicken moist inside if you broil. Its called Empanizador de pollo by Los Patitos.

They also have San Francisco sourdough bread that's addictive in the back left corner and these damn little moist delicious fattening squares of cornbread, same area.

When I first moved here I was still in USA mode and bought a ton of groceries my first visit and then had about 10 bags and wondering what to do, I didn't want a taxi, I'm just 2 blocks away, so I pushed it home in one of those mini shopping carts intending to return it. The owner of my building saw me coming in with it and said "this baby's staying here!"

Now the workers and the tenants have it for moving large loads and heavy items around. When in Rome.... :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

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 Post subject: Re: NICE TICO SODA
PostPosted: Mon Apr 08, 2019 8:03 am 
Yea great store. That sourdough bread is very addictive.
Automercado does not mean simply supermarket. That's supermercado..
There is specific reason for the name.


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 Post subject: Re: NICE TICO SODA
PostPosted: Mon Apr 08, 2019 10:42 am 
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Just a thumbs up for the guys who don’t know......This Automercado is great but there are other locations that offer a larger variety of products. Try the one in Los Yoses and the one in Moravia. Larger meat and produce sections. Also a cleaners on premises. The one in Escazu has a larger frozen food section, and great lunchmeat section I haven’t seen at the other locations. Radio Shack next door. I do feel the one we are discussing here is one of the smaller ones, but also a good one. My opinion......might be wrong.....is that Moravia is the largest.

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 Post subject: Re: NICE TICO SODA
PostPosted: Mon Apr 08, 2019 11:47 am 
The automercado in El Centro is the original one which opened in the mid fifties. First supermarket in CR. Still owned by a Costa Rican family of italian heritage.
Other ones are far bigger. The new one in tres Rios is huge..and has many more products including a huge wine selection. Always crowded on Weds for the meat specials.
Wish they would build one in the Cartago area..


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 Post subject: Re: NICE TICO SODA
PostPosted: Tue Apr 09, 2019 12:04 pm 
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Good info. Never been to that one and must check it soon. Good bus ride and a way to spend A few hours away from all the money requests from the chicas who have the sick K*D in the hospital waiting for a kidney doner and need a little extra to pay the babysitter while they go to work at the Rey in order to make sure he gets what he needs.......Jeez, I hope the K*D is ok. :cry:

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