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Panas, Latin-Fusion Empanadas in West Dupont Circle - Bethesda and Rockville are Closed


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Been meaning to try Panas for a while now since it is so close to my office. Dined there last evening with my wife and had a really really enjoyable quick meal. My understanding is that the empanadas are Argentinean style so they are smaller than those at say, Julias (which is the only other empanadas place i've ever been to in DC). The restaurant is a nice space with a "hip" decor. It looks like Panas has about 15 empanadas choices. They had a number of vegetarian empanadas, steak, chicken and also tuna and shrimp ones. We both ended up ordering their meal deal which gives you a drink, three empanadas and a scoop of plantain chips. I ordered three: chicken pesto, brie and "fiesta cheese". All three were excellent, and in both of our opinions, miles better than Julias. I particularly liked the fiesta cheese one which had a lot of mozzarella filling and some very good caramelized onions in it. Overall, the fillings were all very good, savory and seemed very high quality. Their dipping sauces were also quite good. I particularly enjoyed the chimi sauce which was basically a tomato salsa type sauce with a hint of cilantro. If you like empanadas, I highly recommend checking the place out.

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I agree with everything Adam23 said... damn, these are good empanadas. I'm not a fan of Julia's either, and didn't really know what to expect, but these things were so tasty I scarfed down three of them in no time flat (traditional beef, chipotle steak, and brie and mushroom).

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I went to Panas in Bethesda last night with friends who had an expiring livingsocial deal. For $14 (pre-deal) you can get 8 empanadas with baked plantain chips and 4 sauces. We got 2 of those between the 3 of us and had 6 left over happily for lunch today. No one had a bad word to say about any of them, but I can personally speak to the tamal empanada (corn, farmer cheese, jalapeno), smoked eggplant and ham and cheese. I would order any of them again (and likely will sometime soon). I really enjoyed the pimenton and aji sauces as well. The other two were probably good, but in my mind contaminated by cilantro, so I passed.

One thing to note- everything is baked, not fried. The empanadas are thus not greasy at all (my friend compared them to matzah which was fair more in flavor than texture as they don't taste like fat or salt). A touch of salt would probably be good, but once you taste the filling it isn't noticed any longer.

I believe you can get 3 empanadas for $7 which would be a great lunch. They are next to the potbelly and barking dog on elm. I

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A friend loves Panas, plus there are the positive posts above. But I guess I'm the dissent because I went to Panas last weekend (picture posted in the Where Did I Dine game). This was my second time. I was primarily disappointed in the crust, which seemed to be nothing special and reheated. The filling were better, but overall, I wasn't impressed.

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