La Casa de Lourdes

La Casa de Lourdes Review

After years of running one of Panama City's most popular restaurants, Golosinas, Lourdes Fabrega de Ward built this elegant place across from her retirement home so that she wouldn't get bored. It now seems unlikely that she will ever retire, since former Golosinas clients and a growing list of new fans pack the place on weekends, drawn by Lourdes' inventive menu and the magical ambience of her Tuscan-style casa. Meals are served on a back terrace with views of a garden and nearby Cerro Gaital framed by high columns, arches, and an elegant lap pool. It is truly a house, and you enter through a spacious living room with couches, a piano, and family photos. The menu changes, but is likely to include yucca (cassava) croquets with a Thai sauce, blackened corvina (sea bass) with a tamarind sauce, and the Cassoulet de Lulu, a stew of white beans, lamb, duck, pork, and sausages. Save room for desserts such as the Heart Attack: a chocolate sundae atop a chocolate cake. This place is so special that people have been known to helicopter in from Panama City for lunch. Reservations are essential on weekends, a good idea at other times.