Diego, son of Tony Alfaro, owner of Delicias de la Gracia in South Bound Brook, rushes back to where I’m sitting, at my favorite back-corner table in the warmed-hearted, open-armed, all-about-family storefront. He’s got news he knows I will love.

“We do have something no one else in New Jersey does,” Diego says. “We’re the only ones who do it this way. It’s queso pinto, from Costa Rica. But nobody here does it like we do.” This has all come out in one very rapidly spoken sentence.

Diego takes a breath. “Would you like it?”

“Yes,” I reply, repeating my desire in triplicate in case the polite young man has any doubts. “What is it, though? Cheese and beans?”

“It’s a rice-and-beans mix, with fried plantains, sausages and cheese,” Diego says. My eyes grow quizzical at “cheese.” I want more information. Before I ask, Diego beats me to the punch.

“Mozzarella,” he says, and when it arrives, a fried egg and a miniature Costa Rican flag garnishing its top, I only need to take one bite to know three things:

• I love this Delicias de la Gracia version of queso pinto.
• I’ve not seen anything like it in New Jersey.
• I have no idea how the folks in the kitchen here make what looks like a pure cheese “omelet” folded over with the finesse of Jacques Pepin, a spectacle that cossets without spillage its abundance of sausages, rice and beans, and fried sweet plantains. Its “vessel,” if you will, is made strictly of mozzarella, no scrambled and cooked eggs or breadstuff of any sort supports this formation. It’s a cheese trick I suspect a calzone specialist might want to get in on.

I do know, however, that I am coming back to eat Delicias de la Gracias’ version of queso pinto on my birthday, preceded by this chips-and-ceviche number known as a caldosa.

Once again, I’m in food heaven. Geographically speaking, this particular heaven is a one happy, festive Tico Town made up of a handful of communities in the East Central part of Somerset County clustered on and around the Raritan River basin. U.S. Census reports show that New Jersey has the highest percentage of people identifying as Costa Rican in the nation, with Bound Brook being Tico epicenter. To our great collective benefit, Costa Ricans in this area today are cooking for the public the scintillating foods born of a global melting pot like no other.

*

As I wrote almost two years ago in my initial Restaurant Revue column on Delicias de la Gracia, Costa Rica might be the most unsung culinary melting pot on the planet. It’s got coasts on both the Caribbean and the Pacific, rainforests and jungles to balance its major-league beaches, distinctive cultures emanating from immigrant populations Chinese, Italian, Lebanese, Jewish and African as well as indigenous peoples with deep roots in the Central American country.

All this cross-culturalization results in food marriages at once curious and compelling: ceviche served in a bag of barbecue chips; rice somewhat Chifa, Cantonese even more and brashly Latin-leaning above all; corn cakes with the panache of arepas, the vitality of Lebanese aranees and the appeal of pancakes; rice-and-beans bunking with chicharrones, tortilla chips, avocado … and mayo. Mayo! Like some sort of nachos grande invented in the kitchen of a fraternity house.

Tico – the colloquial name for Costa Ricans – headquarters in New Jersey is indeed Bound Brook/South Bound Brook, with outliers in adjacent Bridgewater Township and the borough of Manville. In this concentrated area, you’ll find eateries focused solely on the foods of Costa Rica as well as those with broader Latin-leaning menus that have select Tico favorites. It’s a day trip worth taking, to have a breakfast, lunch and dinner at some of the best restaurants and allow time for an afternoon stroll through Aqui Market’s outpost in Bridgewater, where many ingredients pertinent to Costa Rican classics can be found.

Not all Costa Rican eateries in Somerset County’s Tico Town have every one of the country’s signature dishes, at least not on an everyday basis. But explore and ye shall find your favorite place to go for caldosa, a platter of arroz Cantonese or of chorreadas, authentic Tico tamales, vigoron, Costa Rican ceviches, tacos Ticos or a bowl of chifrijo, all of which you might want to consume with a kind of smoothie made from, say, guava or mango.

Consider these four Costa Rican restaurants as set-as-spell spots and Aqui Market as a place to acquire a new larder.

PUERTO VIEJO, in Bound Brook

Masters of a staple called chifrigo, one of the world’s greatest bowl dishes, the family behind the colorful, often-packed storefront is quick with guidance to newcomers – as are fellow diners. So order chifrigo, the layering of potently spiced beans and rice, with ample pork chicharron, freshly made pico de gallo, chunky slices of avocado and tortilla chips. Make sure someone at your table scores vigoron, a platter of finely shredded cabbage salad topped with chopped tomatoes and onions that you’ll toss with mayo squirted from a bottle and eat in concert with plantains and more of Puerto Viejo’s expertly rendered pork rinds. When you’re told to really mix things up, from all elements on this platter, just do it. Website: www.puertoviejonj.com.

TIERRA MIA, in Bound Brook

Chorreadas, if you haven’t had them either in Costa Rica or here, need to be moved up on any bucket list of eats you might have made for yourself. It’s a kind of corn pancake, made with fresh corn, eggs and a little flour, and it could serve as the dictionary definition of delicious. Tierra Mia, which exists in a warm and friendly storefront, serves its chorreadas with crema. Though some places slyly ask if you want a sprinkle of sugar with yours, servers here know theirs are super-sweet from corn, pure corn. Also to be called for here are the terrific gallos de salchichon arreglados, a sausage corn taco blasted with snappy sauces. Follow on Instagram @tierramia_restaurant.

SABOR TICO, in Bridgewater

Ceviche stars at this swell spot just over the border in central-eastern Bridgewater, where several are offered and the mixto will serve you well. White finfishes, shrimp and snippets of other shellfish, plus chilies and bell peppers hot and sweet swim along in a citrus bath that’s lime-rich and exceedingly bright. Sabor Tico also does one of the better Costa Rican-style tamales, the pork-potato-rice combo being a standout that’s also littered with vegetables. It’s a filling that’s a match for the pure corn of the tamal itself. BTW: For your takeaway pleasure, there’s a bit of a bakeshop on board here, so get a few Costa Rican classics for the road. Website: www.saborticorestaurant.com.

DELICIAS DE LA GRACIA, in South Bound Brook

Normally I get my caldosa fix here, but on this day I get a head-shake when I try to order it. Too late, I am; caldosas are done for the day. This is when I get into the conversation with owner Tony Alfaro’s son, Diego, and get the intel on  the house queso pinto, my new-favorite, slightly-guilty-pleasure dish. Diego also tempts me in the direction of the canelones, which bear some resemblance to the similarly named Italian stuffed pasta. The Alfaro way, however, has big fat noodles stuffed, lightly breaded and then baked. Rellenos-like? They’re served looking somewhat like a tamale without a leaf wrapper. They taste lighter and meatier than their European kin and that puzzles me: How can this be, given the breading? They are so good. This is why I keep coming back to this modest storefront: There’s always something new to learn and compelling to eat. Website: www.deliciasdelagracianj.com.

AQUI MARKET, in Bridgewater

A Latin foods market with branches also in Califon, Bridgeton and in a shopping center on the Bayone-Jersey City border, this is where you’ll be able to stock up on the ingredients used in the Costa Rican dishes you most love. Grab a bottle of Lizano Salsa, a kind of all-purpose sauce made from vegetables, spices secret and not-so-secret (turmeric, peppers, mustard, cumin) and a shot of molasses for not-cloying sweetness. Get papayas, sour oranges, chayote, plantains, a zillion hot sauces, Costa Rican cookies, plus limes at a bargain price, and meats and seafood. N.B. This is a strictly-in-New-Jersey chain currently of four markets. Website: www.aquimarket.com.