A post by Mark
I love the food in the DR! The island is a cornucopia of tropical fruits and vegetables. What makes the food seem even better is the fact that we haven’t had good, fresh food for a few months. For all of the great things about the Bahamas (crystal clear water, great snorkeling, supposedly great fishing (for everybody but us), etc, etc, etc… the one thing you will never hear anybody rave about is the quality and quantity of fresh food. With the exception of seafood, fresh food just doesn’t exist – everything is shipped in from somewhere else. That makes everything in the Bahamas very expensive, and not always tasty. The DR is the polar opposite. Before coming here, I didn’t think I really liked papaya. I was wrong – I had just never had good, fresh, papaya. I’ve now had more papaya in the past few weeks than I had in the first 40+ years of my life. Same for coconut water…. Can’t stand the stuff in a can/bottle. Can’t get enough of it when it comes straight out of a chilled coconut. Bananas in the US – good. Bananas in the DR right off the stalk – fantastic. You get the picture….
On top of all of the great fresh fruit (and vegetables), the local cuisine is fantastic – and very affordable. We became great fans of the ‘plato del did’ (plate of the day) served for lunch at the topics (Dominican family restaurants). For less than 15 dollars, all 5 of us could have a great lunch of salad, rice and beans and meat (usually really tasty fried chicken or stewed pork, chicken or beef), sodas or beer – and have enough left-overs for an entire other meal. We had the greatest fried chicken at the ‘chicken shack’, a wonderful meal with pork and chicken at a ‘restaurant’ that was really the living room of someone’s home, another great lunch at an outdoor place down the street from the hardware store, etc, etc, etc…. And then there was the heladoria – the ice cream shop! When we went out for lunch, we rarely had room for ice cream. But when we did, or were in town but did not have lunch out that day, – the ice cream shop was quite the treat. It may not have been the fanciest gourmet ice cream out there – but it sure tased like it!
Near the end of our time in Luperon, we discovered the empanada stands. Oh my gosh – they were the best things ever! On our last morning, I made it to the ‘best’ one in town (according to our tour guide Jose – judging by the long line of school children queued up every morning and after school. This ‘restaurant’ is an outdoor kitchen set-up on the corner of the owner’s lot (outside her house). To get empanadas, you talk to the very nice woman through an opening in the fence around her yard to place your order. I arrived at her place around 7:45 am – just about the time she was opening up for the day. There were already 3 or 4 folks hanging out on the folding chairs and a bench outside the fence. After muddling through my order in broken Spanish and a lot of pointing, she got to work. Out comes a scoop of flour, some oil and a few other ingredients, and voila – a ball of dough. Then, she pulls out the ‘old school’ hand pasta / dough roller – and 2 or 3 minutes later – the dough for the lightest, most tasty empanadas ever. A few scoops of chopped vegetables and some cheese, a quick assembly job, and the empanadas were headed for the frier. A minute or two later – pure goodness – as my empanadas were passed to me through the fence opening! For less than $3 – I had 5 empanadas and a fantastic Cuban-style coffee and I was on my way back to the boat. I could keep going – but I think you get the point… the food in the DR is fantastic – not fancy – but oh so good. This, by the way, is probably how I’d describe our entire experience in the DR – not fancy – but oh so good.
Mark