On Costa Rica vacation with our 1-1/2-year-old son and having cooked all our own meals thus far, we booked Jim for a romantic dinner at Villas Hermosas. The combination of his charm, low-key demeanor, and absolute mastery of the kitchen left us literally begging for more—so much so that we asked him to cook for us again a few nights later. Each time, he was amazingly intuitive about our individual likes and dislikes and the types of flavor profiles that make a meal multidimensional, yet he avoided all the fussiness that often attends a five-star dinner. A perfect balance of confidence and humility, both Jim and his extraordinary culinary creations are experiences not to be missed in Mal Pais. We are from Manhattan and are obsessed with food; we believe that Jim’s meals rival some of NYC’s best.