A Cholo's Cuisine

Cholo's in San Marcos

I had been hearing about this place for a long time, from back when it was in another location in Chame. Every report was favorable.

The place didn't last very long in its old premises and I figured that it was one of those many quality places that came and went before I got around to visiting. However, they reopened in smaller premises closer to where I spend a lot time, in the town of San Carlos. They're now on the Pan-American Highway next to the Texaco station.
So is it an outpost of "Cholo" cuisine? Well, yes and no. More specifically, think of it as "mestizo" --- maybe a mixture of Spanish and indigenous ancestry with similarities to that of the Panamanians who are considered Cholos, but Mexican rather than isthmian. Cholo's, a family enterprise run by an American husband and Panamanian wife, is a Mexican restaurant and a very good one.They have the tempting regular printed menu, and then there are the irregular daily specials on a chalkboard. I took one of the latter, the seafood chimichanga.But first came the house chips, thick corn tortilla chips cooked on the premises with the house salsa. Yum.The main dish was very good, and plentiful. I visited this place with my brother and he did the fried beef burrito and that looked very good too.
The prices at this place are modest.As we ate, expats from at least three other countries were dining or drinking, many attracted by these huge margaritas.
The good food is the main thing, and the friendly community gathering place atmosphere is another, but the factor that sets Cholo's apart from the great majority of other restaurants in Panama is the service. Good service may not be an ordinary part of Cholo culture, but it's a central part of the experience at Cholo's.