Cuisine & Vins
La revista de la buena vida
September 2007, Page 78
The original text included two additional restaurant reviews, which were edited out for space:
If you like a homey setting, but want something both a little less rustic and also more classically styled for dinner, head out to Palermo, at Honduras 5710, and grab a seat at Divina Patagonia (they also have a branch in San Telmo, at Balcarce 958), where you can treat yourself to a hearty and creative meal that again ranges the food world. Amongst the more interesting dishes, a roasted loin of wild venison served up with an elderberry and currant packed bitter chocolate sauce, a slow cooked breast of wild boar lacquered in a fresh raspberry puree, or crunchy on the outside and moist on the inside "meatballs" of smoked trout served with a Patagonian Dijon mustard sauce. The wine list carries a good selection of the major commercial brands from both Patagonia and other regions of the country and is fairly priced.
Possibly you’re in the mood to up the ante and head for one of the lugares de lujo, or ritzy, upscale spots. While everyone likes to make fun of the Puerto Madero refurbished warehouse district and its tourism oriented dining, one of the things to note is that that often means some pretty high quality food - lets face it, tourists can be pretty demanding. For a place that’ll live up to high standards, head on out into the Puerto and get yourself a table at Aires de Patagonia, Alicia M. de Justo 1798, a handsome room, done up in exotic woods from the south like lenga and rauli, that give the room a very classy feel. The food, likewise, with beautifully presented, creative dishes like a fresh crabmeat (centolla), zucchini, and apple salad stacked with phylo dough, or a rack of Patagonian lamb, cordero, leaning up against a slice of leg of lamb, and all juiced up with a reduction of Malbec and a delicious tomato confit. The wine list, strangely, focuses more on selections from Mendoza than Patagonia, but there are definitely some southern gems to be found - not surprisingly, given the locale, both food and wine here are expensive.
© 2007 Dan Perlman
It may seem cliche, but let’s face it, younger travelers, e.g., those in their early 20s, are an underappreciated market by most of the wine and restaurant world. It’s not that there’s not food and drink out there for them, nor that they’re not treated well, but that the focus of most of the hospitality industry’s public relations is aimed at either business travelers, retired travelers, or successful couples from their late 30s to early 50s. It’s just the way of the world, and a reality based look at where the money is.
It’s also, perhaps, that the younger generation, as a stereotype, tend towards a more limited palate when it comes to food and wine - burgers, pizza, and these days, sushi; and inexpensive wines that are fruity and easy to drink. That’s not to say there’s not a good sized group of "gen-x-ers" who aren’t out to try anything and everything, they’re just not the norm, and it’s one of the reasons they stand out.
There have been attempts in various places to market directly to this untapped market - the most famous, and unfortunately now passed on to other pastures, the magazine Wine-X. But the real spot to get to this market is, as might be intuitively sensed, the internet. The most common are blogs - and there are a lot of them when it comes to wine, and quite a few oriented towards the youth market. Almost every expat or traveling blogger in Buenos Aires writes at some point about the wines that they try, but there’s not a dedicated wine blog here, regardless of the age of its readers - a wide open market for someone who’s up for the task.
The newest use of the internet, however, is the world of videocasting, and for younger wine drinkers, the guru of that world is Gary Vaynerchuk and his Wine Library TV (tv.winelibrary.com), where he uses casual street slang, lots of energy, gadgets, and a "hey, I’m one of you" approach to educating younger consumers about just exactly what wine is all about. Having talked with some local wine experts here, his marketing skills are held up in awe, and I’d think it won’t be long before Argentina offers up its own version of this sort of online marketing.
So, assuming you’re one of the folks I’m talking about, where do you go to find yourself surrounded by locals, or even expats, but those "in the know" when it comes to food and wine. First off, we know, part of the reason you’re here is the steak. But the last thing you want to do is go hang out at a smoke filled parrilla packed with families with screaming kids, guidebook toting tourists who haven’t quite figured out they’re not in a country where English is the primary language, or surrounded by couples who’ve been coming in and having the same meal at the same place for the last thirty years. You want hip, hot, and happening, and you want good steak and good wine. Not surprisingly, head yourself out to Palermo Hollywood, and grab a table at Miranda, Costa Rica 5602, where the music rocks, the decor is casual, modern industrial, the staff speak your language (no matter what your native tongue is), the portions are decent, and the prices are fair. You can eat at the bar and chat with your neighbors, grab a low couch in the lounge, or hit that table right up by the open kitchen and make friends with the guy cooking your steak.
Now, if you’re here for any length of time, we know you’re going to want your sushi fix. Buenos Aires isn’t known for its sushi - there’s plenty of it here, and it’s decent quality, if a bit heavy on combinations with cream cheese. But, it tends to be limited to salmon, and possibly salmon. Yes, you’ll get the occasional white fish, or a shrimp, or canned tuna, but there’s simply nowhere here offering the variety of sushi that folks from most other food capitals are used to. However, for a decent variety, and a room with a trendy vibe, good cocktails, an actual selection of sakes and wines, and service with just the right dose of attitude, head out to the new restaurant district in Las Cañitas and pop upstairs to Moshi-Moshi, Ortega y Gasset 1707. You’ll shell out a few extra pesos over what you might spend at most sushi bars in the city, but the quality, variety, and the chance to find yourself in a crowd of local twenty-somethings makes it worth every centavo.
