If Devo ever plays in Panama City...

Panama does grow potatoes, and the spuds that feed much of the world did, in fact, originate in ancient Peru. However, the things grow best in cooler temperatures and drier climes than we have, so Panama’s most typical national tubers are the ñame, ñampi, otoe and especially the yucca. Still, we’re The Crossroads of the World and it wouldn’t be right to leave the primary exaltation of that humble giant of world cuisine, the potato, to McDonald’s.

And now we don’t.

One of the signs that the worst of our economic crisis has let up is that instead of seeing a dramatic loss of restaurants with only a few replacements, now we are seeing a lot more new restaurants with fewer eateries going out of business. That will make the job of updating this page more enjoyable, as it was when I did lunch at one of the new offerings, La Papa. (It’s La Papa, as in “The Potato,” not “El Papa,” as in “The Pope.”)

This establishment, set in a massive concrete cavern below a parking structure and across the street from Las Tinajas on Calle 3ra Sure, celebrates the potato in a way that Panama City has not previously seen.

I don’t believe that they use nationally-grown tubers, which are tasty and nutritious enough, but aren’t these massive, relatively uniform things of the sort that mostly come from Idaho. You get the big industrial-strength potatoes at La Papa.

Not just those, of course. This is a meat, potatoes and wine place, where you can choose one of a number of good salads, find various sandwiches and soups on the menu, place your order at the bar or opt for one of a good variety of meat, poultry and seafood entrees. If you consider what comes with the burgers at this establishment, they are price-competitive with McDonald’s and Burger King --- you pay slightly more, and get substantially more. Plus, as you might expect, you’ll find all sorts of potato concoctions, both appetizers and main meals, at La Papa.

The Panamanian cultural norm has long been that chili is something that’s served over rice. For my lunch at La Papa, I had their chili potato, a large Idaho potato topped by the mild American Standard chili. (Let’s not get into an argument with Texans here. This stuff has beans and Texas-style purists will denigrate it as something other than real chili for that reason, but I say that Texas chili is one of God’s wonderful creations but not the only valid one.) Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed my meal.

As this establishment is on the edge of the banking district, a lot of its lunchtime clientele is composed of office workers. Over the bar they have an array of large video screens, which would equip them to be a sports bar, but during my lunch and in a later brief reconnaissance mission they had music videos on the screen, with the sound set at a tasteful volume. They do sizzling steak and chicken kinds of things here, which is always a useful aural distraction if you have little kids at the table with you.

These folks also have motorcycle delivery. Call 265-5800 for that service.

As La Papa salutes the potato, I salute La Papa and earnestly hope that it’s destined to be one of the survivors among the new batch of Panama City dining establishments.

dining

The exaltation of the humble potato