PANAMA WHERE: Ceviche's (7210 Wrightsville Ave, Wilmington, NC 28403) Another old one from my journeys this summer. This Panama restaurant called Cerviche's is in Wilmington, North Carolina. It's got all the flair of the tropics, including a bar made of reclaimed wood straight from Panama. Feels like the type of place on the beach you would stop at wearing flip flops and a Hawaiian shirt, with a straw panama hat after trekking through the jungles of Panama and yet it's in the middle of Wilmington, stuck on a street corner quite a few miles away from the beach. The man who began the restaurant did so out of a desire to want to recreate a feel for his home country and decorated the whole place with family pictures from Panama. As he says on the website, "Inspired By My Upbringing In Panama... Fishing With My Dad In Both The Pacific And Atlantic Oceans, Picking Fresh Mangos At The Bus Stop For Breakfast & Epic Surfing Trips (I Vividly Remember My First Barrel). I Wanted To Bring That Feeling To Wrightsville Beach". I got the Sancocho (Panama's national dish), which is described as "the perfect hangover food"-- it's a soup made of rice, potatoes, corn, just basically anything that they can think to throw in there. I also got the Arroz Con Pollo, grilled chicken with a whole bunch of tropical fruits and salsa piled on top of it. And I bought a shirt-- cause what's a good trip around the world without a few souvenirs? I loved this little bar!
