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La Casona, located next door of the old Maria Imaculada School near Plaza Herrera at the Casco Viejo, has served for the past two years as an art gallery, concert hall, dance club and art school for the local children. Last Thursday I went there to a jazz event of a friend of mine. It was just awesome! It is a great place if you want to be relaxed and listen to great and live music. If you are a lover of jazz, reggae roots, calypso or rock music, La Casona is your place. You know when you have been to a place that totally surprises you, a bar or a club that is so different and weird that is cool? Well, La Casona is all that; is the Panama City old gem of excitement and energy.
Behind the peeling walls and French façade there is a giant open space: all their interior walls have been torn down and what is left is this fantastic open space with a pumping music stage, a bar and tons of panamanian party people. The atmosphere is totally chill and the $2 bucks beers are the best deals in Casco Viejo. So I invite you to grab a cold drink, listen to a variety of music flavors and enjoy what Casco Viejo is really all about.
I went to Rincon Habanero Thursday for my birthday party with my brother and a couple of friends. Rincon And speaking of food, everything was delicious! We started with sangria as our drink and patacónes stuff with picadillo, fried green plantains stuffed with ground beef seasoned with green olives, raisins, onions, potatoes, red peppers; I know it sounds wild this mix of flavors, but just take a look As main food we order picadillo with moros and cristianos (black beans rice make with some bits of pork) and yuca al mojo (potatoes like root with a citric sauce) and a Cuban sandwich. Our food was so tasty that we were left speechless, not a sound was made while we tasted our first bits of food, and everything was cook to perfection. The rice was so good and t he picadillo was amazing with the salty taste of the olives and the sweet from the raisins and the whole thing just melt in your mouth. Our waitress was very attentive and nice and she kindly provided us with matches to light the candles for the birthday cake. We had so much fun and we left with our bellies very happy. It was definitely a great birthday party. I would definitely go back for more Cuban flavor. Rincon Habanero is located in Via Argentina right across from El Trapiche.
The “Peacock” or El Pavo Real for its name in Spanish is an English pub that plays mostly rock music, which just recently moved to Via Argentina in Panama City, Panama. It was first located in Calle 50 since it first opened in the 80s. El Pavo Real has a lot of story and even though is not really a dance club, you can have a lot of fun playing pool, watching TV or just by delighting your sight with the sexy panamanian wild girls that go there. I went there the other day and had the pleasure to meet Stefan who’s a manager in El Pavo Real. He told me few anecdotes from the place and why it had to move from its original location, which is because of some leasing problems. He was very nice and polite as is the rest of the staff from El Pavo Real. He started telling me the story of the success of El Pavo Real. Stefan explained to me that yes, it was true that John Le Carré, the English writer who wrote “The Tailor of Panama”, did used to go there to write his novels and eat their signature dishes accompanied by his favorite drinks. Nevertheless, El Pavo Real did not become famous because of him; El Pavo Real was famous way before John Le Carré first stepped into that place. It was very well known since it starts because of its strategic location in Area Bancaria (Banking Area) in Panama City, Panama, it’s excellent customer service, delicious food specially its fish n’ chips and their delicious onion soup (truly, still THE BEST onion soup in Panama City) and great variety of imported and local beers. All the business people used to go there to close very important business deals and have business meetings. One very interesting anecdote was that their famous “fish n’ chips” was not served on a plate like is done now a days, no, it was served on the financial section of the New York Times. Yes, you read it right! It was served on a newspaper. Truly, truly amazing! Unfortunately, this can’t be done anymore because of health department requirements. The other dish, the onion soup is the best of its kind. No other onion soup can be compare to theirs, guarantee! Anyways, too much story already so let me tell you how I found out about this quite but crazy and wild place where I go to party a lot. My best friend and I were driving around one day and wanted to stop by for a drink. We found El Pavo Real right on a corner in Via Argentina where the club Korcho’s used to be located at. We hadn’t even walked in when the administrator and the owners greeted us very politely and courteously. I still remember what Fernando (that’s the name of the administrator) told me: “welcome, this is your home” Whoa!!! I couldn’t believe I was receiving such a nice service in a bar in Panama City, Panama. We sat down outside because we wanted to smoke and chat. Yes, they have a patio area where you can drink, eat and smoke if you want to. We ordered some drinks and we stayed there for a while. The bartenders/waiters were very polite and Fernando treated us like we were old friends. We had to leave but I knew I was going to go back. I went back a couple of weeks later with some friends from work. And now is when the real party really started. Find out what did my friends and I did that night at El Pavo Real on my next week’s article… meanwhile, remember to Party a lot in any of the spots I’ve talked about… Here’s a great party celebration. Why? It was my office friend’s birthday! And it’s another excuse to party in panama or like we say in Panama “arrancarnos” (start up). She wanted to try something new, something fresh. A very close friend suggested we try a new place at Via Argentina in Panama City, Panama that had just opened up. We went there and the place was packed inside and outside. How not? Mrs. Mendoza (that’s the restaurant name) is a tex-mex, Mexican restaurant with a very Panamanian and Latin soul. It has a patio and two tables just outside the restaurant where you can also smoke. The staff greeted us very fast and cordially. Their politeness and efficiency was amazing! We didn’t have to wait more than ten minutes for our table. We sat down and ordered margaritas and beers. I also ordered some nachos because I knew we were going to get a little hungry after we started drinking. (By the way, we’d already had dinner). The margaritas arrived and they were huge! The glass were they are served them are really big, fancy margarita glasses, not just regular martini glasses like some other places use. I had a sip and it was amazingly good. They use Jose Cuervo tequila for this drink and the ratio of ingredients was perfect! (This is a lot to say considering I’m not a big fan of margaritas). At the same time, the nachos arrived. They were really, really good. They were crispy and fresh. What they served us were not store bought tortillas, they were homemade tortillas chips and the pico-de-gallo that we ordered with it was also fresh and well seasoned. If just the nachos were that good, imagine the rest of their menu! Anyways, they also had live mariachi who were nice enough to sing “las mañanitas” (Mexican b-day song) to my friend. And when there’s no mariachi, they play a great selection of Latin music. It was a nice twist, something different… Most importantly, my friend loved it! And so did us. I had a blast! Mrs. Mendoza is a really nice place to hang out, eat some very good tex-mex or Mexican food and a great place to bring your love one for a unique serenade. Mrs. Mendoza has nothing to envy from any night club or bar or even those show clubs and strip clubs. You can set your own ambiance. From sexy and wild party to just a true Latin fiesta; their music, their drinks and their food are the key ingredients to have a great Latin night, Mexican night. Most importantly, their service has been the best service I’ve received in a restaurant/bar in Panama so far. The Rockin’ Gorilla (just simply called Gorilla by the people) is centrally located at Via Argentina in Panama City. Gorilla is a restaurant, a bar, night club, and a dance club so it’s ideal for any occasion. They have a huge variety of food that you can enjoy with their broad selection of imported and national beers, mixed drinks (cocktails), wine and hard liquors in a very friendly atmosphere. One night, I called my girlfriends and asked them to go out with me. I wanted to go out to relieve all the stress from the week. So, I went to pick them up and as we were driving around we saw Gorilla. I have never heard of this place before, but one of my friends did so the rest of us decided to give it a shot. As we were approaching to the place, I saw a lot of guys and girls just hanging outside. They have a patio were you can sit and enjoy the fresh air, have a cigarette if you want to, and of course drink, eat, and listen to the music that is playing from inside. We finally walked in; the place was pretty crowded but not over-crowded. We didn’t have a problem to find a table. We sat down and a waiter immediately came to take our orders. It was already 11:00pm so we were not going to eat, but we were going to drink! We didn’t know what to order so the waiter explained to us their drink special. They had “cubetazos” (buckets of beers) of national beers. My friends ordered one, but I’m not a fan of beers so I ordered myself a Mai-tai. While we were waiting for our drinks, they started a karaoke contest. Only a couple of people went up and sang, so they decided to stop it for a while. Then they started a dance contest. The host asked for four guys to volunteer to the contest. They all went up, danced and followed all the directions from the host. As always, there was one guy that stole the show. Everyone was applauding him. Then the host asked for the contestants to find a partner. Once again they started dancing and followed the host’s directions. The one guy that stole the show dancing alone did it one more time. He started doing crazy things so his partner followed. She started to dance in a very sexy way and everyone was enjoying the show. The show finally ended and of course the crazy, provocative, sexual coupled won. It was an amazing Latin night, a crazy and wild party, a real Panamanian party. But many other things happened that night, amazing things. Stay put until next week to read the end of this party. |
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Once again the terrible time when we turn older approaches and you wonder where I can go for my birthday. I had the same problem last week when I didn’t know where to go for my birthday party dinner. I didn’t want to go wild and stuff for my birthday, just an intimate dinner. Panama City, Panama has a great mix of diverse cultures, flavors, and races, which give us the opportunity to enjoy several different kinds of food. Once I realized I wanted to eat Cuban food, the decision was very easy. The best place I know with great attention and great food in Panama is the Rincon Habanero.
Habanero is a cozy small place with just two tables outside and several others inside. It has that at home feeling you get when you go visit your relatives in the “interior” and they are welcoming and open to you. As soon as you walk in you feel transport to a little piece of the Habana. The lighting is very intimate but at the same time is open. The owner is always there to great you and make sure everything is ok with your food.
at these pictures.
