Lebanese dining at Colon's Grand Café
by Eric Jackson
Down by the Club Nautico Caribe, Colon's changing ethnic demography
makes its culinary manifestation at the Grand Café, where Lebanese fare
is the main attraction. It's not the only thing the restaurant has to offer
–– you can order pizza, fried rice, curries, chicken prepared in one
of about a dozen ways, or seafood in a traditional Panamanian style if that's
your pleasure. Moreover, the restaurant is not all there is to offer ––
it's attached to a little grocery store where you can get a variety of Arabic
items not commonly found in the supermarkets, things like canned homus, halal
lunchmeat and all the subtle spices commonly used in the Levant.
Our party of three visited on a slow weeknight, when a couple
of couples were drinking strong Middle Eastern coffee and watching Arabic-language
TV and another pair were the only other diners. The service was prompt and multilingual.
For an appetizer we shared a plate of homus, and individually
ordered the fried kibbe, spinach turnovers and falafel, which we also shared.
We weren't disappointed. This was Lebanese-style kibbe, a deep-fried shell made
mostly of falafel with mildly spiced ground lamb in the middle, but none of
the yogurt or pine nuts that you find in the Palestinian version of the dish.
The falafel was also deep-fried, but with a vegetable filling. The spinach turnovers,
which were called "empanadas de espinacas," had just the right touch of a lemon
flavor in moist white shells closer to those used in steamed Chinese dumplings
than to the pastry part of empanadas as Panamanians know them.
With beverages (soft drinks for us on this evening, though strong
coffee, Arabic-style tea or beer were also options) and tip, the bill came to
just over $20. It was a good deal. The Grand Café is clearly one of Colon's
better dining options.
