El Cangrejo

This guide to El Cangrejo in Panama City follows the neighborhood's curling streets, said to branch like a crab's claw off Via Argentina, and its rise in the 1950s as the city's most modern address, built up by the local Jewish community as their new home. You'll hear about the bronze bust of Einstein that still watches Via Argentina, a nod to that founding heritage, and how each wave of newcomers who followed left a kitchen behind. The guide tours the results block by block, from Lebanese kibbeh and belly dancing at Beirut to Panamanian comfort food at El Trapiche and a New York bagel counter across from Einstein's stare. Start hungry, and start early, because the neighborhood barely slows down after dark.