For a more easygoing vibe, hit up Nacho for some mouth-watering tacos and house-made aguas frescas. Open for lunch and dinner, some of the taqueria’s highlights include a decadent sea scallop tostada, a tempura lobster tail taco served with wasabi and avocado sour cream, and a curated menu of local beers. Steps away from one of Tamarindo’s pools, Nacho was the most bustling area of the resort during my stay, with disparate guests—mostly older couples in resort wear—mingling over margaritas and goat birria tacos.
Although you’d be hard-pressed to find a dish at Tamarindo that tastes anything less than revelatory, my personal culinary highlight came at Sal. Named after the flor de sal that the restaurant sources from neighboring Cuyutlán and utilizes in every dish, Sal also boasts perhaps the best view at the resort; perched right above Majahua Beach, a walkable area of the Pacific that most of Tamarindo overlooks, there’s no better spot during golden hour. Sal’s menu consists primarily of whatever seafood the local fisherman catches that day, including their most popular dish: a tender red snapper grilled in red and green adobo sauces and served with house-made tortillas and tatemada sauce. The “barefoot luxury” lifestyle encouraged by the setting means it’s perfect for either a romantic evening or a rowdy dinner with friends. At lunchtime, the restaurant hosts guacamole-making classes, with students invited to add pomegranate seeds and roasted crickets to the iconic dish.
Whatever Piatti doesn’t source from local farms and fishermen, he grows himself. Many ingredients for all three restaurants are sourced from Rancho Ortega, a low-impact, 19-acre farm in the heart of the reserve filled with pigs, chickens, goats, ducks, pineapple trees, sugarcane, vegetable gardens, and so much more. You can take a composting class at the ranch and tour the facility to learn more about their approach to responsible animal breeding and cultivation practices. Piatti works closely with the farmers to curate his restaurant menus around the two main harvesting seasons, and they produce everything from the mango in your breakfast fruit bowl to the limes in your margarita. The aforementioned agave plants will one day produce Tamarindo’s house-made tequila, when the crop is ready in five to seven years.
Courtesy of Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts