Adventures in Buenos Aires, Argentina - Part 3: Wrap-up

A short recap of the rest of my time in Argentina:

An impromptu Christmas Eve rooftop bbq+pool party with some new friends in Palermo (and an incredible hour-long, 360 degree fireworks display that I couldn't quite capture)

Sailing down a peaceful river in Tigre

And some final shots:

Other things to do/places I loved:

• Casa Saltshaker: an underground dinner held at the apt of a NY-expat chef.  I had an amazing dinner here and ended up going out dancing with my dinner group until the wee hours of the morning.  Definitely make a reservation as soon as you pin down your flights!  I chose not to bring my camera along during the dinner so unfortunately have no pics but the chef did a recap about the meal we had here.

• Milion: a gorgeous 3-story house turned restaurant/bar/lounge with a beautiful outdoor garden
• Antares: a rare and bustling beer bar with a great selection
• Status: authentic, inexpensive and delicious Peruvian food

Adventures in Buenos Aires, Argentina - Part 2: La Vineria de Gualterio Bolivar

I made a reservation for La Vineria de Gaulterio Bolivar after having done a lot of research and concluding that this was one spot not to miss. The chef did a stint at El Bulli (which is the first place I'm planning to go to celebrate once I've accomplished something grand in my life :) ) and offered an experimental tasting menu for under $60 USD composed of 9 playful and unique dishes and wine pairings.

Amuse-Bouche: Pimiento liquid ravioli, provolone croquette, basalmic vinaigrette "bread"

After this amuse-bouche was brought out, I knew we were in for a real treat of a meal. I loved how playful this plate was - we were instructed to eat the items starting from the basalmic vinaigrette bread which was a crispy, thin bread shell encasing a tart and sweet bead of basalmic vinegar. The next item, a provolone croquette was creamy and rich and led nicely to the sudden explosion of pimiento flavor in the liquid ravioli which burst in our mouths.

Ensalada de brotes, germinados , vegetales crudos y cocidos (Salad of sprouts and raw + cooked vegetables)

I'm not sure how they managed to make 30+ vegetables behave so beautifully together. This was such an interesting mixture of flavors and textures and the dressing was light and added quite a depth to the dish. I'm hoping that this dose of nutrition cancels out the intense amount of beef I just had to consume while in Argentina but I'm guessing that's probably quite wishful thinking.

Here's Kristina, my lovely dining companion, enjoying her salad.

Goat cheese foam with a slow-cooked egg and truffle oil

I'm unfortunately not a huge fan of goat cheese so this dish was a bit underappreciated by me but it was definitely rich and very interesting.

Seared scallops, pumpkin puree, lamb jus

My favorite dish of the night - I would never have paired scallops with pumpkin but for some reason, the combination was just perfect. The scallops were perfectly seared, the smooth silkiness of the pumkin complemented the texture of the scallops and the lamb jus balanced out the sweetness of both components.

Octopus with tomato foam and olive oil powder

This was really, really delicious. I love olive oil powder the two other occasions I've had it before (at WD-50 and Moto) and I think it lends a very subtle and interesting sort of creaminess to any dish it's added to. The octopus was tender and well cooked and I'm not sure how much the foam contributed but alas, that's the nature of "air" as they've taken to calling it.

Salmon with pineapple juice, cherries and ginger

I didn't care too much for this dish - it was nicely cooked but I'm not a big fan of fruit juices paired with fish.

Seared beef, crispy potato skin + potato foam

Oh, Argentina is full of such delectable beef that it's hard to go a single meal without trying some. This dish definitely fulfilled that desire and the potato accompaniment made me smile. Instead of a big pile of fries, this dish came with a thin potato skin layer encasing a mound of potato foam.

A palate cleanser right before the dessert courses

I can't for the life of me remember what kind of foam this was but I remember it was incredibly refreshing and light.

Orange and almond cake, chocolate ice cream, goat cheese

Great mix of savory and sweet items on this plate and the orange and almond cake was delicious if a little dry.

All in all, I had a great meal for a great price and I highly recommend that the next time you find yourself in BA, you place yourselves in the highly capable hands of the chefs at La Vineria de Gualterio Bolivar.

Address: Bolívar 865, entre Independencia y Estados Unidos

Transport Subte C, Independencia/24, 29 bus.
Telephone 4361 4709

Adventures in Buenos Aires, Argentina - Part 1: Accomodations, a cooking class at Teresita's and Recoleta Cemetary

It's been quite a long hiatus after a particularly intense last year (starting a new company definitely puts a pause on lots of things in life unfortunately - sleeping is definitely cramping my style). I figured a good way to start off the new year was with a series of nice, long posts on my latest adventures in Buenos Aires.

This was my first time in South America and I had an absolute blast. I'd heard such great things from a bunch of friends and was completely prepared to be blown away by the food, the tango, the spanish/italian influenced architecture and all-around great lifestyle and I was definitely not disappointed.

After a 14 hour flight with a barely made connection in Santiago, I escaped the blizzards and sub-freezing temperatures of NYC and made my way into the fierce summer heat of Buenos Aires. I chose to make my homebase in San Telmo after reading countless descriptions of the neighborhood's bohemian qualities, charm and historic appeal. Unfortunately, I found certain parts of the neighborhood quite run-down and felt that I would have been uncomfortable walking around late at night on certain of the narrower and darkened streets. San Telmo is also quite far from most of the neighborhoods I spent most of my time in (by cab, about 15 minutes from Recoleta and about 20-25 from Palermo - thankfully, cabs are insanely cheap - probably the equivalant of $0.35USD per minute) The next time I visit, I'd probably choose to stay in either Palermo or Recoleta but in any case, I stayed for a few nights at the Moreno Hotel which was an absolutely gorgeous modern boutique hotel with huge rooms and an incredibly nice staff. A shot of a portion of my room (which is larger than my entire apartment in NYC!):

A map of the neighborhoods in Buenos Aires (San Telmo is near the bottom):

Cooking in Buenos Aires:

One of the best things I did in BA was take a cooking class at Teresita's. The class was held in Teresita's gorgeous B&B about an hour outside the city in a leafy, quiet suburb. Teresita's resident bbq-master and driver, Buddha, picked up a bunch of us and drove us out to the house which was to me, the perfect B&B hideaway.

From top-left clockwise: The neighborhood, the living room, the kitchen, Buddha bbqing in the yard

We were all there for a 5-hour empanadas and asado (bbq) class so on to the cooking we went:

In sequence: kneading the empanada dough, rolling it out, making the filling, stuffing, wrapping; the asado; dulce de leche crepes seared with a flaming hot iron

The filling was a combination of ground beef which we picked up at the local market that morning, onion, chopped hard boiled egg, raisins, olives, scallions, aji molido (ground red, dry spicy peppers), cumin and sweet and hot paprika. One thing I found really interesting were the two ways the empanadas were cooked - one by baking and one by frying and then sprinkling with sugar. I thought the baked empanadas were delicious - really dense and moist but greatly preferred the fried ones which were lighty, airy and had a great balance of salty/sweet which I love. I do have to admit we ended up not learning much about the asado as we all settled in to drink wine and eat the empanadas that we'd spent all afternoon making. The class was so much fun and incredibly relaxing. This was my first time actually playing with dough and I think that this is a habit I'll find hard to break. Since any good meal really starts with good people, it was very lucky that we ended up with a fantastic group. I met Kristina, a lovely, accomplished and incredibly creative woman who heads up a ballot initiative non-profit in DC, a wonderfully funny family from Hawaii, a charming duo from Denver and a serene and deeply tanned peace corps worker on her way to visit her sister in NY. Kristina and I ended up hitting it off and spending a lot more time together in BA so more on our adventures later. All in all, I've completely resolved to do as many of these cooking classes in different countries as I can.

Recoleta Cemetary:

Of course any trip to BA would be incomplete without visiting the cemetary in Recoleta where Eva Peron is so famously buried. I wasn't sure what to expect but this was unlike any other cemetary I've ever been to - there was a really muted, beautiful atmosphere and wasn't overrun with tourists as I was expecting since it was so huge. I noticed a lot of cats sleeping on the cool marble tombs and crossed paths with quite a few black cats.


Full flickr set here