New offers and Xmas prepping

11-14-2008 | OUT AND ABOUT WITH CAROLINE AND FRIENDS $

fasvatstar@laestrella.com.pa

New veggie options in town... a chilli cookoff... restaurants open for Christmas... and a Casco Viejo treasure

Panama Star Spicing it up. Kings Indian food store in Paitilla (next to Popeye’s) offers all of the spices you might need to create your favorite Indian dishes. It even sells spice mix boxes with cooking instructions on the back for 100% vegetarian dishes. If cooking is not your forte, on weekend afternoons, be on the lookout for home-made vegetarian entree dishes sold in the store. The small stand selling the entrees usually serves Indian palates who prefer their food significantly spicy though, so make sure to ask for milder versions if you don’t share a similar liking for chili powder!

On that note, Masala, the only Indian restaurant left in the city after the mysterious and sudden closing of Taj Mahal, does a thriving take out business. It’s a great way to eat the delicious food without relying on the so so service at the restaurant. To order, call: 225-0105.

November cook-off: If you’re good at making chilli, you want to be at the Elk’s Club contest (Balboa) this Saturday to show your skills. Judging will begin at 5:15 p.m. and dinner at 6. Music will follow. Entrance will cost $7, and participants and those who bring homemade desserts are free. To enter the cookout, email elk1414@cwpanama.net.

Christmas venues up for grabs. Rincon Aleman offers its biergarten for Christmas and New Year’s parties. The biergarten has a capacity of 120 people, and can offer special menus. For more info, call 264-0590.

Saltimbocca also has a private room that seats 40. Chef Francesco has already released five different creatively constructed Christmas menus. All the menus come with complimentary bruschettas, two entrees, two main dishes, and three Christmas desserts to choose from. Options include a peasant salad, vegetable ratatouille, and Italian delicatessen for entrees, and special house lasagnas, ravioli with mushrooms and prosciutto, and a Chef Francesco specialty: Bolliti Misti, which consists of beef, pork and chicken meat mixed with vegetables in “sancocho” broth. For specific information on the menus, check them out online at: restaurantesaltimbocca.com.

Anything but casual. While in Casco Viejo, once I get to the tip of the coast, I usually turn left? towards the old Union Club. Little did I know I was missing out on the goodies to the right: Casuale, an elegant restaurant at the University Club building on Calle 1 San Felipe.

Chef Fabricio Torcivia arrived four years ago from Argentina, and after working for renowned kitchens in the city decided to obtain his own. His new culinary abode lies inside a colonial style house, formerly the University Club, a social club inaugurated with the construction of the Canal where you could spend a pleasant evening hanging out with friends over food. Today Casuale preserves that atmosphere, with the elegant touches that any early 20th century club would have needed. The dining room has a good mix of what was and what is, with photos of old Panama adorning the walls, enclosing the room’s modern orange seating.

Casuale offers a varied and international menu with touches of Panamanian foods, offering a variety of seafood dishes, pastas, and steaks. Those that stand out include clams in a garlic sauce (al ajillo) and one-of-a-kind prawns with a mayonnaise and maracuya dressing as appetizers, and a prawns risotto with citric juices, a chef specialty which I have never before tasted in the city, for the main dish. The grilled seabass was too bland for my taste, but thankfully there’s much more to choose from. As for desserts, many have applauded the chef's home-made flan, which truth be told I didn't enjoy at all. Opt for the brownie or the tres leches instead. For reservations, 228-1017.