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Jun 15, 2023

Pangaea offering a 'supercontinent' of cuisine to Greensboro

Two onetime high-school friends from Puerto Rico have combined forces to open a “supercontinent” of a restaurant in Greensboro. Pangaea Bistro & Bar opened Aug. 8 at 230 S. Elm St. Chef Carlos Roman

Two onetime high-school friends from Puerto Rico have combined forces to open a “supercontinent” of a restaurant in Greensboro.

Pangaea Bistro & Bar opened Aug. 8 at 230 S. Elm St.

Chef Carlos Roman (left) and co-owner Juan Cirino at Pangaea Bistro & Bar on S. Elm Street in Greensboro.

Juan Cirino, a former manager of White & Wood, co-owns the restaurant with Jason Wilson, a real-estate developer based in Danville, Va. Cirino’s longtime friend Carlos Roman is the chef.

Pangaea (pronounced Pan-JEE-Uh) translates as “all earth” or “whole earth” but more specifically refers to the idea of a supercontinent from hundreds of millions of years ago.

Cirino learned about that supercontinent idea while explaining his restaurant concept to someone, saying that he and Roman wanted to offer tastes of food from all over the world. “When I heard what it meant, I was, ‘That’s it!’” Cirino said.

But the restaurant itself first grew out of a relationship that Cirino forged with Wilson, a regular customer at White & Wood.

Pangaea on S. Elm Street in Greensboro.

“I met Jason Wilson at White & Wood, and we got to be friends,” Cirino said. “He approached me about managing his pawn shops – he has like 10 pawn shops. I thought, ‘I’m not your guy for this,’ but I told him, ‘If you ever decide to open a restaurant, I got you.’ And he was like, ‘Let’s do it.’”

Wilson said he didn’t hesitate to jump into the restaurant business because of his faith in Cirino. “I was very comfortable with Juan and his vision for the restaurant. And the combination of me doing the real estate and him running the restaurant made sense,” Wilson said.

Address: 230 S. Elm St., Greensboro, N.C. 27401

Phone: 336-579-9962

Hours: 5 to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and 3 p.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday.

Reservations: OpenTable.com

Instagram: @pangaea_gso

Facebook: Pangaea Bistro & Bar

Once Cirino hooked up with Wilson, he called his old friend Roman.

Lamb chops at Pangaea on S. Elm Street in Greensboro, N.C.

The two had met in high school in their native Puerto Rico. “We both took this culinary arts program,” Cirino said. “That’s where I realized I wasn’t the best at (cooking), but that’s where I met Carlos.”

Cirino quickly decided that customer service was where he excelled.

Pangaea on S. Elm Street in Greensboro.

“Growing up, my dad used to own a gas station. It had full service. So, I was washing people’s windshields and everything, that was my first service job,” Cirino said.

Roman and Cirino went their separate ways. Cirino tended bar at Hilton hotels in Puerto Rico, while Roman cooked for the Ritz-Carlton there – right up until Hurricane Maria shut it down in 2017.

That sent Roman traveling to work at restaurants in the United States as well as Aruba, Cayman Islands, Ecuador and Thailand – learning more skills from and appreciation for a wide variety of cuisines.

Pangaea chef Carlos Roman prepares lamb chops in the kitchen at the restaurant on S. Elm Street in Greensboro.

“In the Caymans, I learned a lot, because people (in the kitchen) came from all over,” Roman said.

Cirino, meanwhile, came to the United States, first to Baton Rouge, then to Greensboro. He quickly landed a spot at White & Wood and worked his way up to manager.

Pangaea chef Carlos Roman prepares lamb chops in the kitchen at the restaurant on S. Elm Street in Greensboro.

All the while, Cirino kept in touch with his old friend, whom he eventually asked to join in at Pangaea – even before he knew what kind of restaurant it would be. “We started talking about it two years ago—a lot of What’s App conversations, a lot of Facetime. Within two years, Carlos had built 6, 10 different menus.”

What they eventually decided on is a short, eclectic menu that they plan “to be changing all the time,” Cirino said.

Pangaea on S. Elm Street in Greensboro, N.C., on Tuesday, August 22, 2023.

Pangaea is open for dinner only. It seats about 90, including a small indoor/outdoor space in the front that can be open or enclosed depending on the weather. It has a full bar and a curated wine list that leans toward French wines.

The restaurant has the building’s original hardwood floors, now restored, and exposed brick along one wall. Seating is a mix of bar stools, tables and banquettes. The restaurant is decorated with dark colors but strategically placed lighting keeps the atmosphere balanced.

Pangaea uses OpenTable for reservations. Service is designed to be attentive and informed but casual. “We don’t like to call it fine dining. We are not a tablecloth restaurant,” Cirino said. “It’s a high caliber of service, but servers wear sneakers and polos. We say we’re serving elevated comfort food.”

Roman calls the menu “traditional with modern plating.” That is, though the restaurant combines a lot of different cuisines, he isn’t necessarily creating fusion dishes.

Pangaea on S. Elm Street in Greensboro, N.C., on Tuesday, August 22, 2023.

But Roman isn’t above experimentation.

“Carlos’ strongest cuisine is Asian cuisine – that’s what he really enjoys the most,” Cirino said. “But every time he cooks something, I’m like, ‘How does he do it? It’s the techniques he uses, things I have never seen in my life.”

For example, the menu includes a watermelon tartare “and people don’t even realize they’re eating watermelon, not tuna,” Cirino said.

Pangaea on S. Elm Street in Greensboro, N.C., on Tuesday, August 22, 2023.

Current appetizers, starting at $12, include yukhoe, or Korean seasoned raw beef; eggplant Parmesan; shrimp ceviche; and scallop Rockefeller.

Small plates ($11 to $25) include croquette with serrano ham; caviar and blinis; and sweet plantain and potato gnocchi.

Besides the watermelon tartare, other salads include one with mozzarella foam, tomatoes and charred onion. The menu offers such sandwiches as pork bao ($15) and lobster and crab grilled cheese ($19).

Among the entrees are two kinds of paella ($32): with shrimp and mussels, or with lamb chops. Other entrees include ribeye steak, salmon ravioli and kai yang Thai grilled chicken. The latter is marinated for three days, the traditional way, but then cooked with sous-vide for six hours before being finished on the grill.

Desserts include canoli, lava cake and tembleque (Puerto Rican coconut pudding) foam.

Pangaea on S. Elm Street in Greensboro.

“We are trying to bring another experience to Greensboro,” Cirino said. “We’re here to push our limits to see how far we can go on our cuisine.”

He said he also wants to bring people together – just as the name Pangaea implies.

Pangaea's bar on S. Elm Street in Greensboro.

“We have a belief that if we want bring everybody together – one of the ways we can do that is by food. That’s what we’re striving for.”

[email protected]

336-727-7394

@mhastingswsj

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