Gambling with steaks

The new “Los Años Locos” at Calle 74, San Francisco, a few meters from Calle 50.

Finding a good steak in Panamá City is a lot like playing roulette at one of the casinos...you take a chance and hope your meal will be a winner. Because almost all Panamanian cattle are grass fed, the meat tends to be a little tough. Tasty, but tough. But if you absolutely must have a steak, then I have just the restaurant for you.

Los Años Locos Reservations 226-6966/226-3996 Rating: Poor Good Very Good Excellent Superb

Los Años Locos was located for eleven years right behind the Caesar Park Hotel and was then, as now, the place to go for great steaks. Then they were forced to move. Three months ago they opened their new restaurant on 74th Street, just off 50th Street in San Francisco and it is what can only be described as a subtly elegant creation. Their extensive menu includes excellent Italian, poultry and seafood items...but it is the meat that keeps everyone coming back.

Argentine owner Rubén Vander Werf takes great pride in not only the quality of the food served, but in his excellently trained kitchen staff. This pride and training is best demonstrated with that very first bite of perfectly grilled meat.

Just a hint of charring
For starters, my hungry crew settled on Pulpo al Carbon/Grilled Octopus ($8.75), Carpaccio de Carne ($8.75), Berenjena en Escabeche ($3.50), Morcilla ($2.50) and a Shrimp Cocktail ($9.50). First of all, I don’t like octopus....but this was grilled with just a hint of charring and was excellent. The Carpacio was perfectly sliced, topped with freshly grated parmesean cheese, and wonderfully flavored. The eggplant (Berenjena) was very good as was the Morcilla, a dense and richly flavored blood sausage. But it is the simple shrimp cocktail I always use as the first hint of what kind of restaurant I am reviewing: do they serve tasteless, frozen shrimp whose only flavor comes from the cocktail sauce....or plump, fresh langostinos, bursting with a cool ocean flavor. At Los Años Locos it is the latter, delicious version. All first course appetizers were judged uniformly excellent.

We tried three soups...Cream of Broccoli ($4.50), Cream of Spinach ($4.50), and Cream of Asparagus ($5.50). All three captured the rich flavor of their respective vegetable base, although the broccoli was just a touch too intense. A heavier dose of cream and a teaspoon of butter would have transformed it. But that small detail was quickly forgotten the moment the steaks arrived.

One member of my party opted for chicken and ordered the Filete de Pechuga Pimienta ($11.00)....a large, boneless chicken breast topped with a very good but intense black pepper sauce. Very good. Then came the red meat: Bife de Chorizo ($23.50), a thick and juicy New York Steak ($25.00), and Colita de Cuadril ($21.75), each grilled to perfection and bursting with a succulent, rich meaty flavor.

Conversation Stopper
Perhaps the best way to describe just how good the steaks are at Los Años Locos is to say that all table discussion ended once the first bite of steak was tasted. We were totally focused on the thick cuts of perfectly grilled meat. And I have to say that this was the best steak I have eaten since I moved to Panamá four years ago.

We sampled only one Italian dish...a rich Gnochi 4 Quesos ($9.50) that quickly disappeared. And if the gnochi is an example of the Italian menu, then I must return to sample that portion of the menu as well...although it will be hard not to order a steak now that I know what awaits me.

All desserts are uniformly delicious...but a special mention must be made of the Pie de Chocolate ($4.00) and the Pie de Limón Gourmet ($3.50)....both richly evocative of their respective ingredients.

As we left, Sr. Vander Werf kindly said he looked forward to seeing me again...and I look forward to once again eating the absolute best steak in Panamá! Los Años Locos is a must for any serious meat lover!

Landmarks:

The bridge, originally called “Thatcher Bridge” after a member of the Panama Canal Company, replaced the Thatcher ferry which, until 1962 was the only way to cross the Canal.

For over 40 years, Panamanians viewed the Bridge of the Americas as a cultural frontier –the gateway between the metropolis and the idyllic western countryside. Everything was viewed as being "before" or “after” the Bridge ("antes o después del Puente") which was the only means of entering or leaving the city by road. But nowadays, whenever a car is heading toward the Pacific beaches on weekends, someone will certainly ask: ¿Por cuál puente nos vamos? (Over which bridge are we leaving town?).

The bridge measures little over a mile long.

A lot has changed since the Thatcher Ferry Bridge, which Panamanians later called "Puente de las Américas", was open to traffic on October 12, 1962. The city of La Chorrera, on the western bank, which was then considered the first major town of the hinterland, is now part of the greater Panama City metropolitan area, thanks to its sprawling suburbs. The U.S. and Panamanian flags that waved high on its arch are no longer there and the bridge no longer is the carrier of the Pan-American Highway, which now passes over the new Centennial Bridge, which opened late last year.

However, one thing will remain constant for decades to come: the "Bridge" continues being one of the most recognizable symbols of the country and the Canal and still handles most of the traffic to and from the interior provinces.

Built with an investment of US$20 million by the U.S. government, the bridge is a truss arch design, with a length of 1,654 m (5,425 ft). The main span measures 344 m (1,128 ft). The highest point of the bridge is 117 m (384 ft) above mean sea level; the clearance under the main span is 61.3 m (201 ft) at high tide. There are wide access ramps at each end, and a pedestrian walkway on each side.

For four decades, it was the only permanent crossing over the Canal. In 2003, a local tele-communications company honored Panama’s centennial celebrations by giving the Bridge a modern and attractive set of lights.