lifestyle

The place to go if you like Venezuelan-style empanadas

Panama being a major crossroads, especially for the peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean, you can get an amazing variety of things they call empanadas in our capital. There are the nearly ubiquitous popular baked or deep fried Panamanian varieties in wheat or corn shells with meat, chicken or cheese fillings, and the harder to find Zonian varieties whose fillings include ground beef, ground pork, pickled cherry peppers, onions and mashed potato. There are the spicy Jamaican patties. You can even find those things with slices of hard-boiled eggs that the Chileans call empanadas.

Panama City is seeing an influx of Venezuelans, who are building upon a smaller Venezuelan community that dates back to colonial times, when both Panama and Venezuela were part of the Viceroyalty of New Granada.

Latin Americans and our cultures are not a fungible mass. Panamanian food is not just like Mexican food, and Venezuelan empanadas are like no others. Moreover, as a sampling of the various Vene eateries around town will demonstrate, all Venezuelan empanadas are not the same.

Venezuelan empanadas are deep fried, and their shells are mainly composed of arepa flour, a variety of finely ground white corn meal. The fillings are seasoned, but not particularly spicy.

So far, the best Venezuelan empanadas that this reporter has found in Panama City are to be had at Los Venezolanos, a bakery and cafe on Via Argentina. This is a good place to grab a daily newspaper, get an empanada or two for breakfast and coffee or something else to drink, and sit down for a quick breakfast while perusing the news. It's also a good place to grab a loaf of bread, or that evening's dessert, to go.

Los Venezolanos offers five or six varieties of empanadas at any given time, of which this reporter has sampled four: the chicken, cheese, meat and vegetable, and seafood varieties. All were good. The seafood ones are unique or close to that in Panama, and if you are ordering to eat them there they'll give you a squeeze bottle with tartar sauce as a condiment. The chicken variety is this reporter's favorite.

With inflation, we have seen the amount of filling in many a Panamanian establishment's empanadas greatly reduced. At Los Venezolanos an empanada will cost you a dollar and a quarter, but they don't skimp on things. Two empanadas and something to drink is a hearty meal.

If you live in El Cangrejo, this is a neighborhood establishment to know, cherish and patronize. If you're just passing through the neighborhood, you really ought to take the time to check out Los Venezolanos.