Why You Want a Chef (But Not Just Any Chef!) For Your Vacation

You’re planning a vacation and you’re thinking about the beach.  You’re thinking about how close your vacation rental home is to the beach and trying to balance out what you can afford with what you really want. You’re thinking about fruity umbrella drinks in the pool and you’re hoping you can convince Suzie to try the zip line, you’re mildly concerned about spiders, and you’re crossing your fingers that it doesn’t rain a lot.  The last thing in the world you’re thinking about is what you’re going to eat. 

Then your Concierge, who seems to know pretty much everything about everything, makes this crazy suggestion:  “You want a chef to come cook for you?” And you think, “Oh for heavens sakes.  Who are we kidding?  We’re not that kind of people.”  So you say, “That’s ok I don’t think that will be necessary.  We like to cook, and we like to explore restaurants.” 

But then as the days go by, you start to wonder.  Are there grocery stores?  Where are the grocery stores?  Are they going to have the things you’re used to buying?  And if you’re busy zip lining and taking surf lessons and hiking waterfalls, are you really going to feel like cooking when you get home? And anyway, how are you going to know which restaurants are good?  Plus, Uncle Jimmy can’t eat gluten.  And grandma can’t have dairy.  Suzie is allergic to shellfish. And you’re a vegetarian.  And your sister’s 3 year old twins need to be in bed by 7:30 or the apocalypse unleashes.  

…All of the sudden you decide to write the concierge back and ask a little more about the crazy chef idea she threw at you the other day.

And you really hope you aren’t going to get stuck with some snooty person who looks down their nose at you and serves you microscopic portions of things you can’t pronounce.  

We are here to tell you why you want a chef for your Costa Rica vacation, and why the right chef is so important!  

You want a chef, because feeding your group or your family is about a lot more than boiling a pot of water and throwing in the pasta!  Someone has to make a meal plan (ok, you have to help us with this anyway…but then you’re done).  Someone has to make a list of all of the ingredients that go into each dish on the menu, then decide how much of each of them is needed for your particular group.  Someone has to get in a car and drive to the grocery stores to buy these things.  And if you read our previous blog about grocery shopping in Tamarindo, you know that this is not a one-stop-shopping kind of place.  Grocery shopping takes half the day.  Then Someone has to bring all the goodies home and put them away in pantries and refrigerators.  Someone has to be available, in the late afternoon, to get busy in the kitchen, and that Someone is going to miss the spectacular sunset that the rest of the group is going to enjoy.  

Someone is going to have set the table, run for paper towels when Suzie spills her Sprite on the floor, clear the table, load the dishwasher, and put away the left-overs.  In other words, Someone is going to have to do a lot of work.  Someone isn’t going to get a vacation.

Hiring a chef makes the vacation a vacation for everyone.  Hiring a chef makes it fair.  We do the work, while Mom, Grandma, and Uncle Jimmy put their feet up or sip an extra cocktail.  

You DO want to explore the restaurants.  But do it in the daytime.  Or leave yourselves a few free evenings with no commitments to decide at the last minute where you feel like going or what you feel like doing.  You don’t have to plan every minute of your vacation before you get on the plane.  Ask your Concierge where to go, or ask a tour operator or van driver to recommend something off the beaten path.  Ask your chefs where they like to eat.

And speaking of chefs, because you know you do want a chef, it’s super important that you choose the RIGHT chef.   Which, of course, is Grill Master, as you probably guessed. 

Your chef is going to do a lot more than cook for you–your chef is essentially joining your family on vacation.  So get one you like!  Get one who is fun and positive, who likes to chat but won’t talk your ear off, who makes amazing food, doesn’t overcharge you, and can meld with the vibe of your tribe.  Seriously.  You are going to spend many many hours with these people in your home during the very special time you are spending together with the people you love most.  You want someone genuine.  Someone joyful.  Focused and friendly.

It’s extremely important to us to arrive on time (and not everyone in Costa Rica does!), prepare what we’ve agreed on through email correspondence, have enough food so that everyone gets as much as they want, charge fairly, and leave everything clean at the end of the night. All these things are important, but even more important is that we have fun while we do it!  You’ll overhear us chattering to each other in Spanish while we cook in your kitchen, giggling, singing, telling each other stories…and we love for you to join in.  

You want a chef for sure, and the one you want most is Grill Master.  We’re the nicest, coolest, most fun combo ever!  And we can do vegan, vegetarian, carnivore, gluten free, dairy free–whatever you need.  There ’s love stirred into everything we do from the time Hernan hits the grocery stores in the morning until I hit the “start” button on your dishwasher and we say goodnight.  And love is the secret ingredient that makes everything taste better than you expected.