On the wine front, one of the most common things I get asked, is how to learn the differences between different grapes. Beyond the old adage of just try, try, try, until you get it, which can cost a fortune, is the opportunity to find someone producing wines that are designed with just this in mind. Well known producer Bodegas Esmeralda produces a line of wines called Rodas Colección 12 - a dozen different individual varietals, white, pink, and red, made without oak aging, so they emphasize the pure flavors of the individual grapes. Best of the lot, their Petite Verdot, but they’re all a great way to educate your palate.
We
As we move into colder weather,
locals rejoice in the return of favorite winter stews to restaurants. For five
or six months of the year we have the chance to enjoy locro, carbonada,
lentejas, mondongo, and chacarero - dishes that have a tendency to simply
disappear off of menus nearly city-wide during the warm weather months. Like
many culinary treats here in Argentina - pizza, empanadas, pasta, and gelato
being at the top of the list - these dishes engender passionate discussion,
defense, and denigration - whether it’s who makes the best, or my opinion of
your grandmother’s version. Still being an outsider (I’m informed that no one
becomes a porteño until they have an immediate ancestor buried in either
Recoleta or Chacarita cemeteries), I have the advantage of no personal
attachment to these dishes, and enjoy exploring a variety of styles.
Locro is probably the top of the heap for the various stews in Argentina. It’s a
hearty, rich dish, that is based on hulled white corn or hominy. From there, the
variations are endless, and there are meat, chicken, fish, and vegetable
versions. A good percentage include a thickening agent in the form of pureed
cooked squash, some include beans, various vegetables, and the cuts of meat can
vary from high grade steak to “parts is parts” sorts of things that you’re best
off not inquiring about. Carbonada is a beef or veal stew that includes dried
fruit, usually peaches, to create a mildly sweet stew. Lentejas, or lentils,
come in a wide variety, from stews with meat to vegetarian versions - you simply
have to ask. Mondongo is a tripe and potato stew, often with beans or peas
added. And chacarero is a chicken and sausage based stew, usually with some form
of pasta added to it at the last minute. All these, are, of course, subject to
your grandmother’s interpretation.
There’s one spot I recommend time and again to visitors and friends to sample
some of the best Argentine “regional” cuisine. In specific, it’s the region of
San Juan, along the western border of the country, just north of Mendoza. The
restaurant, El Sanjuanino. They have two locales, one in Palermo, and my
preferred one for both ambiance and service, at Posadas 1515 in Recoleta. They
serve up one of the more “variety meat” laden versions of locro, and if that
doesn’t bother you, it’s one of the better ones out there. On request, they’ll
bring a bit of oil laden with chili flakes to spice it up a bit. They also offer
some of the city’s better empanadas - their carne picante version is actually
picante, and their “gran sanjuanino” is a deep-fried version packed with a
filling reminiscent of a delicious homemade sloppy joe. Other dishes worth
checking out, their matambre recoldo, a rolled flank steak packed with peppers,
ham, and cheese and roasted in the coals, is a spectacular dish to share for
two; and for those who are feeling adventurous, they offer stews of antelope and
vizcacha, a sort of large rabbit-ish creature from the mountains.
A classic in any of a dozen tourist guides is often a reason to simply avoid a
place. It means the likelihood of being surrounded by others who are just as
mystified by everything going on around them as you are. Yet, somehow, La
Querencia manages to make visitors feel at home, and still attract a good
following of locals. Located at the corner of Junín and Juncal, this spot offers
up a mix of regional Argentine cuisine with a focus on the Tucumán area in the
far northwest. Here you can sample locro, carbonada, or lentejas, in versions
that are perhaps, suited to a slightly more refined palate - prime cuts of meat
and sausages won’t challenge anyone’s sensibilities as to just exactly what part
of the cow has been set in front of them. They also offer many other local
specialties, including a great pastel de papas - more or less a shepherd’s pie;
and revuelto gramajo - a fascinating scrambled egg, ham, potato, and (depending
on whom you’re talking to) pea platter that’s served not just for breakfast, but
lunch and dinner as well. La Querencia offers up some interesting empanadas that
you won’t find in most other places, including several special vegetarian ones -
the eggplant and mint ones are outstanding; a bacon and plum version; and the
“del tambo” - a blend of seven different cheeses that’ll have you asking for
another.
The last place I’d recommend is a personal favorite for locro alone. In fact,
all they offer are empanadas and locro, and for most of the year, not the locro.
But when they have it, the stew at la cocina, Pueyrredón 1508, right off of
Avenida Santa Fe, is the best I’ve had. It mixes up a bit of the best of all the
rest - sliced steak and sausages, a few bits of “other”, it’s simply packed with
sweet white corn, beans, and squash, and is offered in picante and non-picante
versions, the former using a fiery homemade chili oil, and with or without
cheese melted into the mix. Their empanadas are pretty outstanding as well, with
kudos going to the amusingly named “pikachu”- a caramelized onion and cheese
empanada that’s absolutely delicious.
With stews like this, you want to go either with a simple carafe of whatever the
house wine is, and just not worry about swirling and sipping - drink away and
don’t worry; or, a big, bold, spicy red. I’m quite fond of a relatively new
Syrah from Xumek, the 2004 of which shows off easy drinking flavors of
blackberries, black pepper, and a host of other spices. It’s inexpensive and a
great value. Easily my favorite Argentine Syrah is from Tempus Alba, a version
that reminds me of a good quality Rhône Valley Syrah with flavors of red plums,
smoke, and bacon fat. The 2003 is available right now and is drinking
beautifully. It’s a bit pricier, but still shouldn’t top more than 35 pesos in
stores and maybe 50 in restaurants.