Expanding cafes and menus

Petit Paris also serves sandwiches on freshly baked French bread, ideal for a light lunch. If the food is not enough to convince you that the café is really Parisienne youngsters using the outside seating to read a book might.

Note to the card swipers, there is a minimum charge of $15 for credit cards, which for better or for worse is not hard to reach. My friends and I went in for a cup of coffee, and ended up trying at least seven different desserts.

The small bakery is now going big, to satisfy Panama’s increasing demand for its goodies. By mid-November, Petit Paris will open in two more locations: one in Costa del Este next to the Volvo showcase room, and one in Marbella, where Pizzeria Romanaccio used to be. For more information on Petit Paris new locations: 391-8778. I am sure the new locations, at least the one in Costa del Este, will provide a better (read: quieter) reading space.

SEAFOOD RESTAURANT GOES ITALIAN. Peperoncini di Mare, has been bringing the delights of the ocean to their tables for quite a while now. With succulent dishes like “Egg plants centenario”, an appetizer dish of roasted egg plants in a special sauce and filled with shrimps, “Corvina in disguise”, a tender and juicy corvina dressed in slices of plantain, au gratin and accompanied with mashed potatoes, and “my pal”, a corvina creole style served over a cream of pumpkin with tender yucca, the restaurant has kept seafood lovers like myself coming back for more.

As if that wasn’t enough, Peperoncini di Mare has now added a new pasta section on its menu, from which the “hidden treasure” spaghetti dish stands out. (SPOILER ALERT!) The treasure is a snapper covered with a good serving of spaghetti with a home-made pink salsa. Other pasta dishes include “Jaques Cousteau Linguini”, with bits of corvina, fresh tomatoes, egg plants and basil, and “Spaghettini Peperoncini Di Mare” with shrimps, pimentos, green onions at oleo.

Note to chocolate lovers: Peperoncini also boasts what I think is one of the best, if not the best, chocolate fondant in the country. It’s called “Ambrosía de Neptuno” and worth every bite.

Peperoncini di Mare is located at Plaza Delessep's, in the Manuel Maria Icaza Street. It’s one block from the Marriott Hotel. Not an ideal location but definitely worth it. More info.: 209-2809.