Nestled between a nail salon with a red awning and the brick walls of the Flair Beauty Institute with a flashing “Open” sign is a small, Panamanian restaurant. A bell sounds upon opening the glass door of Esencias Panamenas.
Yarida Stamp, roughly 5-foot-5 and with a slow, warm voice, greets guests as they arrive. She speaks to some in English and some in Spanish. Stamp is the restaurant’s owner and chef.
Sitting at a high-top table at the front of the restaurant on Georgia Avenue in Northwest D.C., Stamp said hers is the only Panamanian restaurant in the area and one of two in the country, along with another in Houston.