La Pascana – My Favorite Restaurant
How I never met this restaurant in the 80s I will never
know. I think it was because it was more
hidden. The Plaza was more enclosed by
trees and the streets facing the Plaza were not as pretty as now.
But when I visited in March of 2016, with the intent of
moving back to Santa Cruz, I stayed at the Senses Boutique Hotel. It is about $90 a night and worth double
that. It has absorbed the La Pascana
Restaurant into the hotel and expanded its size. The hotel also includes the Nice Cream ice
cream parlor I wrote about recently.
The hotel has some funky artwork, and some of that runs over
into the restaurant. They have to keep
the Spanish Colonial feel, but like the Manzana 1, they make it feel chic,
modern, and funky.
Staying here in March, I decided to get a few meals here,
since I could bill it to my hotel room.
The burgers aren’t that great, but get away from North American foods
and the restaurant excels. I had what
are called Argentinean empanadas and decided this was my restaurant. Empanadas are what we would call turnovers. They are not sweet, but savory. I
prefer the chicken over the beef, but both are so good.
One of the reasons I wanted to live near the Plaza was to
visit this little restaurant. I have
been back at least once a week since I arrived in July; in fact, it was my
first meal back in Bolivia in July.
Frequently I just go to get a meal of fried yucca and a coke. Not a real meal, and maybe not that nutritious,
but it satisfies the hunger.
I like sitting in the courtyard between the hotel and the restaurant. The service and prices are the same, but the ambience is better. You have a beautiful view of the Cathedral and often there is a nice breeze.
Last week I visited.
The young man, who is one of the three that usually waits on me, came to
the table and said, “La usual, Señor?”
That means, “The usual, sir?”
Well, that is what I came for, so I said yes. That is how you know a restaurant is yours, a
place where everybody knows you.
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