A Gringo in Buenos Aires » Restaurants

The 5 Best Parrillas in Buenos Aires

Tim Gringo in BA — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 21:38:13 +0000

Italy, France, India and Thailand are world famous for their cuisines, but Argentina is world famous for its buttery, tender, melt-in-your-mouth steak. And where does one find this food of the gods? Why at the barbecue grill restaurants known as parrillas, of course.

Now, trying to name ‘the 5 best’ parrillas in Buenos Aires is actually a little insane. There are hundreds if not thousands of parrillas in Buenos Aires, and very few of them (by your author’s humble estimations) aren’t at least ‘quite good.’ So: I’m not even going to try. Yes, that’s right; the heading of this article is a total lie!

Instead of trying to nail the 5 best parrillas in Buenos Aires, the following list offers you some parrilla options that you might not have considered before. No La Cabreras or El Desnivels here. However, every parrilla listed here has a legion of devoted fans, and each of them would make a fine choice for your next meat feast fiesta. Enjoy.

Siga La Vaca (Alicia Moreau de Justo 1714, Puerto Madero)

This Puerto Madero institution is a tenedor libre, otherwise known as an ‘all-you-can-eat buffet,’ which makes it a nice option if you have visitors in town who want to sample a little bit of everything. Bife de chorizo, vacío, chicken, chorizo, bondiola, Patagonian lamb – it’s all here. There’s also an expansive salad bar and dessert options. The only problem with Siga La Vaca (‘follow the cow’) is that the lines can become very long after 9pm, so if you go, you might want to go a little earlier than usual.

La Rosalía (Scalabrini Ortiz 1538)

This parrilla, really more of a street café with meat than a restaurant, gets mobbed daily by its hundreds of loyal customers. Many of them sit at the tables inside, but many more just line up at the street-facing grill for a takeaway choripan or vaciopan. It’s people-friendly rather than tourist-friendly (an important distinction), cheap and delicious.

Don Julio (Guatemala 4691 and Gurruchaga, Palermo Soho)

Can you say ‘old-school’? Don Julio brings you the traditional parrilla experience that you probably imagined getting before you came to Buenos Aires: brown leather-topped wooden tables; ancient tiled floors; warm service; excellent meat, and all at a reasonable price. The cuadril (rump steak) is a particular specialty, so this is a good place to try it if you haven’t already.

El Trapiche (Paraguay 5099, Palermo Viejo)

Why choose El Trapiche? Well first off, it’s clean, well-lit and is packed with helpful waiters who know the menu backwards. Which is good, because the menu is vast. It also has a long and well-priced wine list, an often-overlooked feature. The matambrito de cerdo (grilled pork flank) here is famous, so if you can bear to order a cut of meat that doesn’t come from a cow for once, you might just be very happy you did.

Rodi Bar (Vicente Lopez 1900 and Ayacucho, Recoleta)

Rodi Bar is located ‘in the heart of Recoleta’ (right near the cemetery), and it’s wildly popular, a real local favorite. It draws Argies and expats alike with its unique blend of grumpy waiters, paper-covered tables, great food and low, low prices. The desserts are unmissable, the wine is cheap, and if someone in your group is tired of meat (perish the thought!) they do some good fish and seafood dishes along with the bife.

Closed-Door Restaurants of Buenos Aires

Tim Gringo in BA — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 15:00:16 +0000

Closed-door restaurants, a.k.a. restaurantes a puertas cerradas, are big in Buenos Aires. Never heard of them? What closed-door restaurants do is to blur the line between restaurants and dinner parties. They often occur in what is actually the home of the chef, and so necessarily they’re limited to small number of diners. Menus usually change weekly or even daily according to the whims of the chef. They also almost never offer you a choice of dishes; you just get what the chef is cooking on the night you go, which is actually kind of liberating.

The result of all of this is something more intimate and social than a regular restaurant. Going to a closed-door restaurant usually involves meeting and chatting with the chef and the other guests, rather than just eating and dashing. There’s much more a feeling of a shared experience with your fellow diners. Also, the cuisine they offer is often a lot more creative and adventurous than your standard Buenos Aires restaurant fare (which makes a welcome change from meat-and-Malbec).

The most well-known closed-door restaurant in Buenos Aires is undeniably Casa Saltshaker, which is run by Dan Perlman, author of the influential Buenos Aires restaurant review site at www.saltshaker.net. Casa Saltshaker offers a five-course tasting menu (optionally paired with wine) which changes from one day to the next. Every menu at Casa Saltshaker is themed, and some of the themes are pretty whacky (check out the website). It seats just 12 people in the apartment of Mr. Perlman and his partner Henry Tapia. It’s located in Barrio Norte.

Much newer on the puerta cerrada scene is Casa Sunae. The food is ‘pan-Asian’ and both promises and delivers “fiery curries, fresh herbs and exotic spices.” If you’ve been in Buenos Aires for a while and are craving food with flavor, Casa Sunae might be just the thing. There’s a nice patio which is a perfect place to meet the other guests over a cocktail prior to dinner, and the service is also top-notch.

Casa Felix is another well-established closed-door restaurant. Rock star chef Diego Felix offers a five-course tasting menu for up to 12 people every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night for ARG$150. Guests get a free welcoming cocktail on arrival. Casa Felix operates out of a beautiful house in Chacarita near Colegiales. Unlike some (most?) closed-door restaurants, mingling between guests isn’t all that common. The food at Casa Felix is sublime and consequently it’s wildly popular, and maybe the best-reviewed closed-door restaurant in Buenos Aires.

Two other highly regarded closed-door restaurants here are La Concina Discreta, which is located in Villa Crespo and has the capacity to seat 18 diners, and Treintasillas (www.treintasillas.com), which is in Colegiales and is run by the talented and creative chef Ezequiel Gallardo.

