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dining

Colombian lunch

by Eric Jackson

Yes, a key aspect of Panama's national identity is that we're not Colombian. Panamanians don't talk like Colombians --- we don't use the vosotros form and we do use all sorts of anglicisms that they don't. We are not part of their endless internal warfare. Our cumbia hasn't evolved into vallenato like theirs has. And our cuisine is different, too.

But for a number of reasons, Panama has more Colombians circulating among the population than ever before. Some have fled their country's fighting, and a few are running guns and laundering money here to keep the blood flowing across the border. Because the United States has gone off the deep end about all foreigners in recent years, many upscale Colombians who used to take shopping trips to Miami or New York are now coming here for that purpose instead. Though she drove away most honest foreign investors, Mireya attracted some wealthy Colombians, not all of them desirable, to set up shop here. However he may be subsidizing the ad cartel to go through the pretenses of opposing sex tourism, Mart’n has recently resumed the practice of issuing six-month visas to young Colombian women to come here and work as prostitutes. The Colombian drug cartels continue to move their products and money through Panama. Legitimate Colombian retailers use the Colon Free Zone as their wholesaling and warehousing district.

So one would expect that even if no Panamanian could stand it, there would be a market here for Colombian food. And so there is. We have long had Colombian-style restaurants, mostly plebian little fondas, but increasingly more substantial restaurants.

One of these, Delicias del Pueblo, is run by Miguel Vega on Via Veneto. A native of Colon, the son of a Panamanian father and an Ecuadoran mother, he along the way acquired a taste for Colombian food, recognized the market potential, and hired some cooks who can do it right. It seems to be a business success.

This is not a particularly fancy restaurant, nor are its prices high. You can get lunch slightly cheaper down the street at McDonalds, or maybe a bit more expensive at Manolo's but it's in that general range.

One advantage that Delicias del Pueblo has over the two other places I mention, however, is at the former you can watch the Panamanian soccer team take on China over a leisurely lunch when the two teams go at one another at 1:30 p.m. our time, as was the case when this reporter visited.

My meal was a desgranada with everything --- a pile of corn kernals, crumbled white cheese and shredded bacon, beef and chicken crisped on a grill, topped with thousand island dressing; plus a tall glass of salpicon, a pulpy, multi-fruit drink to be mostly eaten with a spoon; and a cafe con leche afterwards.

These were just a few of the options on a full menu that concentrates on the Colombian to the exclusion of the Panamanian and international fare. Colombian, as in neither spicy, greasy nor overpowered by sauces. Colombian, as in basic stick-to-the-ribs fare. (But not so extremely Colombian that they put mayonnaise in the ceviche, a truly disgusting practice that I have encountered elsewhere.)

Like Vega, I'm a Colon Buay. As such I have an appreciation for the picante that Colombian is not. But my tastes are ecumenical enough to like our neighbors' mild and filling cuisine too, and when I'm sweaty from walking to the area between El Cangrejo, the University of Panama and the banking district, dropping into Delicias del Pueblo for their Colombian-style water or milk flavored with fruit juices, or for a glass of salpicon, is my idea of a good way to cool off. And of course, when it comes to a simple cup of coffee the Colombians have long had that art together as well as anyone else has and better than most.

So add Delicias del Pueblo to your many lunch options whenever you're in the area. Yes, you can do American or Cuban or Italian or Chinese or Japanese or Swiss or Spanish or Peruvian or Panamanian within a stone's throw. But this Colombian place holds its own in that crowd.