Last Minute Stocking Stuffer: Lizano Hot Sauce

Last Minute Gifts: Lizano Hot Sauce The year was 1992 – or something like that; the place was Costa Rica. The food was Gallo Pinto – the uniquely Central American name for rice and beans – and it was good, until I put some Lizano, Costa Rica's ubiquitous hot sauce,...

By Isaiah Thompson

December 22, 2007

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Last Minute Gifts: Lizano Hot Sauce

The year was 1992 – or something like that; the place was Costa Rica. The food was Gallo Pinto – the uniquely Central American name for rice and beans – and it was good, until I put some Lizano, Costa Rica's ubiquitous hot sauce, on top. Then, it was estupendo!

Big things come in small packages -- those little red bottles contained one of the best hot sauces ever created.

For fifteen years, I searched for Lizano hot sauce back home in the U.S.A. in vain. I found it once, in Canada, and bought out the store’s supply (five oh-so-small bottles). My dad went back to Costa Rica one year and smuggled back a few dozen Lizanos, distributing them like the remains of a great kingdom to his sons.

Then I moved to Miami, and glory be, Lizano was everywhere, everywhere, everywhere!

You can find it (for one measely dollar) at the tiny, wonderfully-packed Honduran store Catrachitas at 2322 NE 2nd Ave in Miami. 305-576-6314.

-- Isaiah Thompson

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