If you want to check out the puerta cerrada experience, note that most of them only open for Friday and Saturday nights – obviously if you’re running a restaurant out of your home, you don’t really want to have guests every single night of the week. Bookings are also essential.

The 5 Best American Brunch Spots in Buenos Aires

Tim Gringo in BA — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 20:38:45 +0000

It’s inevitable that living the expat life means foregoing some of the things you ordinarily like to do. Be that as it may, some things are sacrosanct. Reliable broadband is one, and another…is brunch. Sure, the standard combo of tres medialunas and a cup of strong Argentine coffee will get you buzzing, but when the sugar-and-caffeine high ends abruptly a little later you’ll be left wishing you’d had a healthier option instead. Read on for some of the best places to find just that.

1. Bar 6
Armenia 1676
Palermo Soho

Is it a café? Is it a bar? Is it a restaurant? That’s the thing in Buenos Aires: many places are all three. Regardless of categorization, Bar 6 offers a credible brunch in funky faux-industrial surroundings. It’s comfortable as well, particularly if you manage to snare a set of the couches and armchairs that are set around low tables at the front.
Brunch-wise Bar 6 has bagel options, toasted sandwiches (try the open lomo), and a good breakfast that includes the four staples: scrambled eggs; toast; coffee, and juice.
If you’re in the habit of surfing après-brunch (it is a good aid to digestion) you’ll be happy to that know Bar 6 has free Wi-Fi; feel free to take your MacBook along and blog about what you just ate.

2. Olsen
Gorriti 5870
Palermo Hollywood

Olsen is a Scandinavian-styled café/bar treat that’s best enjoyed in summer, when its outdoor patio and garden really comes into its own.
The brunch menu at Olsen is very good, with lox and bagels both making an appearance. The main options all include some variety of salad, an egg-based main dish (omelet or scrambled eggs), a potato pancake, and either meat or fish.
Don’t feel like you have to rush to get to Olsen in time for Sunday brunch: it doesn’t start until 10am and it doesn’t end until 8pm! On the other hand it does get very, very busy on weekends; booking in advance is a good idea.

3. Oui Oui
6068 Nicaragua
Palermo Viejo

Alright, this Palermo Viejo café doesn’t exactly aim to do an American-style brunch (did the name give that away?), but happily it seems that the French unwittingly do a pretty handy version of it anyway. The excellent granola with yoghurt and fruit is perhaps the best choice at Oui Oui, but all of the options that include eggs are also fantastic. The juice is also great, and the coffee is good, if strong.
Oui Oui is cute, quaint and cheery inside, with colorful wooden tables and bunches of dried flowers hanging on the walls. There are some tables outside as well, but not enough: on the weekends there’s often a short wait before you can get a table.

4. Pride Café
Balcarce 869
San Telmo

Brunch and perhaps a spot of daytime cruising are on the menu at the small but much-loved (gay) Pride Café in atmospheric San Telmo. All are welcome, regardless of gender or sexual orientation, and everyone gets to enjoy great salads, sandwiches and organic juices. The smoked salmon bruschetta is particularly good.
The décor inside Pride Café is minimalist-white but a little tatty. If it’s not to your liking, choose a table on the corner outside. Some pleasantly shady spots under a nearby tree make it a nice spot to linger over a jugo de naranja even in the heat of summer.

5. Mark’s Deli and Coffee House
El Salvador 4701
Palermo Soho

Whoever the eponymous Mark might be he obviously knows how to put together a great café, as this Palermo hotspot is one of the best in town. The corner location is bright and airy and filled with customers (local and expat) just about all the time.
The downsides to Mark’s are actually several: it gets a little noisy inside; the service can be slow, and for Buenos Aires it’s not cheap. So why is it so popular? Simply because the food is brilliant: great coffee; muffins; scones, and tons of healthy sandwich and salad options make it an ideal spot for a spot of brunch, whatever time of day you make it there.

Eat like a Porteño: A Great Buenos Aires Restaurant Guide

Tim Gringo in BA — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 21:25:30 +0000

We all know that Buenos Aires boosts some great restaurants but sometimes it can get a little overwhelming. All the travels guides point you to the same restaurants in Palermo Soho and driving up and down the streets you are overwhelmed by a grand collection of Parrilla’s, Pizza Joints and Empanada stands. Besides some obvious well known delicious restaurants, how are you supposed to tell one place from another?

If you are looking to brush up on your Spanish and see what Porteño’s think of their city’s restaurants, head over to Guía Oleo, where you can read reviews and search different restaurants based on different criteria.

If you are from the USA, think of Guía Oleo as the city’s equivalent to Yelp, but with a focus solely on restaurants. Restaurants are rated by Porteños using Food, Service and Ambiance as criteria.

It is existential to get out of Palermo and hit some of the cities true restaurants, where large quantities of quality food can be eaten on the cheap. Guía Oleo should be able to give you a head start.

For a great article on Bogedones de Buenos Aires, read Stephen Metcalf’s account “Cocina Confidential” from the New York Times.

Whats a Bogedone you ask? From Metcalf’s account:

………It is also, as many parrillas are, a type of bodegón, a simple neighborhood restaurant started by and for immigrants, traditionally of Spanish or Italian descent. Taken together, bodegones form an unofficial institution in Buenos Aires, places where true porteños — as residents of Buenos Aires, a port city, are called — go to enjoy mass quantities of comfort food on the cheap.

If you are interested in some further reading into the Authentic restaurants of Buenos Aires, try “The Authentic Bars, Cafes, and Restaurants of Buenos Aires” by Gabriela Kogan.