Conoce Mi Panama
3054 W Armitage Ave
Chicago, IL 60647
Panamanian cuisine, at the crossroads of North and South America, is severely underrepresented in Chicago. In fact, the city had a complete lack of Panamanian cuisine until Conoce Mi Panama opened in Humboldt Park. Conoce Mi Panama is small and homey, and we were welcomed in with open arms right upon entering. Usually we don’t note the service of a restaurant, unless of course it is really abysmal or, really noteworthy. In this case, it was fortunately the latter. We were totally bowled over by the AMAZING owner of Conoce Mi Panama who came by frequently to check on us, how we liked our meal, and just to chat. Members of our party were also excited that Conoce Mi Panama was BYOB, with no corkage fees (noticing a trend – woohoo!).
The menu consisted of all Panamanian favorites, which seemed familiar, but highly distinct from other Caribbean menus. Of all of our dishes, the appetizers turned out to be the standouts. We had an order of yucca fries with a stellar garlic sauce ($3.50) and a citrus-heavy ceviche that was to die for ($9.00). The yucca fries in particular were flawless, who would have thought something so simple could be a standout?
Yuca frita (Fried yucca strips with mojo sauce)
When looking at the menu for entrees, we noted an unusual affinity for cornish game hen. We decided to the half Cornish Hen with a cilantro sauce ($12.75), as well as the chicken with coconut sauce ($12.75). At our table we also ordered the Ropa vieja (shredded steak – $13.75) and Panamanian rice with chicken ($13.75). We enjoyed all of our entrees immensely, but the cornish game hen with the cilantro sauce was a particular standout.
Pollo guisado con coco (Chicken with coconut sauce)
For each entree, there were absolutely huge portions, and each came with sweet fried plantains and a little wilty throwaway salad. The salad didn’t really add much to the meal, so we skipped the salad and went right in for the plantains…they were delicious. For dessert there were sweet fried plantains and vanilla bread pudding (Mamallena) on offer – though we were too full to partake in any sweets. So far, on our first venture, we have to say that we enjoyed Panamanian food, with its mix of Central American and Caribbean flavors. We highly recommend Conoce Mi Panama for its completely friendly and welcoming attitude, and delicious reasonable-priced food.
Eating The World 